Jonathan Lozada, Deputy Sheriff, in His Individual Capacity v. Dudley Teel, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Susan Teel

Whether this Court should clarify the application of the Graham factors to a law enforcement officer’s use of force during a call for service that does not involve commission of a crime as the officer should not start off, as the Sixth Circuit has described, with two strikes against him or her regarding the severity of the crime and intentional resistance to arrest factors. Whether the obvious factual clarity rule can be applied by a Circuit Court panel to deny qualified immunity to a law enforcement officer in a Fourth Amendment excessive force case, where the District Court determined at the summary judgment stage of the case that the officer’s use of deadly force was constitutional as a matter of law. Whether the Eleventh Circuit misapplied the Graham factors to the evidence and improperly judged Deputy Lozada’s conduct in hindsight. Whether the Eleventh Circuit engaged in reversible error in finding that Deputy Lozada is not entitled to qualified immunity under the unique facts of this case, despite the absence of factually similar case law, by application of the obvious factual clarity rule contrary to this Court’s prior opinions. This case involves the split second decision by Indian River County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Lozada to use deadly force on Mrs. Susan Teel in the bedroom of her home while she walked toward Lozada with a large knife wielded overhead in a threatening manner.