8th Circuit grants immunity to cops who shot at driver of backfiring van
When Philip Ransom told Kansas City, Missouri, police that his van had been backfiring, they didn’t believe him.
“No, it’s not. Our window’s shot out!” responded officer Tyrone Phillips. But, in fact, Ransom’s van can be seen on a police dashcam video, shooting sparks out its tailpipe as it backfires, a federal appeals court notes. Shrapnel in the officers’ squad car and damage to their vehicle were from richocheting shots fired by the cops.
Nonetheless, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Phillips and his partner are immune from a civil rights suit brought by Ransom, because they acted reasonably under the circumstances of what seemed like someone who was “suicidal by cop”. Responding to a Nov. 11, 2010 report of shots fired near the van, which was pulled off the road, the pair opened fire after Ransom exited his van. Ransom had apparently not heard their command to stay in his vehicle, the 8th Circuit explains in its written opinion (PDF).
Fortunately the officers missed Ransom, who was, in fact, an unarmed, law-abiding driver, the 8th Circuit says. He hadn’t realized police were shooting at him because he thought the sound of their gunfire was his van backfiring.
Ransom alleged in a Section 1983 civil rights suit that police violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights not only by shooting at him but by taking him into custody; using excessive force against him; and making an unreasonable seizure.
“Only seconds after arriving at the scene where shots reportedly had been fired, the officers heard what both parties agree sounded like a gunshot,” the court writes. “Although the sound actually was the backfiring of Ransom’s van, it is not unreasonable that the officers at the scene would not notice the tailpipe shooting sparks or realize that the sound they heard was from the van and not a gun.”
Hat tip: National Law Journal (sub. req.)
Updated at 4:31 p.m. to rephrase a sentence, and on June 29 to fix a misspelling of Ransom’s last name.
