DISCLAIMER: The following unofficial case summaries are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
163930P.pdf 04/02/2018 Dustin Burnikel v. Michael Fong
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 16-3930
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines
[PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Beam and Shepherd, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Civil rights. In action claiming defendants, Des Moines
police officers, used excessive force in arresting plaintiff, the district
court did not err in denying defendants' motion for summary judgment based
on qualified immunity;under plaintiff's version of the disputed facts, he
has established the defendants violated his Fourth Amendment right to be
free from excessive force; assuming that plaintiff's version of the
incident which led to his beating and arrest is true, a reasonable officer
standing in defendant's shoes would have under stood that the amount of
force used to subdue plaintiff was excessive, as was the officers' action
in purposefully dropping plaintiff face-first onto the sidewalk after he
had been subdued and handcuffed; as the resolution of the qualified
immunity appeal does not necessarily resolve plaintiff's state law claims
against the officers, that portion of the appeal which involves state law
claims is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.