SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court has decided it will not review the appropriateness of stun guns used by police on suspects, including a case in which Seattle officers repeatedly used a Taser on a pregnant woman during a 2004 traffic stop.
In a closely watched case, the high court on Tuesday refused to hear appeals from three Seattle officers and police in Hawaii, or the people who were stun-gunned by officers.
Some law enforcement groups had hoped the court would clarify the issue.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office had urged the court to let stand a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the officers could not be sued in federal court by the woman, Malaika Brooks, but also determined they had used excessive force by deploying stun guns.
“Fortunately the Court recognized this regrettable but unique case to be inappropriate as a basis for judicial guidance for using Tasers consistently with the Fourth Amendment,” City Attorney Pete Holmes said in a written statement Tuesday. “It is important to recognize the Taser use under the circumstances in Brooks is no longer permitted under SPD policy.”
City attorneys argued the appeals-court ruling had addressed the use of Tasers “in the particular, atypical circumstances of this case,” and not “the sky is falling” interpretation of the Seattle officers.
Brooks claimed the officers violated her constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones allowed her case to continue, declining in June 2008 to grant the officers immunity for performing their official duties. Jones said Brooks posed no threat to anyone, and her rights were clearly violated.
A divided three-member panel of the 9th Circuit then overturned Jones’ ruling that allowed Brooks’ civil-rights lawsuit to go to trial.
The city appealed, and the panel voted 2-1 to overturn that order, sparking a rare decision to let a larger, “en banc” panel of 11 appellate court judges rehear the case. In October, that panel overturned the smaller panel on a vote of 6-5, finding the three officers cannot be sued in federal court, despite evidence they used excessive force, because the law governing Taser use was unclear at the time.
But in the ruling, the court said Brooks could still sue the officers on a state claim of assault and battery. Brooks is now pursing a state claim in federal court, but no longer can seek attorney fees.
Although granting immunity to the three Seattle officers, the majority concluded the Taser use was improper and could be a violation of her civil rights.
A portion of that panel’s ruling is what the Supreme Court declined to hear. The court also declined on Tuesday to hear Brooks’ request that it review the 9th Circuit’s finding that she can’t sue the officer on federal claims.
The appeals court combined the Brooks case with another Taser case out of Hawaii. The appellate judges concluded the use of a Taser in some circumstances could be considered excessive force and expose officers to lawsuits.
Writing for the majority, Judge Richard Paez said the circumstances in both the Seattle and Hawaii cases were such that a jury could find the officers overstepped constitutional bounds.
In the Brooks case, Paez and the majority concluded Brooks’ traffic violation was not serious, and she never posed a serious threat to the officers.
Brooks was stopped for speeding in a school zone. When she refused to sign the citation, the officers decided to arrest her.
Brooks refused to get out of the car, and resisted officers’ attempts to remove her. The court found that while she did resist arrest and refused to sign the ticket or leave her car, that in itself did not justify the use of a Taser on her thigh, arm and neck in short succession, the opinion says.
“We note Brooks bears some responsibility for the escalation of this incident,” Paez wrote.
However, the judges considered two “overwhelmingly salient” factors that weighed in Brooks’ favor: She had told the officers she was within 60 days of delivering her baby, and after learning of this, the officers took time to discuss how they should proceed and even where they should apply the Taser.
The officers were identified as Juan Ornelas, Donald Jones and Sgt. Steven Daman.
“The second overwhelmingly salient factor is that (Officer Jones) tased Brooks three times over the course of less than one minute,” the opinion said.
“Three tasings in such rapid succession provided no time for Brooks to recover from the extreme pain she experienced, gather herself and reconsider her refusal to comply.”
Brooks did not suffer serious injuries, aside from small scars from the Taser. Her child was born healthy, the opinion notes.
Seattle police changed their policy after the incident with Brooks to no longer require drivers to sign tickets, and state law was subsequently changed along the same lines.