Summary
The Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Sergeant Dustin Miller in Joshua Hollamon’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 excessive-force action arising from the use of pepperballs during a pipeline-construction protest. The court assumed without deciding that Hollamon was seized and held that Miller’s use of force was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances and protected by qualified immunity. A concurring opinion would have affirmed solely because the evidence did not establish that the pepperball deployment constituted a seizure.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Sergeant Miller's firing of pepperballs at Hollamon constituted a seizure under the Fourth Amendment.
- Whether Sergeant Miller's use of pepperballs was objectively unreasonable excessive force under the Fourth Amendment.
- Whether Sergeant Miller was entitled to qualified immunity.
- Whether Hollamon could maintain a Monell claim against the County of Wright.
Holdings
- The court assumed without deciding that a seizure occurred and resolved the appeal on the reasonableness of the force.
- Sergeant Miller's use of pepperballs was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances and therefore did not violate Hollamon's Fourth Amendment rights.
- On this record, the pepperballs were not deadly force.
- Sergeant Miller was entitled to summary judgment and qualified immunity because Hollamon failed to establish a constitutional violation and, in any event, the unlawfulness of Miller's conduct was not clearly established.
- The County of Wright was not liable under Monell because Hollamon failed to assert the claim in the district court and, alternatively, there was no underlying constitutional violation.
Key quotations
“We evaluate the use of force based on an objective reasonableness standard, undertaking “a fact-intensive inquiry.”” (4)
“Here, we conclude Sergeant Miller’s use of force was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances.” (5)
“Sergeant Miller’s use of pepperballs against Hollamon was reasonable under these circumstances, and he is thus entitled to summary judgment.” (8)
Factual background
During a July 2021 protest against pipeline construction in northern Minnesota, Hollamon and other protesters breached an outer barbed-wire fence and entered a restricted area between two fences. The protesters had been warned not to cross, continued advancing toward the construction site and officers, and attempted to breach the inner fence while carrying equipment used to lock themselves to machinery. Sergeant Miller fired pepperballs from a distance, later switched to chemical spray, and Hollamon was eventually arrested after continuing to participate in the protest and attempting to flee officers.
Procedural history
Hollamon sued Sergeant Miller and the County of Wright after Miller fired pepperballs during a pipeline-construction protest. The district court granted summary judgment for Miller, concluding that Miller did not seize Hollamon and that, even if a seizure occurred, Miller was entitled to qualified immunity; it declined supplemental jurisdiction over Hollamon's state-law assault and battery claims. The Eighth Circuit affirmed.