Case Dismissed: Patterson Buchanan Wins Officer-Involved Shooting Case for Sheriff’s Deputy

A superior court in Washington has granted a complete summary judgment in favor of a Whatcom County sheriff’s deputy in a lawsuit over the use of lethal force. Patterson Buchanan convinced the court to dismiss all of the federal law and state law claims brought against the deputy, who shot and wounded a man he believed was attempting to hit him with a car.

At the time of the 2005 incident, the plaintiff had just violated a no contact order, had fled the home carrying a butcher knife, and reportedly was suicidal. Responding to a 911 call from the plaintiff’s girlfriend, sheriff’s deputies searched for the plaintiff in a dark field in a rural area where he reportedly was sitting in his car. When the plaintiff drove his car toward the deputy at high speed and failed to respond to the deputy’s order to stop, the deputy opened fire, hitting the suspect in the arm and hand.

The plaintiff sued Whatcom County and the two deputies in Skagit County Superior Court, claiming that they had unlawfully used deadly force against him and that this violated his U.S. Constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and also constituted negligence and battery under Washington state law. Patterson Buchanan was retained to defend the deputies. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed one of the deputies from the case, leaving the county itself and the deputy who had fired the shots as the remaining defendants.

Moving for summary judgment as to the deputy, Patterson Buchanan lawyer Sarah Mack pointed out that government officials and law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity from a lawsuit under both federal law and state law where they acted reasonably under the circumstances. She argued that the deputy’s actions here were objectively reasonable under numerous court precedents evaluating the use of lethal force by law enforcement and that there was no clearly established law at the time of the incident that his actions were not reasonable.

On June 27, 2011, the Honorable Susan K. Cook agreed, finding that the deputy’s use of lethal force was “not unreasonable” under the circumstances and that he therefore was entitled to have all of the claims against him dismissed.

The case is Gallegos v. Freeman et al.