DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
221603P.pdf 12/26/2023 Brandon Peterson v. Cmdr. Roger Heinen
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 22-1603
U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
[PUBLISHED] [Kobes, Author, with Loken and Erickson, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Civil rights. Plaintiff sued 16 jail officers and employees,
alleging various conditions-of-confinement claims, excessive-force claims,
and claims of deliberate indifference to medical needs. With respect to
plaintiff's excessive-force claims, plaintiff was a person awaiting
adjudication of a probation violation and his claims would be analyzed
under the Eighth Amendment, rather than the Fourteenth Amendment, which
applies to pretrial detainees; considering five of the six instances where
plaintiff contends officers used excessive force, in each instance, the
officers were entitled to qualified immunity as the force used was not
excessive or disproportionate; the sixth incident presents a genuine issue
of material fact as to whether plaintiff was complying with the officers'
commands when he was sprayed, and the district court did not err in
denying the officer's motion for summary judgment based on qualified
immunity; because plaintiff's claims against six of the officers were
based on their failure to intervene in the use of excessive force in the
first five incidents, defendants were entitled to summary judgment on the
failure-to-intervene claims; defendant Commander Heinen and two nurses
were entitled to summary judgment on qualified immunity on plaintiff's
deliberate-indifference-to-medical-needs claims as the defendants made
repeated efforts to deal with his mental health issues; plaintiff's
conditions-of-confinement claims are remanded for a thorough qualified
immunity analysis; the district court did not reach the issue of official
immunity on plaintiff's state law claims, and those issues are remanded to
the district court; because certain claims are remanded, the court cannot
resolve on appeal whether Washington County may be liable under Monell;
reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded for further proceedings.