FAYETTEVILLE -- A federal wrongful death lawsuit against Rogers police officers who shot a knife-wielding woman at a convenience store five years ago has been dismissed by a judge.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Fallon Frederick was shot to death Aug. 1, 2011, when three Rogers police officers responded to her 911 call for help in a convenience store at New Hope Road and Eighth Street.

Legal lingo Summary judgment A final decision by a judge, upon a party’s motion, that resolves a lawsuit before there is a trial. The party making the motion marshals all the evidence in its favor, compares it to the other side’s evidence, and argues that there are no “triable issues of fact.” Summary judgment is awarded if the undisputed facts and the law make it clear that it would be impossible for the opposing party to prevail if the matter were to proceed to trial. Source: nolo.com

Frederick was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and thought she was being followed or pursued, according to the lawsuit, which said she was cowering in the corner of the store with her purse and a knife when police arrived.

Officer Nick Torkelson then shocked Frederick with a stun gun, the suit said. The lawsuit contends she tried to get away, and officer Vence Motsinger shot her several times. Frederick then was handcuffed and died at the scene.

U.S. District Judge Tim Brooks granted a motion for summary judgment and dismissed the lawsuit July 25.

"Officer Motsinger's shooting of Ms. Frederick, though tragic, was not unreasonable," Brooks wrote in his opinion and order of dismissal. "Officer Motsinger had every reason to believe that Ms. Frederick posed an immediate threat of serious harm to both himself and his fellow officers. His use of deadly force to prevent the threat from materializing into something more was reasonable."

A motion to dismiss the case, filed in late May in U.S. District Court, contended Frederick wasn't cowering and that she had methamphetamine in her system.

The motion for summary judgment said the entire confrontation was captured on the store's video system and disproved the lawsuit's contentions. Brooks relied heavily on that video in forming his opinion.

The motion contended the officers repeatedly asked Frederick to put down the 4-inch folding knife and that they attempted to use a stun gun to subdue her, but one of the probes hit Frederick's purse.

Frederick then charged at the officers with the knife raised, running toward them down the 4-foot-wide, 15-foot-long aisle, according to the motion. The relevant question is whether the officers believed their lives or the lives of others were in danger at the moment the shots were fired, the motion said.

"When she starts charging toward Torkelson, at that moment I was in fear for his life," Motsinger told Arkansas State Police during an investigation of the shooting. "And then I was in fear for my life."

The motion also said the U.S. Supreme Court held last year in San Francisco v. Sheehan that shooting a mentally ill woman who threatened officers with a knife was objectively reasonable.

The Rogers lawsuit named the city, Motsinger, Torkelson and Scott Clifton, the third officer at the scene, in their individual and official capacities. The city was later dropped from the case.

The lawsuit said the three officers used unreasonably excessive and deadly force. The lawsuit also claimed the city failed to properly equip, train, supervise and control the officers regarding the use of force and techniques to properly restrain and control a person suffering from delusions and mental illness. Brooks dismissed those claims.

An investigation by the Benton County prosecutor's office determined the shooting by Motsinger was justified.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2013 by Frederick's brother. A notice of appeal has been filed.

Metro on 08/18/2016