CALIFORNIA DEPUTY HELD IMMUNE IN INJURY TO FLEEING BANK ROBBER.

Reversing a lower court, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 15 that a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy is immune from lawsuit by a bank robber who was left paraplegic after a being extracted from a crashed getaway car after an hour-long, high-speed chase.

"We conclude that hard pulling and twisting applied to extract a moving armed robbery suspect from a getaway car under these circumstances is a minimal intrusion on his Fourth Amendment interests," Judge Stephen Trott wrote for the three-judge panel in Johnson v. County of Los Angeles et al. (02-55881).

Upon arriving at the crash scene, deputies first pulled the driver, Myron Edwards, over the front seat and out of the car through the back door and through the back door because the front door wouldn't open.

The back of the front seat reclined in the process, pinning James Johnson III's legs. Deputy Michael Woodard then pulled him out.

At some point, Johnson had suffered a back injury, and he was left paraplegic. He filed a civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983, which allows individuals to recover damages from officials who deprive them of their federally protected rights "under color of law."

A federal judge dismissed most of his claims but said the question of whether Woodard knew or should have known Johnson had suffered a back injury was an issue of fact precluding summary judgment. Woodard appealed.

Reversing the lower court, the Ninth Circuit said the deputy was entitled to qualified immunity from lawsuit because he hadn't violated Johnson's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.