Civil Rights: §1983-Excessive Force-Use of Police Canine

Staff Report//March 6, 2026//

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Plaintiff appealed the grant of summary judgment to defendants. Plaintiff was fleeing from defendants, who were executing plaintiff’s arrest warrant for murder. Without issuing a warning, an officer released a police canine to subdue plaintiff, which bit and held plaintiff until officers could handcuff him. The district court granted summary judgment for defendants, finding that officers had not used excessive force and thus did not violate clearly established rights.

Where plaintiff raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the officer violated a clearly established right by releasing the police canine before warning plaintiff, the court partially reversed the grant of summary judgment to defendants.

Judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Cameron v. City of Des Moines (MLW No. 84409/Case No. 24-3383 – 14 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Gruender, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa, Rose, J. (Adam Clifford Witosky, Des Moines, IA for appellant; Matthew M. Boles, Des Moines, IA on the brief) (John O. Haraldson, Des Moines, IA for appellees)