# Carabajal v. City of Cheyenne, WY

> Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · February 6, 2017 · 847 F.3d 1203

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871893

## Case

- **Full name:** Mathew CARABAJAL, A/K/A Mathew K. Carabajal Jacoby; V.M.C., a Minor by and Through His Parents and Next Friends, Mathew Carabajal and Ariana Martinez, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF CHEYENNE, WYOMING; Officers Josh Thornton; Michael Sutton, in Their Individual Capacities, Defendants-Appellees, and Cheyenne Police Department; Officers Pat Johnston; Matthew Colson, Defendants
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- **Decided:** February 6, 2017
- **Citations:** 847 F.3d 1203; 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 2084; 2017 WL 474324
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Matheson
- **Judges:** Kelly, Matheson, McHUGH
- **Cited by:** 120 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871893

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding no excessive force violation when an officer fired two shots at a fleeing suspect’s vehicle, where the officer “warned [the suspect] not to start the car or he would shoot,” and where the suspect’s vehicle then “began advancing toward” the officer
- concluding the officer reasonably perceived a threat of imminent harm when that officer was standing directly in the path of an oncoming vehicle and shot the driver
- declining to address issue, and instead holding that qualified immunity shielded officer who fired his weapon at a car full of people because the law was unclearly established as to whether a passenger could be seized
- recognizing that “a hint as to what the law may be cannot substitute for clearly established law”
- stating that “the sufficiency of a complaint is a question of law”

## Opinion text

MATHESON, J.,
concurring
I join the panel opinion regarding Mr. Carabajal’s excessive force claims and Plaintiffs’ negligent hiring claim. As to V.M.C.’s unreasonable seizure claim, I concur in the result on the following ground: Whether or not Y.M.C. was seized, see Brendlin v. California, 551 U.S. 249, 261 , 127 S.Ct. 2400 , 168 L.Ed.2d 132 (2007) (recognizing that both passengers and drivers are seized when police use force to stop a car), it follows from our conclusion that Officer Thornton acted reasonably that any seizure of V.M.C. was reasonable.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9871893. Public record. Not legal advice.