Fifth Circuit allows Dallas police officer to face civil trial in death of schizophrenic man
Dallas TX December 18 2021 The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower judge and said a Dallas police officer must face a civil rights suit by the estate of a restrained suspect who died after the officer knelt on his back for 15 minutes.
Anthony Timpa phoned 911 on Aug. 10, 2016, asking for help because he was schizophrenic and off his medications. The dispatcher also received other calls describing a man at Timpa’s location running in traffic.
The dispatcher requested officers respond to a crisis intervention training situation at Timpa’s location.
The Dallas Police Department requires five officers to respond to a CIT call. It instructs that to subdue the suspect four officers should each take a limb and the fifth should hold his head.
The department also trains officers that when a suspect is experiencing excited delirium—agitation, paranoia, excitability, usually associated with cocaine use—the call should be treated as a medical emergency. It says that the officers must monitor the suspect and get him in a prone position or on his side as soon as possible to avoid asphyxiation.
The department’s training also says that a subject who suddenly calms or becomes unresponsive may be experiencing sudden death.
When the officers arrived at the Timpa’s CIT call, he was thrashing on the ground and told them he had used cocaine. Officer Dustin Dillard and another officer rolled Timpa on his stomach and pressed their knees in his back while a security guard, who already placed handcuffs on Timpa, restrained his legs.
The other officer removed his knee from Timpa’s back after two minutes, but Dillard stayed in his position for almost 15 minutes.
After several minutes, Timpa, who was completely restrained, cried out for help and moved from side to side. His voice weakened, he stopped talking, and died after being put on the paramedic’s gurney.
Timpa’s estate sued the officers for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force. The district court granted them qualified immunity.
Dillard isn’t entitled to qualified immunity, the opinion of Judge Edith Brown Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said.
The amount of force Dillard used wasn’t justified by the Timpa’s offense. Timpa was subdued for most of the encounter and didn’t pose a threat, and it’s questionable that he continued to resist arrest, the court said.
Because he underwent CIT training, Dillard also knew that the force he was using could be lethal and under the circumstances deadly force wasn’t warranted, the court said.
Fifth Circuit precedent also clearly established at the time that “an officer’s continued use of force on a restrained and subdued subject is objectively unreasonable,” the court said.
Three of the other officers on the scene must also face the estate’s bystander liability claim, the court said. The estate can show that they should’ve known Dillard was violating Timpa’s rights, they had an opportunity to prevent the harm, and they chose not act, it said.
Judges Leslie H. Southwick and Don R. Willett joined the opinion.
Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center and Henley & Henley PC represented the estate. The Dallas City Attorney’s Office represented Dillard.
The case is Timpa v. Dillard, 2021 BL 477692, 5th Cir., No. 20-10876, 12/15/21.
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