City of Charlotte, North Carolina, et al. v. Azucena Zamorano Aleman, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Rubin Galindo Chavez

The Fourth Circuit ruled that Charlotte police officer David Guerra is not entitled to qualified immunity in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 deadly force case. It held that Ruben Galindo (a man who was armed, delusional, and intoxicated) had a “clearly established right” to be free from deadly force, even after he refused Officer Guerra’s repeated commands to drop his gun. The Fourth Circuit engineered this “clearly established right” from eight precedents. Two precedents were decided after the shooting in this case. Of the remaining six, five cases did not find a constitutional violation at all. And the one case that found a violation is distinct on its facts. Against that backdrop, the issue is: Whether the Fourth Circuit erred in the process it used to find a “clearly established” Fourth Amendment right because it used cases: (1) decided after the shooting; (2) where no violation was found; and (3) that involved different facts.