Torres v. Madrid

141 S. Ct. 989 (2021)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Four New Mexico State Police officers arrived at an apartment complex to execute an arrest warrant for a woman accused of white-collar crimes, but also “suspected of having been involved in drug trafficking, murder, and other violent crimes.” Officers observed P standing with another person near a Toyota FJ Cruiser in the parking lot. Officer Williamson concluded that neither P nor her companion was the target of the warrant. The companion departed, and P, experiencing methamphetamine withdrawal, got into the driver’s seat. The officers attempted to speak with her, but she did not notice their presence until one of them tried to open the door of her car. The officers wore tactical vests marked with police identification, but P saw only that they had guns. She thought the officers were carjackers trying to steal her car, and she hit the gas. Neither Officer stood in the path of the vehicle, but both fired their service pistols to stop her. Ds fired 13 shots striking her twice in the back and temporarily paralyzing her left arm. P accelerated through the fusillade of bullets, exited the complex, drove a short distance, and stopped in a parking lot. After asking a bystander to report an attempted carjacking, P stole a Kia Soul that happened to be idling nearby and drove 75 miles to Grants, New Mexico. The hospital in Grants was able to airlift her to another hospital where she could receive appropriate care. That hospital was back in Albuquerque, where the police arrested her the next day. P pleaded no contest to the criminal charges and then sued Ds under 42 U. S. C. §1983 for the deprivation of her constitutional rights. P claimed that Ds applied excessive force, making the shooting an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The District Court granted summary judgment Ds, and the Court of Appeals affirmed on the ground that “a suspect’s continued flight after being shot by police negates a Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim.” The Supreme Court granted certiorari.