Kenneth R. Henderson v. Les Munn, in His Individual Capacity

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that pepper spray was an excessive use of force in response to a handcuffed detainee
• concluding that the “negligible severity” of plaintiff’s offenses, including “giving a false name, resisting arrest, public intoxication, and the two outstanding warrants for failure to appear,” did not “tip the scales of reasonableness” in the officer’s favor
• concluding pepper spraying a restrained and subdued suspect may have been a gratuitous and completely unnecessary act of violence which clearly violated the Fourth Amendment, but concluding issues of fact (whether suspect was subdued, for example
• denying qualified immunity where officer pepper sprayed arrestee who was lying face down with both arms handcuffed behind his back and no longer resisting arrest
• denying qualified immunity to an officer who pepper-sprayed a suspect posing “little or no threat” to anyone’s safety
• “when a person is subdued and restrained with handcuffs, a ‘gratuitous and completely unnecessary act of violence’ is unreasonable and violates the Fourth Amendment.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).