Torres

MEMORANDUM **

Correctional officer Lawrence Runyon (“Runyon”) shot and killed inmate Solomon Eli Torres a.k.a. David Solomon Torres (“Torres”) from an observation tower during a prison yard melee between two prison gangs involving eighteen inmates of California’s High Desert State Prison. Torres’ estate filed an action alleging several federal constitutional claims including the excessive use of force, and a state wrongful death claim.

Runyon brings this interlocutory appeal from the district court’s denial of his motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 for interlocutory appeals from the denial of qualified immunity in a claim of excessive force involving disputed facts. Marquez v. Gutierrez, 322 F.3d 689, 692 (9th Cir.2003) (citing Jeffers v. Gomez, 267 F.3d 895, 910 (9th Cir.2001)). We reverse the district court’s denial of Runyon’s motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds.

We analyze qualified immunity with two separate and sequential inquiries following the familiar framework established in Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 , 121 S.Ct. 2151 , 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). The threshold inquiry is…