Phillips v. Community Ins. Corp.

Dist. Ct. erred in denying plaintiff’s post-verdict motion for judgment as matter of law in section 1983 action alleging that defendants (police officials) used excessive force in arresting plaintiff when they shot her four times in leg with SL6 baton launcher after plaintiff had disregarded their orders to come out of her car. While certain defendants were confused at time of plaintiff’s arrest as to whether plaintiff was driving stolen vehicle, defendants' use of SL6 baton launcher on four occasions was unreasonable where: (1) defendants were aware that plaintiff was intoxicated; (2) plaintiff never exhibited any sort of aggressive behavior or made any attempt to escape; (3) plaintiff’s passive resistance in not complying with defendant’s directives required that defendants use only minimal force when placing her under arrest; (4) at time defendants made decision to use SL6 baton launcher, plaintiff had her legs outside of car with both feet on ground; and (5) plaintiff did nothing to escalate situation after defendants had fired first shot at her legs. Moreover, case law was clear at time of instant incident that multiple trauma-inducing shots would constitute excessive force when used to secure non-resisting, intoxicated arrestee. (Dissent filed.)