FARGO, N.D. (AP) – A federal appeals court says three law enforcement officers who shot a Jamestown man after he came out of his apartment carrying a shotgun did not use excessive force.

Michael Partlow was hospitalized for about three weeks following the September 18, 2010 incident. Partlow later filed suit against the officers, who appealed after a federal judge failed to dismiss the complaint.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the officers should not face legal action.

Partlow said in his suit that he was bending down to place the gun on the ground when the officers opened fire. The appeals court said that even if the officers were mistaken about Partlow pointing the gun at them, their reaction was “objectively reasonable.”

Previously…

(CSi) The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that three Jamestown Police Department officers who were involved in a 2010 shooting will receive qualified immunity in a civil suit claiming excessive force was used.

Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability for civil damages as long as their actions do not violate constitutional rights.

On September 18, 2010, officers Joseph Stadler, Michael Craig and Sidney Mann fired shots at Michael Partlow after Partlow confronted them with a shotgun outside of his Jamestown apartment, after a night of drinking with his aunt and her boyfriend.

Partlow’s aunt told police he was suicidal and had a shotgun.

At Partlow’s trial in March 2012, Mann had testified that Partlow exited the apartment and “activated the mechanism loading a round into the chamber and bladed his body toward us and squared off the weapon at us.” The officers opened fire, hitting Partlow in the right eye, right forearm, both hands, left groin and hip and right shin.

The court found that the officers were “faced with these tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving circumstances,” and “the officers made a split-second decision to apply deadly force. Even if Partlow intended to do no harm to the officers as he moved the shotgun, the officers’ use of force was objectively reasonable.”

Partlow was convicted of terrorizing and given a two-year, suspended sentence.

The jury returned a special finding that in the course of committing the offense, Partlow did not inflict or attempt to inflict bodily injury upon another person, nor did he threaten imminent bodily injury with a firearm. By law these are the requirements for qualified immunity.

The case has been remanded to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings.