A federal appeals court Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit against three Round Rock, Texas, police officers involved in a 2014 traffic stop that left a Florence man paralyzed, ruling that excessive force was not used despite the severity of the driver's injuries.
William Slade Sullivan, described by the court as heavily intoxicated, morbidly obese and handicapped, was severely injured while being forcibly removed from his pickup after refusing the officers’ demands to exit the vehicle.
Sullivan sued the officers, the city of Round Rock and the nightclub where he had been drinking. After he died five months later while still hospitalized, his mother, Rosemary Claus Sullivan, continued the lawsuit.
The officers moved to be dismissed from the lawsuit, arguing that the law granted them immunity from being sued because they were acting consistently within their role as public officials.
When U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel declined to dismiss them last December, the officers — Nathan Zoss, Kristen Mayo and Aaron Ballew — appealed.
On Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the officers to be dropped from the lawsuit, ruling that they qualified for immunity because they had not violated Sullivan’s constitutional rights during the stop.
To prove that excessive force was used, lawyers for Sullivan’s mother must show that the officers’ actions were “objectively unreasonable,” Justice Jerry Smith wrote for the court’s three-judge panel. Events from Sullivan’s confrontation with police, however, showed that the use of force was justified and moderate, not excessive, Smith said.
Sullivan had been drinking heavily at Rick’s Cabaret, running a tab of more than $400, and asked a club employee to drive him to a nearby hotel as the floor manager had promised, Smith wrote. When the ride was refused, Sullivan got into his pickup, saying he wanted to charge his phone and call a friend for a ride, but a security guard called police, fearing he would drive away.
After officers arrived, Sullivan refused repeated demands to leave the pickup — two officers briefly drew their weapons when he dropped his hands from view — with Mayo and Zoss eventually grabbing an arm to pull him from the vehicle. Sullivan stumbled and slammed to the ground, unable to break his fall because the officers were still holding his arms, fracturing his lower back, Smith said.
“The unfortunate result — Sullivan’s falling on his chest and stomach — was not foreseeable. A reasonable officer could not have predicted that Sullivan would not use his feet to brace his fall,” Smith said.
The decision to forcibly remove Sullivan also was justified, the judge said.
“Sullivan’s crimes were serious: driving while intoxicated and interfering with the duties of a public servant,” Smith wrote, adding that as long as he remained in his pickup, Sullivan remained a threat. “A motor vehicle can be used as a dangerous weapon, even when blocked in by a police cruiser.”
No criminal charges were filed in the encounter.
A Travis County grand jury declined to pursue charges against Mayo and Zoss last summer, and the district attorney's office did not investigate other officers involved in the incident.
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