Perez v. Guetschow, 2:23-cv-00153

Plaintiff Jane Doe, a 12-year-old student, was involved in a fight at Lincoln Middle School where Shawn Guetschow, an off-duty police officer employed by the Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD), intervened to stop the altercation.
During the intervention, Doe alleges Guetschow used excessive force, including slamming her head to the floor and placing his knee on her neck.
Plaintiffs brought claims against Guetschow, KUSD, and the City of Kenosha under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for excessive force and under Monell v. Department of Social Services for failure to train and supervise.
The City of Kenosha sought a declaratory judgment that Guetschow was not acting within the scope of his city employment, absolving the city of indemnification liability; plaintiffs did not oppose this.
Both parties moved for summary judgment: the city on indemnification, and Guetschow/KUSD on excessive force and Monell claims.
The court granted summary judgment for the city on indemnification, granted summary judgment to KUSD on the Monell claim (with plaintiffs not opposing), but denied summary judgment to Guetschow on the excessive force claim, finding genuine disputes of material fact.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Scope of Employment (City Indemnification)	Guetschow acted solely as a KUSD employee, not as a city police officer	Same; actions were outside police duty	Not acting within city scope; city not required to indemnify
Excessive Force under § 1983	Guetschow unreasonably used force (held Doe on ground, knee to neck), especially as Doe was not resisting	Force reasonable under chaotic circumstances, Doe was resisting, knee placement accidental and brief	Genuine factual disputes prevent summary judgment; claim proceeds
Qualified Immunity	Clearly established that excessive force cannot be used on non-resisting individual	No clearly established precedent for knee to neck in this context; actions objectively reasonable	Not entitled to qualified immunity; facts could show clear violation
Monell Liability (Failure to Train/Supervise – KUSD)	KUSD’s training and supervision led to the excessive force incident	No evidence of prior similar incidents or deliberate indifference	Plaintiffs abandoned claim; granted summary judgment to KUSD

Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (establishes municipal liability under § 1983 for failure to train or supervise)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (sets summary judgment standard—genuine dispute of material fact)
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (objective standard for excessive force under the Fourth Amendment)
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (summary judgment burden of proof)
Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (totality of circumstances in excessive force cases)
Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (qualified immunity doctrine)
Plumhoff v. Rickard, 572 U.S. 765 (specificity in clearly established law for qualified immunity)
Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (factors for evaluating use of force)
County of Los Angeles, Calif. v. Mendez, 581 U.S. 420 (objective reasonableness of force)