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Civil Procedure Keyed to Counsellor, 3rd Ed.
Tolan v. Cotton
Citation:
134 S. Ct. 1861 (2014)Facts
On December 31, 2008, at approximately 2:00 a.m., Officer Edwards observed Robert Tolan and his cousin Anthony Cooper parking a black Nissan SUV and entering a residence. When Edwards attempted to enter the vehicle’s license plate number into his computer, he made a typographical error that caused the system to identify the vehicle as stolen. Edwards drew his weapon, ordered Tolan and Cooper to the ground, and accused them of stealing the car. Tolan’s parents emerged from the house in their pajamas and attempted to explain that Tolan was their son, Cooper was their nephew, and the vehicle belonged to the family. Sergeant Cotton arrived as backup and ordered Tolan’s mother to stand against the garage door. The parties dispute what happened next: Tolan’s family testified that Cotton grabbed his mother’s arm and slammed her against the garage door with enough force to bruise her and cause her to fall. Seeing this, Tolan rose to his knees (or feet, according to officers) and exclaimed, “Get your fucking hands off my mom.” Without warning, Cotton drew his pistol and fired three shots at Tolan from 15-20 feet away, one of which punctured Tolan’s right lung and liver, causing permanent injury.
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