John Adams Cathy Adams v. Paul Speers v. Merced County Sheriff's Department California Highway Patrol County of Merced Mark Pazin, Merced County Sheriff Coroner

473 F.3d 989 John ADAMS; Cathy Adams, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Paul SPEERS, Defendant-Appellant, v. Merced County Sheriff's Department; California Highway Patrol; County of Merced; Mark Pazin, Merced County Sheriff Coroner, Defendants. No. 05-15159. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted December 4, 2006. Filed January 10, 2007. Scott H. Wyckoff, Deputy Attorney General of the State of California, Sacramento, CA, for the defendant-appellant. Jacques LeBoeuf, Oakland, California; Randal W. Hooper, Oakland, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Lawrence J. O'Neill, Magistrate Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-02-05741-LJO. Before NOONAN, HAWKINS, and THOMAS, Circuit Judges. NOONAN, Circuit Judge. 1 Paul E. Speers, an officer in the California Highway Patrol (CHP), appeals the district court's denial of immunity in this civil rights suit by John and Cathy Adams. Holding that, on the basis of the facts submitted by the Adamses, Speers is not entitled to immunity as a matter of law, we affirm the judgment of the district court. FACTS 2 Preliminary to statement of the facts, we note…