Chavez

Wesley Keat, a Riverside County deputy sheriff, appeals from a judgment entered against him on claims made pursuant to 42 United States Code section 1983 (section 1983) for compensatory and punitive damages, and from a postjudgment order awarding attorney fees. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

At approximately 6 p.m. on November 8, 1985, Keat was on patrol when he responded to a dispatch concerning a verbal argument between two males inside a particular residence in Thermal. On his arrival, he observed two males, Crescencio Chavez, Jr. (Chavez) and an unrelated neighbor, in the front yard of the Chavez residence, which is next door to the residence mentioned in the dispatch. Keat recognized that the addresses were different; nevertheless, when the two males went into the Chavez residence, Keat followed them into the house without knocking or announcing his presence.

Keat was met at the door by Chavez’s father, Crescencio Chavez, Sr. (Mr. Chavez). Keat pulled Chavez and his young son, Steven Chavez, out of a bathroom and down the hall into the living room. At that time a second officer, John Ammar, arrived at the house and came through the door into the…