United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED June 30, 2021 No. 20-30442 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk

Carrington Jackson, on behalf of the minor child Travon Carter; Travis Watson, on behalf of the minor child Travon Carter; Phyllicia Carter, on behalf of the minor child Travon Carter; Cassandra Carter, on behalf of the minor child Travon Carter,

Plaintiffs—Appellants,

versus

Sidney J. Gautreaux, III, Sheriff, East Baton Rouge Parish; Shannon Broussard, Detective; Charles Montgomery, Detective; Scott Henning, Detective; Christopher Masters, Detective; Verner Budd, Sergeant; Michael Birdwell, Lieutenant,

Defendants—Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana USDC No. 3:17-CV-105

Before Davis, Duncan, and Oldham, Circuit Judges. Andrew S. Oldham, Circuit Judge: Travis Stevenson repeatedly slammed his vehicle into a police cruiser and a concrete pillar in front of an apartment building while yelling “Kill Case: 20-30442 Document: 00515920865 Page: 2 Date Filed: 06/30/2021

No. 20-30442

me!” to officers who were trying to control the scene. After making repeated but unsuccessful efforts to deescalate the situation and to disable Stevenson’s vehicle, officers shot and killed him. At summary judgment, the district court granted the officers qualified immunity. We affirm. I. At approximately 8:30 p.m. on February 23, 2016, Kimula Porter called 911 to report that her boyfriend, Travis Stevenson, physically assaulted her and her daughter with pepper spray, smashed a hole in the wall with a beer bottle, took her wallet, and fled from their shared apartment. After Stevenson left, he called and texted Porter to say he was going to commit suicide. Around 9:50 p.m., Michael Birdwell, a lieutenant in the East Baton Rouge Sherriff’s Office, located Stevenson. Stevenson was in a car, which was turned off and parked next to an apartment building. An SUV was parked to the left of Stevenson, an industrial-sized dumpster was on his right, and the building was directly in front of him. The Louisiana State Police (“LSP”) Criminal Investigation Division created a scale diagram of the scene:

2 Case: 20-30442 Document: 00515920865 Page: 3 Date Filed: 06/30/2021

No. 20-30442

Lieutenant Birdwell parked his patrol unit behind and perpendicular to Stevenson’s car, approached the driver’s side where Stevenson was seated, and knocked on the window. Stevenson ignored him at first, so Birdwell kept knocking. But then Stevenson turned on the car as if to drive away. Lieutenant Birdwell attempted to end the confrontation peacefully by using his pocketknife to break the driver’s-side window and remove Stevenson from the vehicle. Before Lieutenant Birdwell could remove Stevenson, however, Stevenson placed his car in reverse and slammed into the patrol unit so hard that it caused the patrol unit to crash into a nearby parked car and deployed its airbags. Detective Scott Henning arrived on the sce