Higgins v. Zion

Issues: (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit erred when it disregarded the holding in Plumhoff v. Rickard and concluded that even though the use of deadly force initially was reasonable and required, it arguably was not objectively reasonable for petitioner, over the course of mere seconds in a rapidly evolving and dangerous and tense sequence of events, to continue to use deadly force until the threat had completely ended in response to a 911 call of a violent, knife-wielding suspect who had just knifed two individuals and was in the process of mortally wounding another deputy with the knife and then fleeing toward the entrance to a residence while still in possession of the knife with residents in the immediate vicinity of the heavily residential neighborhood; (2) whether the lower court erred in denying qualified immunity by finding the use of force was not reasonable as a matter of law or that petition should have been on notice that that law was clearly established that the use of force was unreasonable where, under respondent's own facts, the suspect had viciously stabbed three people, including responding officer Deputy Lopez, which petitioner witnessed, and where Deputy Lopez lay bleeding on the ground, perhaps mortally wounded, with bystanders in the area and no other officers present to assist or support petitioner while the decedent was still armed with a knife; and (3) whether the lower court erred when it concluded that petitioner, in using deadly force to end the immediate threat posed by the violent, knife-wielding suspect, and in delivering three head blows, arguably acted with a purpose to harm unrelated to legitimate law enforcement objectives.