No immunity for officer accused of shooting man in genitals with Taser

(CN) — A jury must decide if a former Arizona police officer used excessive force when he shot a man in the testicles with a Taser as his two minor children stood by watching and crying, a federal judge ruled in a court order unsealed Wednesday.

Johnny Wheatcroft and his family sued the city of Glendale, then-Officer Matthew Schneider and two other officers in 2018, claiming Schneider repeatedly used a Taser on Wheatcroft after he was handcuffed and detained following a traffic stop. Wheatcroft said he spent months in jail for resisting arrest before the charges were dismissed.

Body camera video shows officers approach Wheatcroft’s vehicle in a Motel 6 parking lot just after dusk on July 26, 2017. Schneider asks Wheatcroft and his wife, who was driving, to hand over ID. The officer said the car failed to use a turn signal when entering the parking lot.

Wheatcroft, a passenger, told the officer he did nothing wrong and refused to provide ID. Schneider then said he would take Wheatcroft to the police station. Schneider accused Wheatcroft of stuffing something between the car seats or in a bag by his feet, which Wheatcroft denied. Schneider then opened the passenger door, placed his Taser on Wheatcroft’s shoulder and told Schneider to relax his arm and stop tensing up.

According to Wheatcroft’s lawsuit, Schneider used his Taser on Wheatcroft 11 times. Body camera video shows Wheatcroft lying face down on the pavement with his shorts pulled down while Schneider deploys his Taser in an area that appears to be close to Wheatcroft's genitals. The man’s children can be seen and heard crying and screaming, “No, daddy.”

The Glendale Police Department suspended Schneider for three days following an internal investigation into the incident.

This past September, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office charged Schneider, who retired from the force in 2020, with three criminal counts of aggravated assault. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office previously declined to press charges against the officer. The case was reopened in 2020 after police body camera video was released in 2019.

In Wheatcroft’s civil suit against the city, Glendale had argued its officers were entitled to qualified immunity. They asked U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi to issue summary judgment in their favor.

In a 41-page ruling unsealed Wednesday, Liburdi rejected the city’s motion on claims of excessive force, civil rights violations and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The judge concluded a jury must decide if Wheatcroft was resisting arrest and if Schneider’s use of the Taser was justified.

“Under the version of facts as told by plaintiffs, Wheatcroft offered no resistance to the officers,” Liburdi wrote. “The videos of the incident reflect Wheatcroft verbally telling the officers he is not resisting.”

Liburdi found Wheatcroft’s deposition testimony provides additional evidence that a jury could rely on to conclude he was not resisting.

Wheatcroft testified he was not “pulling away” when Schneider asked him to stop tensing his arm, that he was not “opposing the force” Schneider was applying and that he “didn’t resist at all."

But the ruling wasn't all good news for Wheatcroft. Liburdi granted summary judgment in the city’s favor on claims that Schneider retaliated against Wheatcroft for his speech.

“Assuming that … a First Amendment right to refuse to identify himself during an investigatory stop exists, the right is not clearly established so Officer Schneider is entitled to qualified immunity,” Liburdi wrote.

Wheatcroft also argued officers had no right to detain him for merely pulling into a parking lot, but the officers say they had reasonable suspicions due to the “location’s criminal history” and the fact that Wheatcroft was “reaching into a bag at his feet” when they stopped him.

The judge found those factors supported a reasonable suspicion to detain Wheatcroft. Liburdi also concluded officers had sufficient cause to arrest Wheatcroft because he “tensed up and resisted” when they tried to remove him from the vehicle. Evidence showing Wheatcroft kicked Schneider after his hands were cuffed provide further cause for arrest, the judge ruled.

Liburdi threw out a claim of malicious prosecution, finding no evidence that a grand jury indictment against Wheatcroft for assaulting an officer and resisting arrest was obtained through fraud, perjury or bad-faith conduct.

Additionally, Liburdi rejected Wheatcroft’s demand to hold the city liable for the officers’ conduct, citing a lack plausible evidence that the city failed to properly train its officers or that it maintained unlawful policies or customs.

Wheatcroft had argued Glendale police had a practice of wrongly stopping vehicles for turn signal violations, but because he never claimed the traffic stop was unlawful he could not claim to be a victim of such a practice, the judge concluded.

Wheatcroft’s lawsuit will now advance to the next stage — a jury trial — on claims of excessive force, civil rights violations and infliction of emotional distress, unless a settlement is reached before then.

The Glendale City Attorney’s Office and Wheatcroft’s lawyer, Jody Lynn Broaddus, did not immediately return emails and phone calls requesting comment Wednesday.

Follow @NicholasIovino

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit