Bobby Byrd v. City of Bossier, 624 F. App'x 899

In July 2011 Byrd fled a Shreveport traffic stop in a light-colored minivan, abandoned the vehicle at the Red River, and was tracked by police canine Mico into the riverbank area.
Officer Yarborough’s dog fell into the river, swam to Byrd, and bit him; Yarborough abandoned the leash to avoid being pulled in; Byrd does not dispute these facts.
Officer Short waded into the river, carried Byrd to shallow water and ordered him to place his hands behind his back; officers dispute whether Byrd resisted or was compliant when handcuffed.
Byrd alleges that after being handcuffed and subdued, Officers Short, Lindsey, and Gordon dunked his head and beat him, causing multiple serious injuries; officers contend force was used only to subdue an actively resisting suspect.
The district court granted summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, relying in part on a photograph it found to ‘‘blatantly contradict’’ Byrd’s testimony; the Fifth Circuit reviewed whether that exclusion of Byrd’s testimony was proper and whether qualified immunity applied.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Yarborough used excessive force by deploying/losing control of his canine	Byrd: Yarborough’s handling led to an unconstitutional canine attack	Yarborough: Dog fell accidentally, ignored commands; no clearly established law forbids such loss of control	Affirmed for Yarborough — no clearly established law and record does not show clearly unreasonable conduct
Whether Short, Lindsey, and Gordon used excessive force after Byrd was handcuffed	Byrd: Officers beat him after he was handcuffed, causing serious injuries	Officers: Byrd resisted; photograph shows struggle before cuffing, undermining Byrd’s account	Reversed as to Short, Lindsey, Gordon — photographic evidence did not blatantly contradict Byrd; genuine fact issues preclude summary judgment
Whether the district court properly disregarded Byrd’s deposition under Scott v. Harris/Tolan	Byrd: Court should consider his testimony; photo is not conclusive	Defendants: Photo ‘‘blatantly contradicts’’ Byrd, so testimony may be disregarded	Court held district court erred — photo does not indisputably refute Byrd’s account; Tolan controls
Municipal liability for failure to train (Cities of Shreveport and Bossier)	Byrd: Cities failed to train officers (argued below)	Cities: Qualified immunity and lack of evidence of municipal policy or arguments on appeal	Affirmed for Cities — Byrd abandoned municipal claims on appeal by failing to brief them

Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (contrasting blatantly contradicted testimony on summary judgment)
Tolan v. Cotton, 134 S. Ct. 1861 (per curiam) (courts must credit nonmovant’s evidence when record does not blatantly contradict it)
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (excessive-force reasonableness standard under Fourth Amendment)
Bush v. Strain, 513 F.3d 492 (use of gratuitous force on restrained detainee is unreasonable)
Poole v. City of Shreveport, 691 F.3d 624 (Fifth Circuit standard for reviewing summary judgment in § 1983 excessive-force cases)
Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Co., 475 U.S. 574 (summary judgment/genuine issue standards)
Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 131 S. Ct. 2074 (clearly established law requires robust consensus to deny qualified immunity)