Maria Ramirez v. Ruben Escajeda, Jr.
Opinion
Government officials are often entitled to qualified immunity ("QI") from liability for civil damages for performing their discretionary duties.
See, e.g.
,
Romero v. City of Grapevine
,
I.
Maria Ramirez called 911 the evening of June 23, 2015, saying that her son Daniel was threatening to hang himself and needed help. Maria insists that she "did not tell dispatch that [Daniel] had a weapon because he did not." Ruben Escajeda, Jr., an El Paso Police Department officer, responded to the call, which he maintains was "a call-out regarding a suicidal subject with a weapon." He arrived at the Ramirezes' house and went to the backyard to look for Daniel.
It was dusk when Escajeda arrived, and the parties dispute exactly what he was able to see. The Ramirezes allege that Escajeda "immediately saw Daniel in the process of hanging himself from a basketball net." But "Daniel was clearly still alive," they maintain, and "was grabbing the rope around his neck and touching the ground with his tiptoes-trying to save his own life." The Ramirezes continue that "[t]here were sufficient lighting conditions for Escajeda to observe that Daniel was alive," that his hands were on the basketball net, that he had no weapon, and that he "was not a threat." Escajeda counters that he saw Daniel but "was barely able to *500 make out the deceased through the near dark" and could not see that Daniel was attempting to hang himself.
Whatever the lighting conditions allowed him to see, Escajeda contends that he repeatedly asked Daniel to show his hands. And when Escajeda was "unable to see ... the subject's hands" "after multiple demands," he warned Daniel "that he would tase him if he did not raise his hands." Because Escajeda still could not see Daniel's hands, "he deployed his taser." Escajeda insists that even though he used the taser because he did not see Daniel raise his hands, he "was unable to see that [Daniel] was hanging himself."
The Ramirezes allege that the taser hit Daniel in his chest and abdomen and that his body immediately went limp. Then Escajeda approached Daniel and discovered that he "was hanging himself during the encounter." Escajeda removed Daniel from the basketball net and began CPR. Daniel was transported to a hospital and soon pronounced dead. Police did not recover a weapon.
Maria and her husband Pedro sued Escajeda in his personal capacity under
II.
An officer sued under § 1983 may claim QI, and once he does, the plaintiff must rebut by establishing (1) that the officer "violated a federal statutory or constitutional right" and (2) that "the unlawfulness of the[ ] conduct was 'clearly established at the time.' "
District of Columbia v. Wesby
, --- U.S. ----,
III.
Though Escajeda styles this appeal as a challenge to the denial of QI, he makes no attempt to show that, taking well-pleaded facts as true, he did not violate Daniel's clearly-established constitutional rights. "Questions posed for appellate review but inadequately briefed are considered abandoned."
Dardar v. Lafourche Realty Co.
,
And Escajeda raises no other issue that we may consider in this limited appeal. His sole contention is that the district
*501
court erred in denying the motion to dismiss because the Ramirezes have not pleaded "a claim [to] relief that is plausible on its face."
Club Retro
,
That is "merely an attack on the district court's denial of his motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim."
Brown
,
Escajeda insists that in
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
,
The appeal is DISMISSED for want of jurisdiction. 4
The Ramirezes also sued the police department, but it is not a party to this appeal.
That abandonment is only for purposes of this appeal. Nothing constrains Escajeda from asserting QI at an appropriate, later stage of this litigation, including any motion for summary judgment or trial.
See also
Burnside v. Kaelin
,
Because we have no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal, we have no authority to hint as to what is the proper outcome of this litigation. Nothing in this opinion should be construed to do so.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Maria RAMIREZ, as Representative of the Estate and Statutory Death Beneficiary of Daniel Antonio Ramirez; Pedro Ramirez, as Representative of the Estate and Statutory Death Beneficiary of Daniel Antonio Ramirez, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ruben ESCAJEDA, Jr., Defendant-Appellant.
- Cited By
- 28 cases
- Status
- Published