Attorneys Adam Fitzpatrick, David Pliner and Jason Poje secured a dismissal by summary judgment for the City of Augusta and a police officer in a Federal case involving an officer-involved shooting.

On a cold, snowy day in March 2019, Augusta Police and the Eau Claire County Sheriff's Department responded to a call of a nude man acting strange on and around the caller's property.  Upon arrival, the officers encountered the offender, who was next to his car off the road.  They learned that he had previously been combative with police officers.  As the officers tried to talk to him, he kept walking further down the road, talking about his sins and his need to be baptized.

Upon reaching a creek, the decedent again disrobed.  When the officers ordered him to put his clothes back on for his own safety, he charged at the Augusta officer.  His assault continued, making efforts to choke and bite the officer, even as the Deputy Sheriff discharged his taser at the assailant.  When the Deputy Sheriff used OC spray, the assailant then attacked him, knocking him over and causing a herniated disc.  The assailant then attacked the Augusta officer again, trying again to choke him.  Unfortunately, the Augusta officer was forced to discharge his weapon once at the assailant, killing him.

In the face of allegations by the estate that the officers violated the decedent's civil rights and used excessive force, CLG attorneys set the stage through deposition testimony that highlighted the reasonableness of the officers' actions given the information they had at the time and the danger in which the assailant placed them.  Relying on criminal search and seizure case law, our attorneys presented the Court with multiple examples of legally justified police conduct to show that the officers in this case acted reasonably, used force necessitated by the assailant's conduct, and did not violate any of the decedent's civil rights.  We successfully convinced the Court that our motion for summary judgment should be granted, and the case was dismissed in its entirety.