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CA4: Accidentally shooting a suspect instead of Tasering him was still entitled to qualified immunity

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

“Weapon confusion” of the officer attempting to Taser a fleeing misdemeanant but accidentally drawing his gun and shooting him in the elbow was still entitled to qualified immunity. Henry v. Purnell, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 19823 (4th Cir. September 24, 2010)*: Thus, the specific context of this case is where a police officer, who would have acted reasonably in using the taser to apprehend Henry, draws his firearm by mistake and unintentionally shoots Henry instead. The qualified immunity inquiry thus becomes whether an officer in that “specific context” would know that an act of weapon confusion of the firearm for the taser was “clearly established” as an excessive use of force under the Fourth Amendment. The answer is that neither in 2003, nor indeed today, is there clearly established law to resolve that question for courts, much less police officers in the field...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).