Attorneys Brad Shwer, Andre Merrett, and Max Shanahan obtained summary judgment in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona on behalf of the City of Phoenix and Phoenix Police Officer Johnny Reid, resulting in dismissal of the entire lawsuit. See Gardner v. City of Phoenix, et al., No. CV-23-02120-PHX-MTL (DMF) (D. Ariz. Aug. 18, 2026).
The case arose out of a December 2022 incident in which Officer Reid and other Phoenix police officers responded to reports of an active shooter near a downtown bar. While advancing toward a suspect who had not yet been detained, Officer Reid moved a bystander out of the officers’ path; the bystander fell and was injured. The plaintiff sued Officer Reid and the City under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for excessive force, along with state law claims for assault, battery, and negligence.
The Court granted summary judgment in full, ruling in the defendants’ favor on every claim. The Court held that Officer Reid’s use of force was objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment given the high-risk, rapidly evolving circumstances, and — as an independent, alternative basis for dismissal — that Officer Reid was entitled to qualified immunity. The Court further held that the plaintiff’s state law claims against Officer Reid failed for lack of strict compliance with Arizona’s notice-of-claim statute, A.R.S. § 12-821.01(A), and that the City was statutorily immune from vicarious liability on the assault and battery claims under A.R.S. § 12-820.05(B). With no federal claims remaining, the Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s residual state law claim, and the case was dismissed and terminated in its entirety.