James Thompson v. Norman Howard

OPINION *

JORDAN, Circuit Judge.

The question presented to us is whether a police officer acts in violation of clearly established law when he shoots at a person who, after crashing a car into an occupied police cruiser, is fleeing blindly at high speed in a residential neighborhood, driv ing over sidewalks and residents’ lawns. We conclude that, under Supreme Court precedent, there is no clearly established law that makes the use ,of deadly force in such a scenario excessive, and the officer is therefore entitled to qualified immunity.

I.Background

A. Factual Background 1

In Republic,…