Ct. of Appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant-police officer’s appeal of Dist. Ct. order that rejected defendant’s claim for qualified immunity in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that defendant violated decedent’s 4th amendment rights when defendant fired four shots into car in which decedent was passenger in car that attempted to flee scene of drug sting organized by police. While defendant argued that his actions were reasonable, since his intent when firing into vehicle was to stop threat that vehicle was coming to him, Dist. Ct. identified number of genuine issues of fact regarding what defendant was shooting at when firing his gun and determined that reasonable jury could find that defendant was unreasonable if he intended to hit vehicle or anyone in it, rather than defendant’s claim that he intended to only target driver. Moreover, Dist. Ct.’s finding regarding existence of material facts precluded defendant from appealing Dist. Ct.’s order, where, as here, defendant had not fully accepted plaintiff’s version of facts, when resolving qualified immunity issue.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Qualified Immunity