WEST PALM BEACH — A federal judge has dismissed some of the claims made against the City of Fort Pierce in litigation over the police shooting of an unarmed motorist, Demarcus Semer, during a traffic stop in 2016.
In her 17-page order issued Nov. 5, U.S. District Court Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, on the bench in Florida's Southern District, granted a motion filed by the City of Fort Pierce to dismiss charges in the third amended complaint filed by Cleo H. Smith, a personal representative of Semer's estate.
Rosenberg agreed to dismiss charges against the City, including claims that Fort Pierce was liable for "encouraging or condoning" its police officers to use so-called "Terry stop" tactics. The Terry stop, a law enforcement strategy in which law enforcement officers make a stop based upon reasonable suspicion that someone may had committed a crime, was established under the 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case, Terry v. Ohio.
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Other now-dismissed claims against the City in Semer's killing include the use of unreasonable force, that the city was vicariously liable in the battery Semer suffered at the time of his death, and failures to intervene in constitutional violations, training and supervision.
Battery and other claims remain intact against Fort Pierce Police Sgt. Brian MacNaught and Officer Keith Holmes. "Those counts are not the subject of the motion to dismiss and the court notes that Officer Holmes and Sergeant MacNaught have filed answers to the corrected third amended complaint," Judge Rosenberg's order said.
The city fired both officers in May 2017 after an internal investigation found the pair violated procedure during the April 2016 traffic stop when 21-year-old Semer died. Sergeant MacNaught allegedly shot Semer in the back after the young man had fled about 40 yards on foot, according to the background portion of Rosenberg's order.
In April, MacNaught won his appeal and got his job back. In July, the City of Fort Pierce was ordered to reinstate Holmes after an arbitrator found the officer had been fired without cause and that the department had not used any form of progressive discipline to correct misbehavior.
In the same month MacNaught got his job back, Smith filed against the City of Fort Pierce and both officers on claims of assault, battery and negligence.