WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court revived a lawsuit against a Houston area police officer who fatally shot a man during a traffic stop over unpaid tolls.
In a unanimous opinion, the justices said courts can look beyond the exact moment a police officer is using deadly force to determine if the force was unreasonable.
“Of course, the situation at the precise time of the shooting will often be what matters most; it is, after all, the officer’s choice in that moment that is under review,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court. “But earlier facts and circumstances may bear on how a reasonable officer would have understood and responded to later ones.”
That decision could make it easier for plaintiffs to show that police unlawfully used excessive force.
In this case, the family of the man who was shot argued the courts must be able to consider what led the officer to believe his life was in danger. Relatives contend the officer created the threat to his own life when he jumped onto Ashtian Barnes’ moving car.
Lawyers for the Harris County traffic cop said missteps by an officer prior to an escalating event do not strip them of the right to self-defense thereafter.
A lower court dismissed a suit Barnes’ mother brought against the officer, Roberto Felix Jr., seeking monetary damages.
A panel of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, saying they were bound by the circuit’s previous decisions to look only at the “moment of threat” to the officer, but said most other appeals courts allow the entire sequence of events to be considered in deadly force cases.
Barnes had been driving to pick up his girlfriend’s daughter from daycare when Felix pulled him over because his vehicle – a car rented by his girlfriend a week earlier − had outstanding toll violations.
Felix directed Barnes to exit the Toyota Corolla, but Barnes’ car began to move forward with its driver’s side door still open. Felix stepped onto the door frame and, as the car was moving, shot twice inside the vehicle.
Barnes died at the scene.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court to reconsider whether the shooting was reasonable under the lengthier timeframe that must be considered.
The case is Barnes v. Felix.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court revives suit over deadly force in traffic stop over tolls
