Date: 08-18-2024

Case Style:

Louise Arnold v. Charles McClinton

Case Number: 1:21-cv-01057

Judge: Susan O. Hickey

Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas (Union Count)

Plaintiff's Attorney:

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Defendant's Attorney: Jason E. Owens

Description:

El Dorado, Arkansas 1983 civil rights violation claim lawyer represented the Plaintiff.

Louise Arnold, as administrator of Roderick McDaniel's estate, brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act (ACRA) against Deputy Charles McClinton of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, Columbia
County Sheriff Mike Loe, and Columbia County, alleging that Deputy McClinton used excessive force when he shot and killed McDaniel outside an apartment complex in Magnolia, Arkansas.

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A Columbia County resident was shot and killed on November 19, 2018. An eyewitness reported to responding officers, including Deputy McClinton, that a man named Roderick McDaniel was the shooter and had taken the gun with him as he fled the scene. No gun was recovered at the crime scene. An arrest warrant issued for McDaniel on a charge of first-degree murder. A dispatch advised local officers that the warrant issued and that McDaniel was believed to be driving a white SUV.

While on patrol late the following evening, Deputy McClinton noticed a white SUV idling in a parking space at an apartment complex. McClinton positioned his patrol car several feet behind the SUV, blocking the SUV from backing out of the space. He approached the driver's side door. The SUV's occupant partially rolled down the tinted window. Deputy McClinton asked his name. The man responded, "Roderick McDaniel." McClinton radioed the name to dispatch. McDaniel rolled up the window, gunned the vehicle in reverse, and collided with McClinton's patrol vehicle, just as dispatch was telling McClinton that Roderick McDaniel was "him," the man charged with first-degree murder. McClinton drew his service weapon and ordered McDaniel to stop multiple times. McDaniel "slammed his vehicle into drive and gunned it forward." Deputy McClinton fired a single shot into the driver's side window, hitting McDaniel. The SUV accelerated forward, jumped a curb, traveled through the lawn, reentered the parking lot, and collided with other parked cars. Deputy McClinton and another responding officer found McDaniel deceased in the crashed SUV, with a loaded handgun located "in or around" his hand. Ballistic testing determined that the handgun was used to murder the other person.

The parties dispute several facts about the shooting. Deputy McClinton posits that McDaniel, in a desperate attempt to flee arrest, reversed the SUV, violently colliding with the patrol car, then "gunned" it forward toward Deputy McClinton, who fired believing McDaniel was trying to run him down. Arnold posits that the SUV was still in reverse when Deputy McClinton shot McDaniel, and that Deputy McClinton was never in the direct path of the SUV and was always positioned safely to its side. The video footage does not establish whether the SUV was in reverse or forward drive when Deputy McClinton fired the fatal shot. The video supports Arnold's contention that McClinton was standing away from his patrol vehicle when he fired and was not in the path of the SUV.

In denying Deputy McClinton's motion for summary judgment dismissing the § 1983 and ACRA claims against him based on qualified immunity, the district court determined that material factual disputes, particularly whether McDaniel was driving the SUV forward toward Deputy McClinton when he was shot, precluded it from determining as a matter of law whether Deputy McClinton used unconstitutional deadly force when he shot McDaniel. The court concluded that Deputy McClinton was therefore not entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity because "it was clearly established that it is unreasonable to use deadly force against a suspect merely for fleeing, even when that flight is via automobile." The court granted summary judgment dismissing all claims against Sheriff Loe and Columbia County.

Outcome: Motion for summary judgment denied.

Reversed and remanded and dismissed.

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