Deadly Force, Liability and Negligence Highlight Circuit Court Decision in Nevada Case

Legal Issues and Case Law

Fourth Amendment, excessive force, qualified immunity
The Graham factors and the use of deadly force
Fourteenth Amendment deprivation of a familial relationship
A constitutional violation prerequisite for Monell liability
Battery and negligent wrongful death actions under Nevada law
 

Rule: Whether deadly force used by a police officer is constitutionally lawful depends upon whether it was objectively reasonable for the officer to believe that the amount of force employed was required by the situation. A reasonable, even though mistaken, belief that deadly force is necessary under the circumstances precludes any civil liability on the part of a police officer. An officers’ actions in killing an uncooperative suspect must “shock the conscious” for Monell (employing entity) relief to be available. A Nevada state action for battery and negligent wrongful death under state law applies only when the officers acted in bad faith.

Facts: Around midnight on Oct. 27, 2018, several people called 911 to report a man walking around a Las Vegas residential neighborhood carrying what appeared to be a “slim jim,” “long stick,” or “machete.” The man, later identified as Lloyd Gerald Napouk, was seen talking to himself, rising his fist at parked cars, pointing the object he was carrying at houses, and going into backyards and peering into windows of some of the residences. Two separate Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers responded. After talking with one of the people who called 911, the officers found Napouk, wearing headphones, on an adjacent street as he walked out from between houses. It appeared to the officers that he was carrying a machete as the lights in the area reflected off what appeared to be a metallic blade. The officers exited their patrol cars with guns drawn, asked him what he was carrying, and ordered him to put it on the ground. Napouk ignored them.  

As the officers used their patrol cars as a buffer between him and themselves, Napouk followed the officers around the cars while waiving the weapon in the air. Warned that he would be shot if he didn’t drop the weapon, Napouk told the officers to go ahead and shoot him. One of the officers radioed for a beanbag shotgun and a canine unit, neither of which arrived in time to be of any ....