Part of suit over Taser use by Woods Cross officer dismissed

WOODS CROSS — A federal judge has dismissed part of a lawsuit against the city and one of its police officers over the use of a Taser against a woman who claims she was unarmed.

But U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, in a decision issued this week, ruled that there are sufficient grounds for the Fourth Amendment excessive force claims raised by Shannon Cavanaugh to proceed to trial, and that a jury should decide whether Woods Cross is liable for the officer's alleged civil rights violations.

The city and Woods Cross police officer Daniel Davis had asked Campbell to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety.

Davis was one of several Woods Cross officers called to Cavanaugh's home on the night of Dec. 8, 2006, to investigate a domestic disturbance, according to court records. When officers arrived, Cavanaugh's husband told them she had left the home with a kitchen knife, court records state, and might be suicidal. Cavanaugh returned a short time later as Davis exited her home.

In a deposition, one of Cavanaugh's neighbors said he could clearly see her hands and she was not armed. The neighbor said he watched as Davis walked up behind Cavanaugh. He said the officer set his flashlight and clipboard on the ground and unholstered his Taser as the woman neared the front door of her home.

"When Ms. Cavanaugh went up her front steps and approached the door, officer Davis fired his Taser and hit Ms. Cavanaugh in the back," Campbell wrote in her ruling, citing the neighbor's deposition. "At no time did he order her to stop or attempt to physically restrain her."

After the Taser was deployed, Cavanaugh fell and struck her head on a concrete step. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, court records state, and claims to have no memory of the incident.

Davis maintains that he could not see Cavanaugh's hands and that she resisted his attempts to get her to identify herself and to take her into custody. In court records, he claims that he grabbed Cavanaugh's arm, but she broke free and ran from him.

Campbell said although Cavanaugh was suspected of assaulting her husband before police arrived, she was not violent when she returned home. The judge said the lack of threatening behavior, and the alleged absence of any warning by Davis before he Tasered Cavanaugh, stands in contrast to a 1997 ruling by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"It is excessive force to use a Taser to control a target without having any reason to believe that a lesser amount of force — or a verbal command — could not exact compliance," Campbell wrote, quoting the appellate court ruling.