Larry Zubrod v. Shayne Hoch, 907 F.3d 568

On Sept. 22, 2013, Worth County deputies responded to a domestic assault where Michael Zubrod had brutally injured Rhonda Schukei; a prolonged struggle with Deputies Short, Hoch, and Smith followed and ended in Zubrod’s death.
Deputies used multiple taser deployments (barb and drive-stun modes) over several minutes; taser logs show numerous short discharges but Zubrod was never neuromuscularly incapacitated; he was later found unresponsive and died; medical examiner attributed death to cardiac arrhythmia after altercation with police and acute methamphetamine intoxication.
The Zubrods sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (excessive force and failure to intervene) and asserted state-law claims (assault/battery, negligence, vicarious liability, loss of consortium) against the deputies, the sheriff, and Worth County.
District court granted summary judgment for defendants on federal claims (qualified immunity), excluded unsworn paramedic statements, and declined supplemental jurisdiction over state claims; plaintiffs appealed and defendants cross-appealed the jurisdiction decision.
The Eighth Circuit reviewed the record (deputy testimony, taser videos/logs, first responder affidavit) in plaintiffs’ favor and affirmed summary judgment, holding no genuine dispute that Zubrod remained a threat until subdued and that deputies’ force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of unsworn paramedic statements at summary judgment	Statements show deputies tased Zubrod after he was subdued; create fact dispute	Statements are unsworn and inadmissible under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 and 28 U.S.C. § 1746; taser video/logs control	Excluded: unsworn statements inadmissible; district court proper to disregard them
Excessive-force (taser use)	Hoch tased Zubrod while he was subdued/handcuffed or otherwise not a threat; repeated short tasings unreasonable	Tasing was objectively reasonable given violent assault, continued resistance, incomplete handcuffing, and ongoing threat	No constitutional violation; reasonable under Graham factors; summary judgment for deputies upheld
Failure-to-intervene (Short & Smith)	Deputies who did not stop excessive force are liable	No underlying constitutional violation occurred	Dismissed: failure-to-intervene claim fails when no excessive force established
Supplemental jurisdiction over state-law claims	Plaintiffs preferred federal forum; argue federal dismissal insufficient to send state claims away	District court should dismiss state claims after federal claims dismissed; standard discretion under 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3)	Affirmed: district court did not abuse discretion in declining supplemental jurisdiction; state claims dismissed without prejudice

Capps v. Olson, 780 F.3d 879 (8th Cir. 2015) (standard for viewing facts on summary judgment)
Banks v. Deere, 829 F.3d 661 (8th Cir. 2016) (unsworn statements inadmissible at summary judgment absent penalty-of-perjury declaration)
Malone v. Hinman, 847 F.3d 949 (8th Cir. 2017) (qualified immunity summary judgment review and two-step test)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986) (summary judgment genuine-dispute standard)
Loch v. City of Litchfield, 689 F.3d 961 (8th Cir. 2012) (objective-reasonableness test for force)
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) (factors for evaluating police use of force)
Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 135 S. Ct. 2466 (2015) (totality of circumstances and reasonableness standard)
De Boise v. Taser Int'l, Inc., 760 F.3d 892 (8th Cir. 2014) (taser use in context of active resistance and threat)
Brown v. City of Golden Valley, 574 F.3d 491 (8th Cir. 2009) (distinguishing excessive-force taser cases where suspect posed minimal threat)
Shekleton v. Eichenberger, 677 F.3d 361 (8th Cir. 2012) (tasing nonresisting, nonthreatening misdemeanant excessive)