Jessica Pitts, Officer, et al. v. Taylor Burke, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Thomas Gay, Deceased

Despite this Court’s repeated inter ventions— including its unanimous decision in City of Tahlequah v. Bond, 142 S.Ct. 9 (2021)—emphasizing that clearly established law must be particularized and must squarely govern the specific circumstances confronting the officer, the court of appeals denied qualified immunity by defining clearly established law at a high level of generality and relied on a circuit specific escalation theory, generalized excessive force principles and materially distinguishable precedent. The decision also reflects ongoing confusion regarding the role of pre-seizure conduct in the Fourth Amendment reasonableness and clearly established law inquiries after Barnes v. Felix, 145 S. Ct. 1353 (2025), as well as instability in the application of summary judgment principles in qualified immunity cases. Although objective forensic evidence in the record—including the medical examiner’s conclusion that the decedent was shot from the front—underscores the rapidly evolving and uncertain nature of the encounter, the court of appeals nevertheless permitted the claim to proceed based on retrospective reconstruction of the officers’ tactical decisions and threat perception. This case can be resolved without revisiting any factual disputes because, even accepting the facts assumed below, Petitioners are entitled to qualified immunity. The petition therefore presents the following questions: 1. Whether a court of appeals may deny qualified immunity by treating a circuit specific “reckless creation”