On Dеcember 16, 1994, Jerome Jarrett fled the scene of a minor traffic accident and was subsequently apprehended by Shadow, a police dog controlled by Yar-mouth Police Officer Peter McClelland. Shadow bit Jarrett at least twice on the leg in the course of corralling him before officers arrived to take the suspect into custody. Jarrett filed 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims against Officer McClelland and
*142
Robert Chapman, the Yarmouth Chief of Police,
1
alleging that McClelland used excessive force in releasing Shadow, and that Chief Chapman “tolerated a pattern and practice of unjustified, unreasonable and excessive force regarding McClelland’s use of a dog to attack and bite.” Jarrett also brought suit against the Town of Yarmouth, seeking to hold the municipality hable under a
Monell
theory,
see Monell v. Department of Soc. Services of City of New York,
After a bifurcated trial, a jury returned verdicts against both Officer McClelland and Chief Chapman. 2 The defendants now contest the verdicts on appeal, arguing that the court erred in denying their request for qualified immunity, and raising a host of evidentiary challenges. After careful review, we find that Jarrett suffered no constitutional injury. Accordingly, we vacate the judgments against McClelland, Chapman, and the Town of Yarmouth.
I.
In the early morning hours of Deсember 16, 1994, Yarmouth Police Officer Gerard Britt observed the defendant sitting in his car in a motel parking lot off of Route 28. Officer Britt then saw Jarrett quickly exit the motel parking lot and drive off in the opposite direction oh Route 28. Britt radioed to fellow officer Richard White, and the two officers unobtrusively tracked Jarrett, who was driving in excess of sixty miles per hour. Several minutes later, Jarrett exited into another parking lot off of Route 28. Officer White followed Jarrett off the exit while Officer Britt continued up the road and entered the parking lot from the opposite end. The parties dispute what happened next. The appellants claim that Officer Britt, now driving toward Jarrett, activated his lights and signaled for Jarrett to stop. Yet Jarrett continued driving directly toward Britt, who swerved abruptly and narrowly avoided a collision. Jarrett insists that Britt never activated his lights and that there was no near-collision. Both parties agree, however, that Jarrett proceeded to drive into an adjoining parking lot, where he ran into a cement post. Jarrett then exited the vehicle, scaled a nearby fence, and fled into a residential neighborhood.
At this point, two additional Yarmouth police officers joined the chase. Officer Cheryl Nugent Gomsey had clocked Jarrett driving over the speed limit while being followed by Officers White and Britt on Route 28, and also observed him hit the cement post and escape over the fence. Officer McClelland, the K-9 officer for the Yarmouth Police, was also radioed to the scene by Officer White, who reported (mistakenly, as it turned out) that he recognized Jarrett as a suspect in a prior armed robbery. Officer Gomsey arrived at the *143 scene shortly after Jarrett fled from the parking lot, and teamed with Officer McClelland and his dog Shadow to track and apprehend Jarrett.
After helping Shadow over the fence, Officer McClelland placed him on his customary 15-foot lead and followed closely behind as the dog tracked Jarrett. Officer Gomsey continued the pursuit at some distance behind McClelland and Shadow so as not to contaminate the scent. For approximately twenty minutes Shadow led the officers along a circuitous route through the residential neighborhood until McClelland spotted Jarrett standing in the middle of the road, approximately fifty yards away. Officer Gomsey had fallen too far behind to see McClelland, Shadow, or Jarrett, but she heard McClelland yell three times: “Stop, police, or I’ll send the dog.” McClelland testified that after he issued these warnings, Jarrett accelerated and disappeared around a corner. Only then, according to McClelland, did he release Shаdow with instructions to locate Jarrett and hold him.
Shadow is trained to execute the “bite and hold” technique upon release, meaning that he will bite and maintain his hold upon a suspect until the handler orders him to let go. Accordingly, a suspect who struggles with a dog trained to bite and hold may be bitten several times if the dog loses his grip and is forced to re-establish his hold. Yet the undisputed evidence at trial indicated that the vast majority of jurisdictions within the United States employ bite-and-hold policies. An alternative technique, not widely adopted, is the “circle and bark” method. A dog trained to circle and bark will circle his target, barking, until his handler arrives. The dog will bite only if the target then attempts to move outside the “circle”.
Because Shadow was trained to bite and hold, Officer McClelland knew with a high probability that if Shadow was released, he would bite the fleeing suspect. In fact, within thirty seconds of his release, Shadow apprehended Jarrett by biting him on the leg. Shadow was only out of McClel-land’s sight for those thirty seconds; as soon as McClelland found Shadow he commanded him to release Jarrett, and Shadow complied. An ambulance arrived within five minutes and transported Jarrett to a hospital, where he received stitches for cuts on his lower right leg. For the next two weeks Jarrett received daily medical treatment for his injuries; one year after the incident he still complained of pain and an inability to stand.
Not surprisingly, Jarrett recounts a different version of events. At trial, he testified that after finishing his shift at work, he picked up a ear that he had recently purchased. He claimed not to have noticed the police officers trailing him on Route 28, and further testified that he pulled off the road into the parking lot because he was experiencing brake problems and trying to find a place to slow down. Jarrett admitted seeing police lights shortly before hitting the cement post, but insisted that he never saw a police cruiser heading toward his car. According to Jarrett, he fled after hitting the cement post because “I was driving illegally for one. And I knew that ... if I got arrested, I was going to end up going to jail.” Indeed, the record indicates that prior to the events in question, a warrant for Jarrett’s arrest was issued after he failed to appear at a surrender hearing on a separate matter. However, both parties agree that the police officers pursuing Jarrett on December 16 were not aware of this outstanding arrest warrant.
After jumping the fence, Jarrett testified that he slipped and fell down, at which point he heard someone yell “Stop.” He rose to his feet, and again heard someone *144 yell, “Stop, or I’ll let the dog go.” Jarrett clаims that he stopped running and put his hands in the air. Soon thereafter, however, Shadow jumped on his back and bit him twice on the leg in response to verbal commands issued from someone Jarrett could not see. Jarrett was ultimately apprehended by officers McClelland and Gomsey and charged with several misdemeanor offenses: (1) operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license; (2) leaving the scene of an accident; (3) operating an uninsured motor vehicle; and (4) failing to stop for a police officer. He was also charged with several civil infractions: (1) operating an unregistered motor vehicle; (2) failing to yield at an interseсtion; (3) speeding; and (4) operating a motor vehicle with defective equipment.
II.
On December 11, 1997, Jarrett filed section 1983 claims against the Town of Yar-mouth and five Yarmouth police officers in the District Court of Massachusetts. Jarrett’s complaint alleged inter alia that Officer McClelland’s act of releasing Shadow constituted excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment, characterizing Shadow as an “instrument of potentially deadly force.” Jarrett sought compensatory and punitive damages from McClelland for his alleged use of excessive force, and punitive damages from Chief Chapman for tolerating a pattern and practice of excessive force by Officer McClelland.
The case proceeded to a jury trial, which the court divided into two phases. In the first phase of the trial, the jurors considered Jarrett’s excessive force claim against Officer McClelland. They ultimately returned a verdict for Jarrett, finding by a preponderance of the evidence that “Officer Peter McClelland used excessive force on Jerome Jarrett on 12/16/94.” However, the jury only awarded Jarrett one dollar in compensatory damages and no punitive damages. Although, as noted above, the Town of Yarmouth was not mentioned in either the jury instructions or on the verdict form, the jury, unprompted, appended to their verdict a recommendation that “the Town of Yarmouth be required from this time forward to .... retrain current K-9 units to use the find and bark method.” 3 Following the verdict, McClelland and Chapman moved for judgment as a matter of law, renewing the argument that they were entitled to qualified immunity.
The judge denied the motion, and the trial moved into its second phase, where the jury considered Jarrett’s claim for punitive damages against Chief Chapman. After hearing the evidence, the jury completed the verdict form for Phase II. In response to the first question — “Did defendant Peter McClelland act in accordance with the Town of Yarmouth (sic) policy and prоcedure when he released the dog on December 16, 1994?” — the jury answered “Yes.” As noted, the jury had earlier concluded in Phase I that Officer McClelland used excessive force in apprehending Jarrett on the night in question. See supra. These two findings, coupled with the jury’s admonition that the Town should retrain its dogs to use the find and bark method, suggest that the jury found the Town of Yarmouth’s bite and hold policy to be unconstitutional. The jury ultimately awarded Jarrett punitive damages in the amount of “all reasonable legal fees and expenses incurred by the plaintiffs attorney.” The defense objected, and the court ordered the jury to attach a specific dollar amount to their verdict. Aftеr further deliberation, the jury came back with a figure of *145 $50,000, and the trial court entered judgment for Jarrett in the amount of $1.00 for Phase I, and $50,000 for Phase II.
McClelland and Chapman subsequently filed post-trial motions for judgments as a matter of law, and, in the alternative, sought new trials under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b). The motions articulated two grounds for relief: 1) the two officers were entitled to qualified immunity, and 2) the evidence did not support the verdict in either phase of the trial. The district court denied these motions, and the defendants appealed.
III.
A. Jurisdiction
As a threshold matter, Jarrett argues that we lack jurisdiction to hear this appeal because the trial court failed to enter a final appealable judgment or order. Specifically, he points to the district court’s failure to make any formal disposition of his claims against Officer Gomsey, Officer Britt, Officer 'White, and the Town of Yarmouth. According to the appellant: “in a multi-defendant case such as this one where an appeal is taken from an order or judgment disposing of claims against less than all defendants, the appeal is premature and must be dismissed.”
Our jurisdiction is limited to “all
final decisions
of the district courts of the United States.”
United States v. Leichter,
Jarrett also claims, however, that the court failed to enter a verdict on Jarrett’s municipal liability claim against the Town of Yarmouth. We disagree. The district court properly entered judgment against Officer McClelland and Chief Chapman, both of whom were sued in their individual
and
official cаpacities. Jarrett himself argues that “[w]hen an individual is sued in his official capacity, the lawsuit is in reality a claim against the entity.”
*146
See Brandon v. Holt,
Upon closer examination, the jury’s award of punitive damages on the Phase II verdict form does not undermine the finality of the district court’s decision with respect to the Town. The proceedings below clearly reflect Jarrett’s intent to resolve the Monell municipal liability issue by soliciting the jury’s response to question one on the Phase II verdict form: “Did Peter McClelland act in accordance with the Town of Yarmouth policy and procedure when he released the dog on Decembеr 16, 1994?” The second question on the Phase II verdict form — “Has the plaintiff proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Chief Chapman permitted and tolerated a pattern and practice of unjustified, unreasonable and excessive force by Officer McClelland with respect to the latter’s deployment of Shadow?” — was then intended to resolve Chapman’s liability in his individual capacity for faulty supervision, and the punitive damages awarded related only to Chapman in his individual capacity.
The jury’s affirmative response to Question # 1, coupled with its earlier finding in Phase I that Officer McClelland used excessive force to apprehend Jarrett, established a basis for imposing liability on the Town for promulgating an unconstitutional policy — the precise disposition that Jarrett sought for his
Monell
claim. By entering judgment on both verdicts, the district court terminated litigation on the merits with respect to McClelland, Chapman and the Town,
see Vaughn,
B. The Alleged Constitutional Violation
1. The primacy of the constitutional question in the qualified immunity inquiry
After the jury issued its verdict against Chief Chapman in Phase II of the bifurcated proceedings, McClelland and Chapman moved for judgment as a matter of law, arguing inter alia that the verdicts against them could not stand because the two officers were entitled to qualified immunity. The district court denied their motions, and McClelland and Chapman now argue on appeal that these rulings were in error. “A district court’s denial of qualified immunity is a legal question that we review de novo.”
Davis v. Rennie,
2. Reconciling the jury verdicts
Before addressing the merits of the constitutional question, we must estabhsh the factual predicate for our inquiry by determining exactly what facts the jury found. As we observed in
Iacobucci v. Boulter,
In resolving this factual ambiguity, we note the jury’s explicit finding in Phase II that Officer McClelland acted in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Town of Yarmouth when he released Shadow. Nothing in the record suggests that Yarmouth policies permit an officer to command a police dog to attack a suspect who has already surrendered. In fact, the relevant regulations, which the defendants introduced at trial, tightly circumscribe the situations in which police officers may use force:
Non-deadly force 4 may be used by a рolice officer in the performance of his duty:
a) when necessary to preserve the peace, prevent commission of offenses, or prevent suicide or self-inflicted injury; or
b) when necessary to overcome resistance to lawful arrests, searches and seizures, and to prevent escapes from custody; or
e) when in self-defense, or defense of another against unlawful violence to his person or property.
These regulations cannot be construed to sanction the use of any force against a suspect who has surrendered peacefully. Hence, no reasonable jury could accept Jarrett’s vеrsion of the facts—that he had already surrendered when Officer McClelland released Shadow—and simultaneously conclude that McClelland acted in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Town of Yarmouth.
*148 Notably, Officer McClelland also testified during Phase I of the proceedings that additional department regulations compelled police dog handlers to announce “Stop, police, or I’ll release the dog” three times before releasing, and Officer Gomsey confirmed that this practice was “routine.” Both officers further testified that McClelland in fact issued these warnings before releasing Shadow on thе night in question. At trial, no witness contradicted the officers’ testimony regarding the existence and vitality of these regulations. Thus, if the jury ultimately found that McClelland acted in accordance with Yarmouth policies and procedures, they must have implicitly found that he issued the proper verbal warnings to Jarrett before releasing Shadow.
In the end, we can safely attribute the following factual findings to the jury: 1) Officer McClelland issued three verbal warnings to Jarrett before releasing Shadow, and 2) at the time McClelland released Shadow, Jarrett had not surrendered to the police, but was resisting arrest by fleeing. The jury nonetheless determined that the defendant’s use of force was excessive under the circumstances. We must now consider whether this verdict can stand as a matter of law.
3. Officer McClelland’s alleged use of excessive force
“Where ... the excessive force claim arises in the context of an arrest ... of a free citizen, it is most properly characterized as one invoking the protections of the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees citizens the right ‘to be secure in their persons ... against unreasonable ... seizures’ of the person.”
Graham v. Connor,
Because the test of reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application ... its proper application requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.
Id.
(internal quotation marks and citations omitted). In reviewing the conduct of law enforcement officials, “[t]he ‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.”
Id.
Because objective reasonableness is the touchstone of the excessive force inquiry, the constitutional and qualified immunity inquiries in this area are closely intertwined.
See Saucier,
Before turning to the
Graham
balancing test, we digress briefly to resolve an issue that has been lurking in the
*149
background throughout this litigation— namely, whether releasing a police dog trained to bite and hold constitutes a use of deadly force. The deadly/non-deadly distinction is significant in the Fourth Amendment context; under clearly established law, the use of deadly force is constitutional only if, at a minimum, a suspect poses an immediate threat to police officers or civilians.
See Tennessee v. Garner,
In the leading case of
Robinette v. Barnes,
Consequently, our constitutional inquiry is confined to the question of whether Officer McClelland exercised unreasonable non-deadly force in releasing Shadow to apprehend Jarrett. Taking into account the “jury’s discernible resolution of disputed factual issues,”
Iacobucci,
After finding these facts, the jurors determined that McClelland’s application of *150 the Town’s bite-and-hold policy was unreasonable, apparently because they found the policy itself to be unconstitutional. Their indictment of the bite-and-hold policy, however, finds no support in the case law. In a 1994 dog-biting cаse factually similar to the case at bar, the Ninth Circuit noted that
[w]hen the incident that led to the filing of this lawsuit occurred, the use of police dogs to search for and apprehend fleeing or concealed suspects constituted neither a new nor a unique policy. The practice was long-standing, widespread, and well-known. No decision of which we are aware intimated that a policy of using dogs to apprehend concealed suspects, even by biting and seizing them, was unlawful. At the time of the incident in question, the only reported case which had considered the constitutionality of such a policy had upheld that practice.
Chew v. Gates,
The jury thus had no basis to conclude that the Town of Yarmouth’s bite-and-hold policy was unconstitutional. Our determination that there is no record support for finding bite-and-hold policies unconstitutional on their face, however, still leaves open the question of whether the particular use of bite-and-hold force at issue here was excessive under the circumstances. Without excluding the importance of other factors, the
Graham
Court focused its reasonableness inquiry on three factors in particular: 1) whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight, 2) whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and 3) the severity of the crime at issue.
Graham,
In the final analysis, after reviewing McClelland’s actions without “the 20/20 vision of hindsight,”
Graham,
Our determination that Jarrett suffered no constitutional injury is dispositive of his municipal liability claim against the Town of Yarmouth. As the Supreme Court observed in
City of Los Angeles v. Heller,
[NJeither Monell ... nor any other of our cases authorizes the award of damages against a municipal corporation based on the actions of one of its officers when in fact the [court] has concluded that the оfficer inflicted no constitutional harm. If a person has suffered no constitutional injury at the hands of the individual police officer, the fact that the departmental regulations might have authorized the use of constitutionally excessive force is quite beside the point.
Id.
at 799,
IV.
We conclude that Officer McClelland did not violate Jarrett’s Fourth Amendment rights by using excessive force' to apprehend him on the night in question. In the absence of arty constitutional violation, the verdicts against Officer McClelland, Chief Chapman and the Town of Yarmouth must be vacated. The deсision of the district court is reversed, and this ease is remanded for entry of judgment in favor of defendants McClelland, Chapman, and the Town of Yarmouth.
It is so ordered.
Notes
. Jarrett also brought claims against Yar-mouth police officers Gerard Britt, Cheryl Nugent Gomsey, and Richard White, but did not pursue these claims at trial.
. The jury was not explicitly invited to issue a verdict with respect to the Town in either phase of the trial; indeed, neither the jury instructions nor the verdict forms expressly referenced the Town as a party. These omissions have created some dispute as to whether Jarrett properly preserved his municipal liability claim below. Close scrutiny of the record reveals that Jarrett's сounsel did preserve the Monell claim, anticipating that if jury verdicts against Chapman and/or McClelland were later reversed on grounds of qualified immunity notwithstanding the commission of a constitutional violation, Jarrett could still claim attorney’s fees from the Town if it was implicated in the violation. However, for the reasons that follow, we find that Jarrett’s municipal liability claim fails as a matter of law.
. Jarrett does not argue on appeal that the jury’s "recommendation” alone imposes liability on the Town or has any other binding effect.
. The regulations define non-deadly force as "that degree of force which in the circumstance is neither likely nor intended to cause great bodily harm." By contrast, deadly force is narrowly defined as force "inflicted by firearms.”