Federal Appeals Court decides in favor of Pineville police officers in shooting lawsuit

A split 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Pineville police officers in a lawsuit challenging the shooting of Timothy Rochell Caraway in 2020. The officers fired 12 shots at Caraway, hitting him four times, as they believed he was waving a gun. Caraway survived and sued the city and officers, claiming his constitutional rights were violated. US District Judge Frank Whitney ruled in favor of the officers in November 2022, granting them qualified and public official immunity. The appellate court affirmed the decision, stating that the officers’ use of deadly force was reasonable as Caraway’s gun was pointed at them. However, dissenting judge Rossie David Alston Jr. argued that Caraway was complying with officer commands to drop his weapon when he was shot and that the officers’ response was unreasonable. Alston raised concerns that Caraway had no real choice in the situation and that the officers’ actions were not in line with the intent of federal law. Despite the split decision, the court’s ruling ultimately upheld the officers’ use of force in the shooting of Caraway, highlighting the complexities of assessing such incidents and the standards of reasonableness that guide law enforcement actions.

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