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Deputy Crystal Estrada of the Harris County (Texas) Sheriff’s Department encountered Kenneth Anderson after he crashed his car in the early morning of Oct. 10, 2021. As she attempted to render aid, Deputy Estrada noticed Anderson was in a drug-induced state. Anderson was initially compliant during his arrest for impaired driving. After officers stopped at a gas station to give Anderson some water, he began thrashing around wildly in the back seat of Estrada’s vehicle. Anderson admitted to being high on cigarettes dipped in PCP (phencyclidine hydrochloride). Bizarrely, he also asked Deputy Mohanad Alobaidi to “TASER him.” Deputy Alobaidi declined.
After providing Anderson with several sips of water, the deputies instructed him to get into Deputy Alobaidi’s patrol SUV. Anderson started to cooperate but soon locked his feet under the door threshold to prevent the deputies from pushing him inside. Alobaidi and another deputy wrestled with Anderson’s feet while Deputies Estrada and Garcia pulled Anderson from the other side of the vehicle. Anderson continued to fight against the deputies’ efforts.
After seven minutes of struggling with Anderson, Deputy Alobaidi arced his TASER device and threatened to use it on Anderson. He then pulled Anderson out of the car and onto the ground. The deputies considered putting the man in leg restraints. Deputy Alobaidi arced his TASER again and Anderson said he would cooperate. However, once back on his feet at the car door, Anderson again refused to get in. Deputy Alobaidi applied his TASER device to Anderson in four drive stuns. After that, the deputies were finally able to wrestle Anderson inside and close the doors.
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The deputies had another brief struggle with Anderson when they opened the door to move him into a safe position. Deputy Alobaidi commented that Anderson was “coming out of it, the PCP, so he’s not feeling anything.” A few minutes later, emergency medical personnel arrived. Though EMTs found Anderson unresponsive, they did not transport him to the hospital, possibly because Deputy Alobaidi warned the man was dangerous.
Deputy Alobaidi took Anderson to the booking center. There, jail staff noted Anderson was still unresponsive and called for emergency medical services. Anderson was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Anderson’s parents sued on behalf of his two minor children. The trial court dismissed several claims against the officers but allowed an excessive force claim against Deputy Alobaidi and bystander liability claims against the other officers to proceed. After the officers appealed the denial of qualified immunity, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision.
The appellate court held Deputy Alobaidi’s use of force was not objectively unreasonable given Anderson’s active resistance, the seriousness of the DUI offense and the threat Anderson posed to the officers. Though the plaintiffs alleged the drive stuns caused Anderson’s death, the appellate court stated: “We are unaware of any case in which drive-stunning with a TASER has been deemed equivalent to ‘deadly force.’ Moreover, that a person dies following officers’ use of force does not render the force inherently deadly.”
The efforts of law enforcement personnel to de-escalate the situation, taking pains to verbally persuade Anderson into compliance (“Talk nice, think mean”), led the court to hold that Deputy Alobaidi’s actions were measured and proportional to Anderson’s escalating resistance. Body-worn camera video backed up this conclusion. And since Deputy Alobaidi did not violate Anderson’s rights, there was no basis for the bystander liability claims against the other deputies; those claims were also dismissed.
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