Soriano v. Town of Cicero, 521 F. App'x 565

Soriano evaded police in Cicero, Illinois, April 11, 2004, after Officer Hendrick activated lights and checked his gun.
Soriano failed to stop, nearly struck officers and a civilian, turned onto a one-way street, and hit a parked car during the pursuit.
The vehicle halted on 27th Avenue; Soriano allegedly bumped Officer Stroud and drove with Stroud on the van’s hood, prompting shots from Vítalo.
Soriano was charged in state court with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery of a peace officer with a dangerous weapon, and aggravated fleeing and eluding; he was convicted of aggravated battery and aggravated fleeing and eluding and sentenced to five years.
While the criminal case was pending, Soriano filed a federal civil action alleging excessive force and related claims against the officers and the Town of Cicero; the district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on all claims.
On appeal, Soriano challenges only the excessive force claim, arguing the district court erred in granting summary judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether qualified immunity barred Soriano’s excessive-force claim	Soriano did not address it on appeal	Officers were entitled to qualified immunity	Waived
Whether collateral estoppel bars relitigation of the excessive-force claim	Soriano could relitigate the issue	The prior criminal verdict found intentional harm	Collateral estoppel would apply (limits replay of issue)
Whether the Town of Cicero liability is preserved	Exists a custom/policy	No demonstrated custom; Monell not shown	Waived
Whether the alleged use of deadly force was reasonable under Fourth Amendment	Disputed whether van accelerated or lurched forward	Jury found Soriano intentionally harmed Stroud; officer in danger	Reasonable under the circumstances; justified

Brengettcy v. Horton, 423 F.3d 674 (7th Cir. 2005) (deadly-force analysis when threat to officer exists)
Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (U.S. 1989) (reasonableness of force in split-second decisions)
Estate of Starks v. Enyart, 5 F.3d 230 (7th Cir. 1993) (deadly force may be justified to prevent serious harm)
Scott v. Edinburg, 346 F.3d 752 (7th Cir. 2003) (vehicle as deadly weapon; officer safety)
Brown v. City of Chicago, 599 F.3d 772 (7th Cir. 2010) (collateral estoppel in § 1983 excessive-force cases)
Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (U.S. 2007) (set forth preferred view of facts on summary judgment)
Duncan v. State of Wis. Dep’t of Health and Family Servs., 166 F.3d 930 (7th Cir. 1999) (appellate waiver where not addressing qualified immunity)
Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) (standard for qualified immunity on summary judgment)
Monell v. New York Dep’t of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978) (municipal liability requiring policy/custom)