Christopher Watson v. City of Bonney Lake

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiff Christopher Watson appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, Officers Koehn and Kocher, on his claim that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they used force to enter his home without a warrant. We review de novo the district court’s grant of summary judgment and we must reverse if, when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Watson, there remains a genuine dispute of material fact. Martin v. City of Oceanside, 360 F.3d 1078, 1081 (9th Cir.2004).

The officers approached Watson outside of his home and placed him under arrest, believing at the time that he was an individual named “Jeff Ross,” for whom there was an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor offense. After receiving an initial verification of his identity, the officers unhandcuffed Watson and instructed him to retrieve his driver’s license from his home to prove that he was not, in fact, Jeff Ross. Watson’s evidence and the defendants’ evidence differ on what happened next. Because the case was decided on summary judgment, we must review de novo taking the facts most favorable to Watson. According to Watson’s version of the facts,…