(CN) — A federal judge in Utah dismissed claims that West Valley City Police officers violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a man who suffered traumatic brain injuries after being tased and told to stay in the middle of a street, where a car ran him over.
U.S. District Judge David Barlow, in his order filed on Thursday, dismissed a majority of the claims filed by Antonio Sivatia’s mother, Nonnie Masaniai Pea — who sued on behalf of her son in 2021 — finding that West Valley City Officer Ammon Fox didn’t violate Sivatia’s constitutional rights when he tased him, and that the plaintiffs didn’t analyze the West Valley City Police Department’s policies and training to see if officers do have adequate training.
However, Barlow, a Donald Trump appointee, declined to also dismiss the family’s unnecessary rigor claim stemming from Fox and other officers leaving the tased Sivatia in the road where he was struck by an oncoming car. Sivatia survived, but is no longer able to walk, talk in complete sentences, or perform any other daily living activities.
“Plainly, detaining a suspect in the middle of a dark and busy road exposes the suspect to a substantial risk of serious injury. Thus, the only question is whether the officers had a reasonable justification,” he wrote.
The record is silent on why Fox didn’t just move Sivatia away from the road, Barlow said.
Utah’s state constitution includes a clause protecting people who are arrested from unreasonable seizures and having to suffer unreasonably harsh, strict, or severe treatment, including being exposed to the increased risk of serious harm.
The defendants argued that Sivatia has no standing to claim unnecessary rigor from being tased, and that Fox shined a light towards oncoming traffic while Sivatia was on the ground, increasing his visibility, and that another officer, James Williams, was justified in not blocking oncoming traffic because a civilian’s car was blocking traffic at one point, but left after the he already exited his vehicle.
The defendants also argued, even assuming there was a violation of the law, it wasn’t “sufficiently flagrant to rise to a damages claim” because “it was not clearly established law that detaining a suspect in the middle of a dark busy street violated the unnecessary rigor clause.”
Barlow did not buy that argument.
Whether Fox’s flashlight was enough, or if there was any reasonable justification for why he didn’t move Sivatia out of the dark, busy, street, or why the Williams didn’t move him, or block oncoming traffic himself, are questions best decided by a jury, Barlow said.
The plaintiffs say in their complaint that, in 2020, Fox was called out late at night to respond to reports of a man causing a commotion and yelling. That man was Atonio Sivatia.
Fox fired his taser at Sivatia when Savitia saw him and began walking away onto a street. The plaintiffs say Sivatia dropped to the ground in the middle of the street and was told to stay there, lying on the ground, or risk being tased again.
Detained, but not under arrest, Sivatia stayed on the ground in what the plaintiffs say was a dimly lit, busy road just after midnight, without officers attempting to block oncoming traffic, even after a car nearly missed hitting him shortly after he was tased.
As more officers came to the scene and discussed their next steps, a white sedan driven by what the plaintiffs refer to in their complaint to as a nurse who “had been drinking and had blood drawn for testing,” struck Sivatia, dragging him 15 feet.
In dismissing a majority of the claims, Barlow wrote “Officer Fox acted reasonably in tasing Mr. Sivatia. While Mr. Sivatia’s completed or attempted crimes likely were minor, Mr. Sivatia was fleeing arrest in a manner that posed a significant and imminent risk to the public.”
It was not unreasonable to seize Mr. Sivatia with a taser in order to prevent him from purposefully jumping in front of traffic and thereby potentially seriously injuring both one or more motorists and himself. Therefore, Officer Fox did not violate the Fourth Amendment when he tased Mr. Sivatia,” he added.
Sivatia and his family sued Fox, the other officers at the scene, and the West Valley City Police in federal court in Utah for excessive force claims, misconduct, failure to train, unlawful, deficient policies, unnecessary rigor and other claims.
Attorneys for both Sivatia and Fox did not immediately respond to requests for comment.