Inmate Eric E. Bell, Sr., appeals the district court’s (1) preservice dismissal of claims against the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) chief and individual commissioners, (2) denial of leave to amend his complaint, (3) adverse grant of summary judgment as to the remaining
We affirm the preservice dismissal of the claims against the KCPD chief and individual commissioners,
see Atkinson v. Bohn,
As to the grant of summary judgment, which we review de novo considering the evidence in the light most favorable to Bell, see
Cook v. City of Bella Villa,
We find, however, that there is a genuine issue of fact on whether Bell was complying with the orders of Officers Dain Apple and Aaron Bryant just before he was tasered. Apple and Bryant attested that Bell was disobeying orders to show his hands or get out of the truck, whereas Bell maintained in his notarized opposition to summary judgment, that before he was tasered, he had complied with orders to place his truck in park, turn off the truck’s engine, and place his hands in the air, and that the tasering continued even after he was handcuffed and subdued. The dispute was material, because it bears on whether the use of force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances.
See Brown v. City of Golden Valley,
Accordingly, we affirm the dismissal of the KCPD chief and individual commissioners; the denial of leave to amend; and the grant of summary judgment as to Officer Stacker, and as to the claim that defendants conspired to violate police policy on reporting the tasering. We reverse the grant of summary judgment to Officers Apple and Bryant on the excessive-force and failure-to-intervene claims, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
