Both parties acknowledge that Machie was not resisting arrest or attempting to evade police in any way. The Court holds that it is obvious that the Fourth Amendment shields a non- resisting arrestee from having his head slammed into a wall by the arresting officer. This is especially true given the circumstances of Machie’s arrest. The arrest took place in a police station, a place of safety and security for police officers. The officers in the station greatly outnumbered Machie, and there were no other potential suspects in the vicinity. Given these facts, the Fourth Amendment clearly and obviously protected Machie from the conduct he alleges here. Moreover, such a right was clearly established in the Fourth Circuit by 2009. See, e.g., Kane, 987 F.2d at 1006-07 (holding that the district court properly denied summary judgment on a § 1983 excessive force claim where an officer slammed the plaintiff’s head into pavement); Buchanan, 325 F.3d at 528-31 (denying qualified immunity where an officer knocked the plaintiff to the floor, and proceeded to jump on him).
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 04:12:27 +0000
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