Padulla v. Leimbach

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-police officials’ motion for summary judgment in section 1983 action alleging that defendants subjected plaintiff to excessive force and wrongful arrest after arriving at accident scene in which they found plaintiff unresponsive behind wheel of his car, even though individuals at hospital eventually determined that plaintiff had suffered diabetic episode. Defendants could have reasonably believed that plaintiff had driven in intoxicated state at time they initially encountered plaintiff where dispatcher had indicated that driver of said vehicle had driven off road and where officers had smelled alcohol in plaintiff’s car. Fact that others saw diabetic kit in plaintiff’s vehicle subsequent to his arrest did not require different result. Moreover, officers’ reasonable belief that plaintiff was intoxicated and unresponsive to their commands supported their use of pepper spray and baton to subdue him so as to defeat plaintiff’s excessive force claim.