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CA11: Officers' killing of plaintiff's decedent was sufficiently reasonable under the circumstances for qualified immunity

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers' split-second decision that led to a motorist's death was sufficiently reasonable under the circumstances that they were entitled to qualified immunity. McCullough v. Antolini, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 3874 (11th Cir. February 26, 2009)*: In short, the sheriff's deputies used deadly force in a split-second situation where a suspect late at night refused to pull over, engaged in a high-speed chase, and then, after pulling over, repeatedly refused to show his hands or respond to officers, revved his engine, and then drove his truck toward the deputy standing nearby in a parking lot. As in Pace, Robinson, and Long, McCullough used his vehicle in a dangerous and aggressive manner which provided the officers with probable cause to believe that McCullough, while driving his truck, posed a threat of serious physical harm or death to the officers, or other passersby, especially in light of the speed with which the incident unfolded...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 27, 2009 (boomark / email).