Davis

Once again we confront the question whether a police officer’s use of force during the arrest of an unarmed citizen was sufficiently excessive to violate the citizen’s clearly-established constitutional rights. Officer David Miller of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call from the Las Vegas Club Hotel & Casino informing him that security personnel had encountered Frankie Davis reading a magazine in an area of the Casino not open to the public. After Davis, who had been handcuffed by Casino employees and remained handcuffed throughout his encounter with Officer Miller, refused to consent to being searched by the officer, Miller slammed him head-first into a wall several times, pinned him against the floor, and punched him in the face. At some point during this encounter, Miller fractured Davis’s neck. Davis was unarmed at all times.

Davis filed suit against Officer Miller and other defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , alleging that Miller used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment in effecting his arrest. He also brought a claim against Miller under Nevada’s battery statute. The district court granted Miller’s motion for summary…