{"id":1163,"date":"2026-06-22T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2026-06-22T16:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:00:07","slug":"supreme-court-says-ex-lapd-officer-may-be-sued-for-excessive-force-in-street-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1163","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court says ex-LAPD officer may be sued for excessive force in street shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>The Supreme Court refused Monday to block an excessive force lawsuit against a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who shot and killed a knife-wielding man whose speeding truck had slammed into several cars near downtown Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

Read more Politician behind \u2018top two\u2019 primary has second thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n

The court turned down an appeal petition from the Los Angeles city attorney\u2019s office, over the objections of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. <\/p>\n

Litigation over the six-second shooting incident has extended over six years. <\/p>\n

Federal judges in California agreed that Officer Toni McBride had reason to fire four shots at the suspect in April 2020 but not the two final shots that killed him. <\/p>\n

Daniel Hernandez was alleged to be under the influence of methamphetamine when he got out of his truck and walked toward the officer. She repeatedly ordered him, \u201cDrop the knife,\u201d as he approached. <\/p>\n

But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 6-5 vote, ruled last year that a jury could decide the officer went too far when she fired two final shots after the suspect had fallen to the ground.<\/p>\n

The majority reasoned that in the one-second pause between shots four and five, McBride \u201ccould have and should first reassessed the situation\u201d and possibly concluded the suspect no longer posed a danger.<\/p>\n

That ruling would have sent the case to a trial.<\/p>\n

But the to the Supreme Court in October and urged the justices to review and reverse the 9th Circuit\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s attorneys said the appeals court failed to consider the \u201ctotality of circumstances from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene\u201d and its decision refused \u201cto allow for reasonable mistakes in fast-moving, life-threatening encounters.\u201d<\/p>\n

UC Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky filed a response for the Hernandez family. He urged the court to stand aside and let a jury decide whether the officer\u2019s actions were reasonable. <\/p>\n

Read more An ancient oak tree said to have sheltered legendary Robin Hood has died<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 9th Circuit simply held that it should be for the jury to resolve the factual dispute over what happened,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The justices had considered the appeal since late February before finally turning it down without comment on Monday. <\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled police officers may be sued for unreasonable searches and seizures only if they are shown to have knowingly violated clearly established law. <\/p>\n

However, this doctrine of \u201cqualified immunity\u201d has divided judges over whether a particular rule or limit has been clearly established.<\/p>\n

The 9th Circuit majority <\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been clearly established for more than a decade that when an officer shoots and wounds a suspect, and he falls to the ground, the officer cannot continue to shoot him, absent some indication that he presents a continuing threat,\u201d wrote Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen. <\/p>\n

\u201cA fallen and injured suspect armed only with a bladed instrument does not present a continuing threat merely because he makes nonthreatening movements on the ground. … Under such circumstances, a jury could reasonably find that she employed constitutionally excessive force. If so, she is not entitled to qualified immunity,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The five dissenters said the officer made a reasonable split-second decision. <\/p>\n

Judge Ryan Nelson said McBride \u201cwas justified in shooting Daniel Hernandez to alleviate the risk that he posed when he advanced toward her while armed and ignoring commands to stop. … She cannot be reasonably expected or required to reassess her shooting in a tight six second period during an intense and dangerous situation throughout which Hernandez was rising and never stopped moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge Patrick Bumatay echoed this concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudges review police shootings only in hindsight. We review police tapes years after the fact. We get to rewind, pause, fast forward \u2014 analyzing the situation frame-by-frame. While the advent of police bodycam videos has been a welcome change, we can\u2019t ignore that real life isn\u2019t in slow motion,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Read more In L.A., as in other U.S. cities, democratic socialists are poised to expand power at City Hall<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judges agreed officer had reason to fire four shots at a knife-wielding suspect but not six.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court says ex-LAPD officer may be sued for excessive force in street shooting - California Relocation Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/california-relocation-journal.com\/?p=1163\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court says ex-LAPD officer may be sued for excessive force in street shooting - 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