Donna Klecka v. Daniel Cox , 696 F. App'x 311 ( 2017 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
AUG 22 2017
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
DONNA KLECKA, No. 16-35261
Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 3:14-cv-00129-JWS
v.
MEMORANDUM*
DANIEL COX,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Alaska
John W. Sedwick, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted August 17, 2017**
Anchorage, Alaska
Before: GRABER, CLIFTON, and M. SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Donna Klecka appeals the district court’s grant of summary
judgment, based on qualified immunity, to Defendant Daniel Cox. Like the district
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
court, we conclude that Defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, and therefore
summary judgment was appropriate. Accordingly, we affirm.
Plaintiff did not satisfy her burden of proving that Defendant’s conduct
violated a clearly established constitutional right. Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S.
223, 231 (2009). First, Plaintiff failed to prove that Defendant acted in an
objectively unreasonable manner given the circumstances. Sandoval v. Las Vegas
Metro. Police Dep’t, 756 F.3d 1154, 1166 (9th Cir. 2014). Plaintiff was actively
resisting arrest, at one point evading another officer’s grip with a loose handcuff
attached to her wrist. It was not unreasonable for Defendant to perceive this action
as a potential threat and respond accordingly. Further, Defendant was not on notice
that he was responding with an unreasonable amount of force. Brooks v. Clark
County, 828 F.3d 910, 920 (9th Cir. 2016). Not only have we found similar uses of
force to be appropriate in comparable situations, see Tatum v. City of San
Francisco, 441 F.3d 1090, 1096 (9th Cir. 2006), but Plaintiff cites no case law to
demonstrate that it was clearly established that such conduct violated her
constitutional rights.
AFFIRMED.
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