Friday, May 17, 2013

Tenth Circuit Roosevelt-Hennix v. Prickett

Decision here.

   Prickett assisted another officer on a traffic stop, during which Roosevelt-Hennix was arrested for DUI.  While she was in the back seat of the patrol car, she started to freak out because she is claustrophobic (there's no indication in the decision that she was combative or that she resisted other than banging her head on the car window and thrashing around in the back seat).  She also had a previous back injury which she had mentioned to the officers.

   The officers decided to hobble Roosevelt-Hennix (so far, I'm okay with it).  They opened the back door and orderered Roosevelt-Hennix to put her feet out of the car.  Here's where Prickett's version and Roosevelt-Hennix's version of the facts really diverge.  Roosevelt-Hennix says that she told them that she couldn't lift herself up and turn to put her feet out.  Prickett says that she just wedged her feet under the cage so that he couldn't pull them out.

   Either way, Roosevelt-Hennix's feet remained in the patrol car.  Then Prickett tased her (which is where they lose me.  Seriously???).  After tasing her, Prickett and his partner were able to gain control of the handcuffed prisoner, restrain her feet, and take her to the station.  She complained that she couldn't feel her legs.

   At the station, she was evaluated by medics.  She was taken to the hospital where she underwent surgery the next day for lower-extremity paralysis.  Unsurprisingly, she sued.

   Prickett moved to dismiss based on qualified immunity, and the district court denied.  He appealed, and the tenth circuit denied.  The tenth cited factual disputes as the reason qualified immunity was denied (although I'd wager that it would have been denied even if there were no factual disputes.  Tasing a handcuffed cripple in the back seat of a patrol car is pretty over-the-top, but that's my assessment and not the court's).

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