Charles F. Holland et al. v. Cheatham County et al.

In this action filed pursuant to 42 United States Code § 1983, the plaintiffs alleged that the defendant law enforcement officers had violated one plaintiff’s constitutional rights by using excessive force when the officers shot and injured him at the scene of a “road rage” incident that did not involve the injured plaintiff. The defendants subsequently moved for summary judgment, arguing that the officers’ use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances because the injured plaintiff had appeared at the scene of the road rage investigation suddenly and without warning, had approached the officers rapidly, and had been armed with a rifle. Following a hearing, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and dismissed the action with prejudice, determining, inter alia, that the officers’ use of deadly force had been objectively reasonable. The plaintiffs timely appealed. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.