COLE, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff-Appellee Dian Sabo filed this action against Defendant City of Mentor and Defendant-Appellant Mentor Police Officer Scott Tkach for violations of state and federal rights after Tkach shot and killed her husband, Richard Sabo, outside the Sabo residence. Tkach appeals the district court's denial of qualified immunity. Because genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgment in this case, we
The following facts are not in dispute:
On February 5, 2009, Dian Sabo ("Sabo") noticed her seventy-two-year-old husband, Richard Sabo ("Mr. Sabo") acting strangely. Believing that Mr. Sabo may be having a stroke, Sabo's granddaughter called 911. When paramedics responded to the call and attempted to give Mr. Sabo medical attention, he refused to cooperate, demanding that the paramedics leave his home and threatening to retrieve a firearm so he could shoot them. The paramedics retreated, asking Dian Sabo to accompany them, and radioed the Mentor Police Department for support. Knowing Mr. Sabo was armed, the arriving police established a defensive perimeter around the home.
Officer Tkach established the northern perimeter, positioning himself on the second
On the highest-ranking officer's request, Sabo called Mr. Sabo and told him to exit the house with his hands in the air, so that the officers could see he was unarmed. Although Mr. Sabo acted confused on the first call and did not answer the second, he exited the house a few minutes later holding a shotgun skyward at a forty-five degree angle, with the barrel in his left hand and the stock in his right. None of the officers spoke to Mr. Sabo or told him to drop the gun. While Mr. Sabo was walking down the driveway, Tkach fired a single shot, hitting Mr. Sabo's back and killing him.
As the district court noted, "[t]he events immediately surrounding the shooting are disputed":
Sabo v. City of Mentor, No. 1:10-CV-00345, 2010 WL 4008823 (N.D.Ohio Oct. 12, 2010) (unpublished disposition).
Sabo filed suit in the Lake County Court of Common Pleas, alleging violations of Mr. Sabo's Fourth Amendment rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and pendent state law claims, and defendants subsequently removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Following discovery, Defendants moved for summary judgment on the grounds that (1) both defendants were entitled to statutory immunity on the state law claims; (2) Tkach was entitled to qualified immunity on the section 1983 claim; and (3) the City of Mentor was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the section 1983 claim because Sabo had produced no evidence that a policy or procedure was the cause of any constitutional violation. The district court granted the motion as to the City of Mentor, but denied it as to Tkach, finding genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Tkach's use of force was supported by probable cause and whether Tkach's actions were reckless. Tkach filed this timely appeal.
Our analysis of Sabo's section 1983 claim begins and ends with jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1291 authorizes us to hear appeals only from "final decisions" of the district court. Collateral orders—that is, orders that "(1) conclusively determine [a] disputed question, (2) resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action, and (3) [will] be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment"—are final decisions for the purposes of § 1291. See Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 310, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132
Bomar v. City of Pontiac, 643 F.3d 458, 461 (6th Cir.2011) (footnote omitted).
Throughout his brief and oral argument before this Court, Tkach has maintained that Mr. Sabo pointed his gun in the direction of fellow police officers and civilians. Sabo heavily disputes this fact, arguing that Mr. Sabo never pointed the gun, and the district court, apparently using "aimed" interchangeably with "pointed,"
Tkach also appeals the district court's denial of statutory immunity on Sabo's state law claims. We have jurisdiction over an interlocutory order denying state statutory immunity when state law provides immunity from suit rather than immunity from liability. Chesher v. Neyer, 477 F.3d 784, 793 (6th Cir.2007). Ohio's immunity statutes were revised in 2003 to provide immunity from suit. Id. at 794 (citing Ohio Rev.Code § 2744).
We "review de novo a district court's denial of summary judgment based
Ohio provides immunity from suit to state employees of political subdivisions when those employees' activities are connected to governmental or proprietary functions, unless (1) the employee's acts were outside the scope of employment or official responsibilities; (2) the employee acted with a malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner; or (3) another section of the Ohio Revised Code expressly imposes liability. Ohio Rev.Code § 2744.03(A)(6). Ohio courts apply a presumption of immunity. Cook v. City of Cincinnati, 103 Ohio App.3d 80, 658 N.E.2d 814, 821 (1995).
Sabo argues, and the district court held, that there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Tkach acted recklessly in using deadly force, thus precluding immunity. "`Reckless' conduct refers to an act done with knowledge or reason to know of facts that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the conduct creates an unnecessary risk of physical harm and that this risk is greater than that necessary to make the conduct negligent." Shalkhauser v. City of Medina, 148 Ohio App.3d 41, 772 N.E.2d 129, 136 (2002). "The question of whether a person has acted recklessly is almost always a question for the jury." Burlingame v. Estate of Burlingame, Nos.2010-CA-00124 & 2010-CA-00130, 2011 WL 982490, at *9 (Ohio Ct.App. Mar. 21, 2011) (citing Hunter v. City of Columbus, 139 Ohio App.3d 962, 746 N.E.2d 246, 252 (2000)).
In perhaps the only relevant case to examine recklessness in the context of a police officer's use of deadly force, the Ohio Court of Appeals implied that, if an officer has probable cause to believe that a person poses an immediate threat of serious injury, the officer's use of deadly force against that person is not reckless. Kendzierski v. Carney, No. 22739, 2005 WL 3482397, at *7 (Ohio Ct.App. Dec. 21, 2005) (unpublished disposition). As noted above, the district court in this case found genuine issues of material fact regarding whether Tkach had probable cause to believe that Mr. Sabo posed an immediate threat to the safety of fellow officers, and we are without jurisdiction to review that determination. Because the resolution of the recklessness issue is heavily dependent upon the same disputed material facts as the probable cause analysis, see, e.g., Carpenter v. City of Cincinnati, No. C-1-99-227, 2003 WL 23415143, at *13 (S.D.Ohio Apr. 17, 2003) (unpublished disposition) (holding that under Ohio law, "if the trier of fact were to find that [the decedent] posed no immediate threat of harm to anyone else," then the officer's actions in shooting the decedent "were reckless at best"), the district court did not err in denying summary judgment on Sabo's state law claims.
For the foregoing reasons, Tkach's appeal of the denial of summary judgment on the section 1983 claim is