Estate of Ceaser Stinson v. Joel Streicher

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, personal injury lawyer represented the Plaintiff on a civil rights violation theory under 42 U.S.C. 1983.

Deputy Joel Streicher of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office caused a fatal auto acci-
dent while on patrol in his unmarked sheriff’s vehicle. Driving within the speed limit, he approached a controlled intersection as the light turned yellow and then red. But he missed the light change. He was looking down at his cellphone or dashboard computer, so he neither slowed down nor stopped. Instead, he ran the red light, striking a vehicle lawfully passing through the intersection. Ceaser Stinson, the driver of the other car, was killed.

It’s well established that an auto accident caused by a law-enforcement officer is not actionable as a due-process violation unless the officer’s conduct was so egregious that it shocks the conscious. County of Sacramento v. Lewis, 523 U.S. 833, 846 (1998). This standard, in turn, requires the plaintiff to show that the officer intended to cause injury or was deliberately indifferent to impending harm—i.e., that he had actual
knowledge of imminent harm and consciously refused to prevent it. Id. at 848–54; Lisby v. Henderson, 74 F.4th 470, 472–73 (7th Cir. 2023); Flores v. City of South Bend, 997 F.3d 725, 729 (7th Cir. 2021); Hill v. Shobe, 93 F.3d 418, 421 (7th Cir. 1996)

Motion for summary judgement denied.

Reversed