Statchen v. Palmer, 09-2418

Civil rights suit against police officers for excessive force dismissed

Statchen v. Palmer, 09-2418, involved a plaintiff's 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit against police officers, claiming that they used excessive force in arresting him for public intoxication and in transporting him from a station house to jail.  In affirming the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants on the basis of qualified immunity, the court held that the district court had no basis for sending the case to a jury because plaintiff's own deposition provided no evidence to indicate that the force exerted was unnecessary, or that a reasonable police officer would have thought otherwise.

Related Link:

• Read the First Circuit's Decision in Statchen v. Palmer, 09-2418