McDowell v. Village of Lansing

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-police officer’s motion for summary judgment in section 1983 action alleging that defendant violated plaintiff’s substantive due process rights by rendering plaintiff more vulnerable to blow to face by third-party under circumstances where plaintiff obeyed defendant’s order to lie down on ground during incident involving alleged assault of plaintiff by three individuals, and where defendant failed to intervene when one individual disobeyed defendant’s order and hit plaintiff in face. Plaintiff failed to present evidence that defendant had deliberate intent to harm plaintiff by allowing individual to hit him, and that plaintiff presented at most evidence of negligent conduct on part of defendant. Ct. further found that defendant’s efforts to safely stop all participants in incident were reasonable.