Barnes v. Felix

Ashtian Barnes was driving a car his girlfriend rented, which had unpaid toll fees. Constable Felix stopped him. When the car started to pull away, Constable Felix decided to stand on its runner and fire his gun into the car before he could even see inside. Then, he fired a second shot. A bullet struck Mr. Barnes in the head and he died. Mr. Barnes's mother filed a lawsuit claiming that Constable Felix violated her son's constitutional rights by killing him. The district court granted Constable Felix qualified immunity. The Fifth Circuit agreed, holding that the reasonableness of a police seizure is determined based only on the "moment of threat." In other words, all that mattered was that Constable Felix was in danger the instant he opened fire: it didn't matter that Constable Felix put himself in harm's way by stepping onto Mr. Barnes's moving car, nor that he killed Mr. Barnes over unpaid toll fees.