Peters v. Woodbury County (979 F. Supp. 2d 901, 2013)

United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa 2013-10-25

Citations

Full opinion text

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO EXCLUDE EXPERT TESTIMONY AND REPORT OF DONALD LEACH, II, AND DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

MARK W. BENNETT, District Judge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION........................................................910

A. Factual Background For Summary Judgment..........................910

1. Peters’s arrest and booking.......................................911

2. Events upon arrival at the holding cell............................912

3. Escalation of the incident in the holding cell.......................912

4. Subsequent events...............................................913

B. Factual Background For The Motion To Exclude Expert Evidence.....914

C. Procedural Background..............................................916

1. Peters’s claims..................................................916

2. The pending motions.............................................917

II. PETERS’S MOTION TO EXCLUDE EXPERT TESTIMONY AND TO STRIKE EXPERT REPORT...........................................917

A. Arguments Of The Parties............................................918

B. Analysis............................................................918

1. Applicable standards.............................................918

2. Application of the standards......................................920

a. Peters’s “reliability” challenge................................920

b. Peters’s “relevancy” challenge................................921

C. Summary...........................................................925

III. THE DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT.............925

A. Summary Judgment Standards................ 926

B. Challenges Based On Qualified Immunity............ 926

1. Standards for qualified immunity.................................926

2. The “violation of privacy rights” claim............................929

a. Source of the right...........................................930

i. Arguments of the parties...............................930

ii. Analysis..............................................930

b. Nature of the conduct.........................................931

i. Arguments of the parties...............................931

ii. Analysis..............................................932

iii. Summary.............................................940

c. Violation of the right.........................................940

i. Arguments of the parties...............................940

ii. Analysis..............................................941

iii. Summary.............................................945

d. “Clearly established” right ...................................945

i. Arguments of the parties...............................945

ii. Analysis............................. 946

e. Summary....................................................948

3. The “excessive force” claim............................... 948

a. Source of the right ...........................................948

b. Violation of the right.........................................949

i. Arguments of the parties.............................., 949

ii. Analysis..............................................950

iii. Summary.............................................962

c. “Clearly established” right...................................963

/. Arguments of the parties...............................963

ii. Analysis..............................................963

d. Summary....................................................964

4. The “First Amendment retaliation” claim .........................964

a. Arguments of the parties......................................965

b. Analysis.....................................................966

c. Summary....................................................970

C. Challenges To Claims Based On The Iowa Constitution.................971

1. Arguments of the parties .........................................971

2. Analysis........................................................971

D. Challenges To “Monell Liability”.....................................971

1. Arguments of the parties .........................................972

2. Analysis ........................................................972

IV. CONCLUSION..........................................................973

Did male and female county jail officers cross a constitutional line when they forcibly removed clothing from a female arrested for a misdemeanor offense who refused to answer “suicide” questions during booking and refused to change into a jail uniform in front of a female officer? In this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the female arrestee asserts that the defendant jail officers “strip searched” her without reasonable suspicion and in an unconstitutional manner, used “excessive force” in doing so, and did so in retaliation for her vociferous complaints about the order to strip in front of a female officer, all in violation of the United States and Iowa Constitutions. She also contends that the defendant county and the defendant former county sheriff are subject to “Monell liability” for the jail officers’ constitutional torts. The defendants have moved for summary judgment on the plaintiffs claims, primarily on the ground that the defendant jail officers are entitled to qualified immunity, but also on the ground that there is no cause of action for a violation of rights under the Iowa Constitution and that there is no basis for “Monell liability” of the county and the former county sheriff. As a preliminary matter, the plaintiff seeks to exclude the testimony and report of the defendants’ expert, because she argues that the expert has applied the wrong legal standard to her “excessive force” claim and has opined on legal conclusions that are within the province of the court. Although I find that the pending motions present some knotty issues, I conclude that the appropriate disposition of these motions is clear.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Factual Background For Summary Judgment

My determination of what facts are actually disputed in this case — and then whether those disputes are genuine — has been complicated by the parties’ submissions and, sometimes, by the lack thereof. In the first instance, the factual background stated here is drawn primarily from the defendants’ Joint Statement Of Undisputed Material Facts In Support Of Their Motions For Summary Judgment (docket no. 42-1) and the plaintiffs Response To Defendants’ Joint Statement Of Undisputed Facts In Support Of Their Motions For Summary Judgment (docket no. 53-3). The plaintiff did not submit a statement of additional material facts that she contends preclude summary judgment, however, as required by N.D. IA. L.R. 56(b)(3). Even so, the parties apparently agree that the defendants’ Joint Statement Of Undisputed Material Facts and the plaintiffs Response are not exhaustive of factual issues material to the defendants’ Motions For Summary Judgment, because both the defendants and the plaintiff repeatedly recite and rely on additional facts in their briefs, both with and without adequate citations to the parties’ appendices or other portions of the record. A further problem here is that the plaintiff has failed to respond to several of the defendants’ individual statements of material facts by expressly admitting or denying them, and she has sometimes made what appear to be denials without any references or only imprecise references to parts of the record supporting her refusal to admit the stated facts, contrary to the requirements of N.D. IA. L.R. 56(b). Thus, some of the facts are deemed undisputed because of the plaintiffs failure to respond appropriately to the defendants’ pertinent statements of undisputed facts. See N.D. Ia. L.R. 56(b).

Thus, unless otherwise indicated, the facts stated below are from the defendants’ Joint Statement Of Undisputed Material Facts, and the plaintiff has expressly-admitted them.

1. Peters’s arrest and booking

Sioux City police officers arrested plaintiff Shannon Peters on May 27, 2012, for violation of a no contact order. The defendants elsewhere assert, and Peters does not dispute, that she was arrested after police stopped a speeding car, in which Peters’s boyfriend, against whom she had obtained a no contact order, was the driver and Peters was a passenger. Peters elsewhere asserts, and told the Defendant Officers at the time of her booking, that she believed that the no contact order had been dropped, but she now admits that she was mistaken. Peters was taken to the Woodbury County Jail, and, upon arrival there, she was taken to the booking counter, where defendant Officer Michelle Risdal and defendant Officer Jon Hatfield were already present. Peters was crying while she was at the counter. At the time that she arrived at the jail, Peters was wearing a swimsuit under her shirt and sweat pants.

Citing a video of Peters’s booking, the defendants contend that, while at the booking counter, after several minutes of sobbing, Peters suddenly became agitated and upset and repeatedly shouted, “This is bullshit” at the officers, then refused to answer all of the booking questions, including the medical and “suicide” questions. Peters denies these allegations, citing the same video. Sergeant Lee Blanchard came into the booking area and directed the officers to terminate the booking process prior to completion. Officer Risdal, the only female officer present, escorted Peters to a holding cell, and two male officers, Officer Hatfield and Sergeant Blanchard, followed.

2. Events upon arrival at the holding cell

Officer Risdal and Peters entered a holding cell, but Officer Hatfield remained outside in the hallway. The parties agree that Sergeant Blanchard was also in the hallway, but dispute whether he could see into the holding cell and whether or not there was “screaming” at that point. The defendants assert that Sergeant Blanchard went to the doorway of the cell and asked Officer Risdal- if Peters had answered the “suicide” questions, and Officer Risdal then repeated three “suicide” questions. The defendants assert that Peters refused to answer and, instead, turned to Officer Risdal and yelled, “Why the fuck would I wanna hurt myself!” Peters admits only that she responded, “Why the fuck would I want to hurt myself,” but denies the rest of these facts, apparently including the defendants’ allegation of the question that prompted this response. Unfortunately, the video of the hallway to the holding cells, on which both parties in part rely, does not show the inside of the holding cell in which Peters was placed, so that it does not allow me to determine beyond dispute precisely what happened, and the audio on the recording does not allow me to determine beyond dispute precisely what was said during this exchange.

• In the holding cell, Officer Risdal explained to Peters that Peters would have to take off her swimsuit. In her deposition, Officer Risdal explained that she directed Peters to do so, because the swimsuit had strings on it that'Peters could use to harm herself. At this point, Sergeant Blanchard left the cell and joined Officer Hatfield in the hallway, so that the only officer in the cell with Peters was a female officer, Officer Risdal. Petérs refused to remove her clothing.

3. Escalation of the incident in the holding cell

Peters continued to scream at Officer Risdal and to refuse to remove her clothing, and when Sergeant Blanchard looked back into' the cell, he saw Peters standing facing Officer Risdal in what he considered an aggressive manner. Sergeant Blanchard and Officer Hatfield then reentered the cell, and Sergeant Blanchard instructed Peters to stop screaming and to follow Officer Risdal’s instructions. Peters screamed at Sergeant Blanchard, “Don’t you get in my face!” Blanchard took Peters’s right hand and turned it away from him, pushing or resulting in Peters falling face down onto two mattresses on the bunk in the holding cell. There is no dispute that Peters remained face down on the bunk thereafter. Officers Risdal and Hatfield then helped to restrain Peters in order to get her under control, and defendant Officer Carlos Lucero, who had entered the cell when he saw Sergeant Blanchard and Officer Hatfield quickly reenter the cell, also assisted in restraining Peters.

The parties apparently agree that an officer brought a paper jumpsuit to the cell and placed it over Peters, but they dispute whether the paper jumpsuit covered Peters from approximately mid-back to behind her knees and covered her private areas “entirely,” as the defendants allege, or whether it failed to cover Peters “in any significant way,” as Peters alleges. They agree that Peters’s clothes, consisting of her top, swimsuit top, sweat pants, and swimsuit bottoms, were then removed by Officer Risdal. Peters continued to resist and to attempt to disobey the officers’ directions, and Sergeant Blanchard applied a mandibular angle control measure with his right thumb below Peters’s left ear. After Officer Risdal had removed Peters’s clothing and had ensured that all of the strings were removed, Sergeant Blanchard continued to restrain Peters in order to allow the other officers to exit the cell. Sergeant Blanchard was then able to back out of the cell, and Peters was left in the cell with a paper jumpsuit.

4. Subsequent events

Booking photos of Peters were taken the next day, May 28, 2012, at 9:38 a.m. The parties dispute — in their briefs — whether or not those photos show any injuries to Peters resulting from the incident in the holding cell.

Peters pleaded guilty to the charge of violating the no contact order and was sentenced to seven days in jail. The parties agree that Peters applied to serve her sentence by electronic monitoring, and the defendants assert that she was initially approved. Peters denies that she was ever approved, but cites in support of this contention only the Woodbury County Sheriffs Office’s criteria for offender qualification for and removal or revocation from the electronic monitoring program, without identifying which specific criteria purportedly demonstrate that she was never approved.

The defendants contend that, prior to Peters serving her sentence, but after she was accepted to the electronic monitoring program, she failed a urinalysis drug test by testing positive for marijuana. Peters admits that she failed a urinalysis test, but contends that is why she was not approved for electronic monitoring, because approval comes after, not before, the drug test. Again, she cites the procedures established by the Woodbury County Sheriffs Office for the electronic monitoring program, but does not cite any specific provisions of those procedures establishing that approval comes only after a drug test.

The defendants assert, and Peters admits, that an offender removed from the electronic monitoring program is ineligible for “good time” credit, but Peters asserts that her 7-day sentence was not “doubled,” as required, if she had been approved for the electronic monitoring program. The defendants assert that Peters was revoked from the program, so that she was not eligible for “good time” credit. They also assert that, although Peters was told that she would be given “good time” credit — because a correctional officer, Levi Harry, who is not a defendant, made an error in entering her information into the computer — after the mistake was discovered, Officer Harry explained to Peters why she would not be receiving “good time” credit and documented their discussion with a handwritten note about Peters’s release date signed by Peters. Although Peters disputes the facts stated in the preceding two sentences, she cites only generally reports from November 11, 2012, by various officers apparently concerning inquiries by her or on her behalf about her release date, with no citation to any specific statements in any report contradicting the defendants’ factual allegations.

The defendants allege that none of the Defendant Officers had any involvement with the decision to deny Peters “good time” credit. They also allege that, on November 11, 2012, Sergeant Blanchard was working at the jail, where Peters was serving her sentence, and that Peters asked to speak with him about why she was not being given “good time” credit. They allege that Sergeant Blanchard had not been involved with this issue prior to that time, so that he called his superior for background information, and it was then that Sergeant Blanchard first learned that Peters had been denied “good time” credit for failing her drug test, which he then discussed with Peters. Peters denies the allegations in this paragraph, but, again, she cites only generally reports from November 11, 2012, by various officers, without citation to any specific statements in any report contradicting the defendants’ factual allegations.

B. Factual Background For The Motion To Exclude Expert Evidence

As explained, below, Peters seeks to exclude expert testimony and to strike the expert report of defendants’ expert, Donald Leach II. Peters did not submit with her motion challenging the expert’s evidence a copy of the challenged expert’s report, even though she refers to it as her “Exhibit 1.” She also cites to portions of the depositions of various parties and witnesses, but did not attach any of those deposition excerpts to her motion, and I ordinarily would not have access to them. In response to Peters’s motion challenging their expert, however, the defendants provided an appendix including the challenged expert’s report, the plaintiffs expert’s report, various deposition excerpts, and some other documents.

For purposes of providing the factual background to Peters’s challenge to the defendants’ expert, it is sufficient to quote certain portions of Mr. Leach’s expert report. Mr. Leach states the following concerning “use of force issues,” in Section X of his report, entitled “Comments And Basis For Opinion”:

I relied on my training and knowledge as a correctional administrator regarding the use of force as presented by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hudson v. McMillian (1992) and further recently reinforced in Wilkins v. Gaddy (2010) in evaluating circumstances involving the use of force. The attempt is to determine whether the use of force was “wanton and unnecessary” or “applied in good faith effort” to enforce facility rules and regulations. The five elements I use to make this determination, and as described by Mr. Collins in his Guide [are]:

1. What was the need for the use of force?

2. What was the threat reasonably perceived by the officers?

3. How much force was used in relation to the need?

4. What efforts were made to temper the use of force?

5. What injuries did the inmate sustain?

This “need” includes a legitimate governmental interest in compelling the inmate to follow rules, regulations and reasonable officer directives. The failure to comply with an officer[’s] directives can reasonably form the basis for the escalation in the use of force from officer directives to some form of physical control.

County Defendants’ Appendix In Support Of Their Resistance To Plaintiffs Motion To Exclude Expert Testimony And Strike Expert Report Of Donald Leach II (Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert) (docket no. 48-2), 98-99 (Leach Expert Report, 17-18) (footnotes omitted).

Although Mr. Leach referred to a “wanton and unnecessary” standard as the basis for his opinion on “use of force” issues, he summarized his opinion on the “use of force” issue in the following terms:

2. The force used in conducting the search of Ms. Peters was reasonable and necessary given Ms. Peters’ refusal to comply with the Deputies’ directives, becoming physically threatening and resistive, and the legitimate governmental interest in removing her clothing for her protection from potential self harming behaviors. This is a routine and acceptable correctional practice in jails.

Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert at 95 (Leach Expert Report at 14).

In Section XI (“Analysis”), subsection B (“Use of Force on Ms. Peters”) of his report, Mr. Leach offered various more specific opinions, none of which refer to a “wanton and unnecessary” standard. First, he opined that “Ms. Peters’ refusal to comply with officer directives coupled with her defiant and physically threatening behavior resulted in the officers needing to use of [sic] force to effect compliance.” Id. at 111 (Leach Expert Report at 30). Next, he opined that “[i]t was reasonable given Ms. Peters[’] prior behaviors for Sergeant Blanchard to perceive Ms. Peters’ [sic] to be physically threatening him.” Id. at 112 (Leach Expert Report at 31). He also opined,

The officers used sufficient force to maintain control of Ms. Peters once she was down on the bunk. The officers!”] use of force was pinning her to the bunk while her clothing was removed after she refused to comply with earlier instructions allowing her to remove the clothing without officer intervention.

Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert at 113 (Leach Expert Report at 32). Mr. Leach opined, further,

Ms. Peters responded by to [sic] Officer Risdal by repeatedly refusing to follow her directives. The attempts by the officers were reasonable. The attempts to calm her were met with resistance and verbal abuse. The officers had a legitimate governmental] interest in enforcing their directives in the face of Ms. Petersf] continued noncompliance and aggressive behaviors.

Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert at 114 (Leach Expert Report at 33). After concluding that there was no indication that Peters sustained injuries requiring medical care, id. at 114-15 (Leach Expert Report at 33-34), Mr. Leach offered the following conclusion:

The use of force was reasonable and acceptable in light of Ms. Peters’ refusal to follow the officers’s [sic] directives and her threatening actions toward staff members.

Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert at 115 (Leach Expert Report at 34).

Finally, in Section XII (“Report Conclusion”), Mr. Leach opined, in pertinent part, as follows:

The Woodbury County Sheriffs Office had a legitimate governmental interest in obtaining information from newly arrested individuals regarding their propensity for demonstrating self harming behaviors. The refusal of Ms. Shannon Peters to respond to queries regarding self harming behaviors justified the removal from her of potential instruments of self harm. Ms. Petersf] subsequent refusal to follow the directives of the staff in removing her clothing and donning jail attire, coupled with her physically threatening and belligerent behavior, developed the exigent circumstances that resulted in the reasonable and acceptable use of force in enforcing facility rules, regulations and officer directives.

Defendants’ Appendix Regarding Expert at 124 (Leach Expert Report at 43).

C. Procedural Background

1. Peters’s claims

Peters filed a Complaint (docket no. 2) initiating this action on July 17, 2012. The current version of her claims, however, is in her Amended Complaint (docket no. 20), filed December 20, 2012. In her Amended Complaint, Peters named Woodbury County and Glenn J. Parrett, then-Sheriff of Woodbury County, in his individual and official capacities (the County Defendants), as well as Deputy Sheriffs/Jailers Michelle Risdal, Lee Blanchard, Jonathon Hatfield, Carlos Lucero, Andrew Vogt, and Zachary Lux, in their individual and official capacities (the Defendant Officers).

In Count I of her Amended Complaint, Peters alleges an unreasonable “strip search,” in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 8, of the Iowa Constitution, against all defendants. In Count II, she alleges violation of her right to freedom of speech and her right to petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 7, of the Iowa Constitution against all defendants. In Count III, she alleges use of “excessive force” in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 8, of the Iowa Constitution against all defendants. Finally, in Count IV, she alleges an “unreasonable search” of her cell phone and purse in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 8, of the Iowa Constitution against the County Defendants. The County Defendants and the Defendant Officers filed separate Answers (docket nos. 21 and 22) to Peters’s Amended Complaint on December 28, 2012, and the County Defendants filed an Amended Answer (docket no. 27) on March 18, 2013.

On May 6, 2013, the parties filed a Stipulation For Dismissal Of Defendants Zachary Lux and Andrew Vogt (docket no. 30), and on June 17, 2013, the parties filed a Stipulation Of Dismissal Of Count IV Of plaintiffs Amended Complaint (docket no. 37). Thus, those defendants and that count are no longer involved in this action.

2. The pending motions

As to pertinent procedural matters here, on July 1, 2013, Peters filed her Motion To Exclude Expert Testimony And Strike Expert Report Of Donald Leach, II (Motion To Exclude Expert) (docket no. 39). The County Defendants filed a Resistance (docket no. 48) to the Motion To Exclude Expert on July 15, 2013, and the Defendant Officers filed a Joinder (docket no. 49) in the County Defendants’ Resistance that same day.

On July 8, 2013, the Defendant Officers and the County Defendants filed separate, but nearly identical Motions For Summary Judgment (docket nos. 42 and 44), both raising issues of qualified immunity. The only significant difference between the two motions was that the County Defendants added challenges to claims against them based on “Monell liability.” Peters filed her Combined Resistance To Motion For Summary Judgment By [The Defendant Officers] and Motion For Summary Judgment By [The County Defendants] (docket no. 53) on August 30, 2013. On September 16, 2013, the Defendant Officers and the County Defendants filed separate Replies (docket nos. 59 and 60). In their Reply, the County Defendants joined in the Defendant Officers’ Reply, adding only their own reply arguments concerning “Monell liability.”

The defendants requested oral arguments on their Motions For Summary Judgment, but Peters did not request oral arguments on her Motion To Exclude Expert Testimony. I have found the parties’ written submissions on all three motions sufficient to address the issues raised. Moreover, my crowded schedule has not permitted the timely scheduling of oral arguments. Therefore, I have resolved the pending motions on the parties’ written submissions.

II. PETERS’S MOTION TO EXCLUDE EXPERT TESTIMONY AND TO STRIKE EXPERT REPORT

In her Motion To Exclude Expert Testimony And Strike Expert Report Of Donald Leach, II (docket no. 39), Peters asserts that Mr. Leach’s opinions regarding her “excessive force” claim fail to meet the minimum admissibility requirements of Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, because they rely on the incorrect legal standard and constitute inadmissible legal conclusions. I will take up this motion first, because it pertains to the proper record in the case, even though a ruling on any part of the defendants’ Motions For Summary Judgment ultimately may not turn on the admissibility of the challenged expert’s opinions. My analysis of this motion begins with a summary of the parties’ arguments.

A. Arguments Of The Parties

Peters argues that Mr. Leach has opined that Eighth Amendment principles, and, more specifically, the Eighth Amendment “wanton and unnecessary” standard, governs her “excessive force” claim. She notes that both of the cases from which Mr. Leach extracts this standard involved use of force against convicted prisoners, which is governed by an Eighth Amendment standard, not use of force against arrestees or pretrial detainees, like her. She contends that it is not certain under Eighth Circuit precedent whether a Fourth Amendment “objectively reasonable” standard or a Fourteenth Amendment “shocks the conscience” standard applies to the use of force against her, where she argues that she was “in transition” from arrestee to pretrial detainee at the time that force was used against her. Whatever standard is applicable, however, she argues that it is not the Eighth Amendment standard applied by Mr. Leach. Thus, she argues, Mr. Leach’s opinions concerning use of force are fundamentally unsupported and are not admissible pursuant to Rule 702. She also asserts that, even if Mr. Leach applied the proper legal standard, he improperly states inadmissible legal conclusions, because he opines as to the ultimate liability question of whether the Defendant Officers’ use of force was “reasonable.” She contends that legal conclusions and instructions on the applicable law are for the court.

In response, the defendants argue that Mr. Leach’s opinions are admissible under Rule 702. They argue that Mr. Leach’s opinions, in this case focus, on the Defendant Officers’ directives to Peters to remove her clothing and don jail attire and the force employed by the Defendant Officers when Peters refused to comply with those directives. They assert that Mr. Leach’s opinions address whether these activities comport with reasonable, necessary, routine, and acceptable correctional practices in jails, based, in large part, on his training and expertise as a correctional administrator and instructor. They argue that courts have held that such expert opinions about institutional practices and standards are admissible. They represent that they do not intend to proffer expert testimony from Mr. Leach as to the legal analysis to be employed in assessing the Defendant Officers’ conduct, even though they contend that Peters’s expert will purportedly testify that Peters’s right to be free of an unreasonable search and seizure was violated. The defendants also argue that Mr. Leach will provide helpful information to the jurors by discussing what are routine, reasonable, necessary, and acceptable correctional practices in jails and whether the defendants’ conduct and policies comport with those acceptable correctional practices. The defendants argue that, just because one aspect of Mr. Leach’s proffered testimony might be inadmissible — such as what constitutional standards are applicable and whether the Defendant Officers acted reasonably — his testimony should not be excluded in its entirety. Indeed, they assert that Peters’s challenges are more properly raised in a motion in limine than in a motion to strike.

B. Analysis

1. Applicable standards

A district judge’s decision to exclude or allow expert testimony is reviewed for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Schwarck, 719 F.3d 921, 923-24 (8th Cir.2013) (stating the “abuse of discretion” standard of review for allowing expert testimony); Russell v. Whirlpool Corp., 702 F.3d 450, 455 (8th Cir.2012) (stating the “abuse of discretion” standard of review for “[d]eeisions concerning the admission of expert testimony”); United States v. Chaika, 695 F.3d 741, 746 (8th Cir.2012) (“We review this issue [of the admissibility of expert testimony] for abuse of discretion, according ‘substantial deference’ to the district court’s decision to admit expert testimony.” (citing United States v. Roach, 644 F.3d 763, 763-64 (8th Cir.2011))). “The proponent of the expert testimony bears the burden to prove its admissibility.” Menz v. New Holland North America, Inc., 507 F.3d 1107, 1114 (8th Cir.2007) (citing Lauzon v. Senco Prods., Inc., 270 F.3d 681, 686 (8th Cir.2001)).

Rule 702 provides,

A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise if:

(a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue;

(b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;

(c) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and

(d) the expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the facts of the case.

fed. R. Evid. 702. In short, “ ‘[u]nder the Rules the trial judge must ensure that any and all scientific testimony or evidence admitted is not only relevant, but reliable.’” Schmidt v. City of Bella Villa, 557 F.3d 564, 570 (8th Cir.2009) (quoting Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 589, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)). To do so, courts apply a three-part test when screening expert testimony, that is, “evidence based on scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge”: (1) the evidence must be useful or helpful to the finder of fact in deciding an ultimate issue of fact, which is “the basic rule of relevancy”; (2) the expert must be qualified to assist the finder of fact, a “reliability” rule; and (3) the expert’s evidence “must be reliable or trustworthy in an evidentiary sense, so that, if the finder of fact accepts it as true, it provides the assistance the finder of fact requires.” Polski v. Quigley Corp., 538 F.3d 836, 839 (8th Cir.2008) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

In Lee v. Andersen, 616 F.3d 803 (8th Cir.2010), an “excessive force” case, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals explained the scope of permissible expert opinions under the “relevancy” requirement, as follows:

Federal Rule of Evidence 702 permits a qualified expert to give opinion testimony if the expert’s specialized knowledge would allow the jury to better understand the evidence or decide a fact in issue. United States v. Arenal, 768 F.2d 263, 269 (8th Cir.1985). “The touchstone for the admissibility of expert testimony is whether it will assist or be helpful to the trier of fact.” McKnight [ex rel. Ludwig v. Johnson Controls, Inc.], 36 F.3d [1396,] 1408 [(8th Cir.1994) ].

Lee, 616 F.3d at 808. As to “reliability,” the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained that an expert’s testimony may be excluded if it is “‘so fundamentally unsupported that it can offer no assistance to the jury.’ ” Polski, 538 F.3d at 839 (quoting Wood v. Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., 112 F.3d 306, 309 (8th Cir.1997)).

Rule 704(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, concerning “opinion on an ultimate issue,” adds another wrinkle to the “helpfulness/relevancy” analysis. That rule provides as follows:

(a) In General — Not Automatically Objectionable. An opinion is not objectionable just because it embraces an ultimate issue.

Fed.R.Evid. 704(a). As the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained,

Rule 704(a) provides that expert evidence is not inadmissible because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the jury. If the subject matter is within the jury’s knowledge or experience, however, the expert testimony remains subject to exclusion “because the testimony does not then meet the helpfulness criterion of Rule 702.” Arenal, 768 F.2d at 269. Opinions that “merely tell the jury what result to reach” are not admissible. Fed.R.Evid. 704 advisory committee’s note.

Lee v. Andersen, 616 F.3d 803, 808-09 (8th Cir.2010); United States v. Whitted, 11 F.3d 782, 785 (8th Cir.1993) (noting that, although Rule 704(a) allows expert testimony that “embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact,” it does not allow “[ojpinions that are ‘phrased in terms of inadequately explored legal criteria’ or that ‘merely tell the jury what result to reach’ ” (quoting Fed.R.Evid. 704, advisory committee’s note)).

2. Application of the standards

a. Peters’s “reliability” challenge

Peters’s first challenge to Mr. Leach’s expert testimony is a “reliability” challenge, based on her assertion that Mr. Leach’s testimony is wholly unreliable, because it is legally unsupported. Peters contends that this is so, because Mr. Leach purportedly stated the wrong standard for “excessive force” claims in a case involving an arrestee or a pretrial detainee.

As noted above, an expert’s testimony may be excluded on “reliability” grounds if it is “ ‘so fundamentally unsupported that it can offer no assistance to the jury.’ ” Polski, 538 F.3d at 839 (quoting Wood, 112 F.3d at 309). Whatever standard is applicable here, Mr. Leach’s reference to an Eighth Amendment “wanton and unnecessary” standard is wrong, because that standard applies to an “excessive force” claim by a convicted prisoner, but does not apply to an “excessive force” claim by either an arrestee or pretrial detainee, like Peters. Compare, e.g., Santiago v. Blair, 707 F.3d 984, 990 (8th Cir.2013) (reiterating its holding in Johnson v. Bi-State Justice Center/Arkansas Dep’t of Corrections, 12 F.3d 133, 136 (8th Cir.1993), that application of a Fourth Amendment legal standard, instead of an Eighth Amendment standard — asking whether the force was applied in a good-faith effort to maintain or restore discipline, or maliciously and sadistically to cause harm,” and thus, involved “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain” — to a convicted state prisoner’s “excessive force” claim was reversible error); United States v. Miller, 477 F.3d 644, 647-48 (8th Cir.2007) (stating the same standard for a convicted prisoner’s “excessive force” claim); with, e.g., LaCross v. City of Duluth, 713 F.3d 1155, 1158 (8th Cir.2013) (reiterating that the appropriate inquiry for an arrestee’s “excessive force” claim is under the Fourth Amendment, and asks “whether the force used to effect a particular seizure is ‘reasonable’ ” (internal quotations and citations omitted); Montoya v. City of Flandreau, 669 F.3d 867, 870-71 (8th Cir.2012) (stating that the test for an arrestee’s “excessive force” claim is the “reasonableness” standard under the Fourth Amendment); Hicks v. Norwood, 640 F.3d 839, 842 (8th Cir.2011) (“It is settled in this circuit that the Fourth Amendment’s ‘objective reasonableness’ standard for arrestees governs excessive-force claims arising during the booking process.”); Andrews v. Neer, 253 F.3d 1052, 1060 (8th Cir.2001) (“The evaluation of excessive force claims brought by pretrial detainees, although grounded in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments rather than the Fourth Amendment, also relies on an objective reasonableness standard.”).

However, excluding Mr. Leach’s opinions in their entirety and striking his expert report are extreme responses to an incidental misstatement of the applicable legal standard—particularly where it is for the court to determine and instruct the jury on the applicable legal standard. As noted above, where Mr. Leach actually states an opinion about the use of force in this case, he applies a “reasonableness” standard like the Fourth Amendment standard that is applicable under controlling law. I will not exclude either Mr. Leach’s testimony or his report, in its entirety, on this ground.

b. Peters’s “relevancy” challenge

Peters is correct that the bigger problem with Mr. Leach’s opinions is that he opines on the ultimate legal question of whether or not the Defendant Officers used “excessive force,” in violation of Peters’s rights, so that at least some of his testimony would be inadmissible on “relevancy” grounds. Problems with expert opinions on either factual or legal issues may run into “relevancy” problems.

For example, in Lee, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that an images analyst’s expert opinion on a factual matter—that the person shot by a law enforcement officer did not have a gun in his hand—was properly excluded under Rule 702, because that opinion would not have assisted the jurors, who were entirely capable of analyzing the images and determining whether the victim had anything in his hands. 616 F.3d at 809; see also Westcott v. Crinklaw, 68 F.3d 1073, 1076 (8th Cir.1995) (“[A]n expert may not go so far as to usurp the exclusive function of the jury to weigh the evidence and determine credibility.” (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)). In Schmidt v. City of Bella Villa, 557 F.3d 564 (8th Cir.2009), a “strip search” case, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals considered the relevance of an expert’s opinion on a legal matter:

The district court found that Russo’s expert opinions regarding the reasonableness of the evidence collection and strip search procedures were impermissible legal conclusions. Russo’s report consisted of his opinions regarding the overall reasonableness of the procedures used and, as such, were not fact-based opinions. See Peterson v. City of Plymouth, 60 F.3d 469, 475 (8th Cir.1995) (expert testimony on reasonableness of police behavior in light of Fourth Amendment standards is statement of legal conclusions and not admissible). In addition, Russo’s report is devoid of any standards and explanations that would assist the trier of fact in contextualizing his opinions. See United States v. Ellsworth, 738 F.2d 333, 336 (8th Cir.1984) (expert’s “conclusory statement” properly excluded for lack of foundation). Accordingly, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion by refusing to admit Russo’s testimony regarding the reasonableness of police procedures.

Schmidt, 557 F.3d at 570; see also Cavataio v. City of Bella Villa, 570 F.3d 1015, 1022 (8th Cir.2009) (holding that a police officer’s expert testimony would not have assisted the trier of fact in understanding that a policeman should not squeeze an elderly woman’s breast).

The defendants argue that courts have generally held that expert opinions regarding industry or institutional practices and standards are admissible, citing Southern Pine Helicopters, Inc. v. Phoenix Aviation Managers, Inc., 320 F.3d 838, 841 (8th Cir.2003). I agree with the defendants that police or jail standards, practices, and procedures are matters outside the scope of most lay jurors’ knowledge or experience, so that expert testimony about them is likely to be helpful to the jurors, and, thus, satisfies the “basic rule” or the “touchstone” of relevancy. Polski, 538 F.3d at 839; accord Lee, 616 F.3d at 808-09. Nevertheless, in Southern Pine Helicopters, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals made clear that what was admissible was expert testimony “on what these [practices or standards] are.” 320 F.3d at 841 (emphasis added). The court explained that the case before it was not about practices and standards; rather, “[t]h[at] ease was about whether federal law was contravened, and expert opinion as to that was simply inadmissible.” Id. Thus, Southern Pine Helicopters teaches that an expert may opine on what institutional practices are, although an expert may not testify that federal law was contravened. The decision in Southern Pine Helicopters does not answer the question of whether an expert may opine that practices or standards were followed or contravened in the case before the jury to assist the jurors with their “reasonableness” determination.

Some review of the decisions of other Circuit Courts of Appeals on the admissibility of expert testimony in “excessive force” cases is instructive. These cases distinguish between testimony about an “ultimate issue,” which is permissible under Rule 704(a), and testimony about a “legal conclusion,” which is not permissible under that rule. For example, in Berry v. City of Detroit, 25 F.3d 1342 (6th Cir.1994), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals explained:

Although an expert’s opinion may “embrace[ ] an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact[,]” Fed.R.Evid. 704(a), the issue embraced must be a factual one. The expert can testify, if a proper foundation is laid, that the discipline in the Detroit Police Department was lax. He also could testify regarding what he believed to be the consequences of lax discipline. He may not testify, however, that the lax discipline policies of the Detroit Police Department indicated that the City was deliberately indifferent to the welfare of its citizens.

It would have been easy enough for the drafters of the Federal Rules of Evidence to have said that a properly qualified expert may opine on the ultimate question of liability. They did not do so. When the rules speak of an expert’s testimony embracing the ultimate issue, the reference must be to stating opinions that suggest the answer to the ultimate issue or that give the jury all the information from which it can draw inferences as to the ultimate issue. We would not allow a fingerprint expert in a criminal case to opine that a defendant was guilty (a legal conclusion), even though we would allow him to opine that the defendant’s fingerprint was the only one on the murder weapon (a fact). The distinction, although subtle, is nonetheless important.

Furthermore, “deliberate indifference” is a legal term, as the questioning of Postill [an expert in the case] indicated. It is the responsibility of the court, not testifying witnesses, to define legal terms. The expert’s testimony in this regard invaded the province of the court.

Berry, 25 F.3d at 1353. Thus, Berry suggests the answer to the question left open in Southern Pine Helicopters: an expert’s opinion may embrace an ultimate issue of fact, including what are standards or practices applicable to the incident involving Peters, and whether or not certain standards or practices were met by the conduct of the Defendant Officers in the incident involving Peters, but an expert may not testify that following or failing to follow certain standards met or failed to meet the applicable legal standard, such as “reasonableness” of the Defendant Officers’ use of force against Peters. Id.

In United States v. Perkins, 470 F.3d 150 (4th Cir.2006), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals also discussed when the line is crossed between permissible expert testimony on an ultimate issue and impermissible expert testimony expressing a legal conclusion. In Perkins, the defendant police officer, charged with a criminal felony offense of depriving a motorist of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable force, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242, argued that the district court had erred in admitting both expert and non-expert testimony regarding the reasonableness of the police officer’s use of force on the ground that such testimony impermissibly stated a legal conclusion. Id. at 157.

In Perkins, the court first explained that an expert may respond to hypothetical or abstract questions about the reasonableness of the force used in stated circumstances. Perkins, 470 F.3d at 156 (explaining that, while an expert may so testify, pursuant to Rule 702, a lay witness may not offer opinions based on secondhand accounts, because the lay witness would lack the personal knowledge required for lay opinions by Rule 701). Ultimately, the court concluded as follows:

[United States v.] Mohr[, 318 F.3d 613 (4th Cir.2003),] suggests that the challenged testimony in this case did not transgress Rule 704(a). Like in Mohr, the officers here testified that they saw “no reason” for Perkins’s use of force. Cf. id. Taking helpfulness to the jury as our guiding principle, we conclude that the district court did not err in admitting the challenged portions of [non-expert witness] Officer House’s and [expert witness] Inspector Burnett’s testimony. While a very close question, we conclude that the Government’s questions were phrased in such a manner so as to avoid the baseline legal conclusion of reasonableness. See Torres [v. County of Oakland], 758 F.2d [147,] 151 [(6th Cir.1985) ]. The officers’ responses that they personally saw no reason for Perkins’s kicks provided the jury with concrete examples against which to consider the more abstract question of whether an “objectively reasonable officer” would have employed the same force. The Government’s questions were not couched in terms of objective reasonableness; instead, they honed in on Officer House’s and Inspector Burnett’s personal assessments of Perkins’s use of force. We recognize that this distinction is a fine one. When the common and legal meanings of a term are not easily unfurled from each other, however, as is certainly the case with “reasonable,” it is difficult for us to conclude that testimony was unhelpful to the jury unless the testimony actually framed the term in its traditional legal context. In this case, then, Rule 704 justifies differentiating between the officers’ testimony that they saw no “law enforcement” or “legitimate” reason for Perkins’s kicks and testimony that Perkins’s actions were “objectively unreasonable.” To be sure, this distinction must be measured in inches, not feet. Nevertheless, we cannot hold that the officers’ testimony was necessarily unhelpful, nor can we say that it merely told the jury what verdict to reach or “supplant[ed] [the] jury’s independent exercise of common sense.” Kopf [v. Skyrm], 993 F.2d [374,] 377 [(4th Cir.1993) ].

Perkins, 470 F.3d at 159-60 (footnotes omitted; first emphasis added, second emphasis in the original). In a footnote, the court in Perkins recognized that its conclusion was different from that of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Hygh v. Jacobs, 961 F.2d 359 (2d Cir.1992), an “excessive force” case, in which the Second Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the expert’s testimony that “in his opinion, the use of a baton or flashlight to strike a person in the head would constitute ‘deadly physical force’ that would not be ‘justified under the circumstances’ ” violated Rule 704(a), even though it did not use the language of the ultimate legal standard. Id. at 160 n. 13 (citing Hygh, 961 F.2d at 363).

Thus, Perkins teaches the following: (1) an expert may provide opinions that are phrased in such a manner as to avoid the baseline legal conclusion, for example, the “reasonableness” of the force used, id. at 159; (2) an expert may also respond to hypothetical or abstract questions about the reasonableness of the force used in stated circumstances, id. at 156; (3) an expert may also offer a personal assessment of the use of force, such as that the expert did or did not see any reason for the force used in the incident in question, id. at 160; but (4) an expert may not opine that the conduct in question transgressed the applicable legal standard, such as “objective reasonableness,” id.

Like the Sixth and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that expert testimony about the “reasonableness” of the force used, in that case, a shooting by police, violated Rule 704(a), because “[r]easonableness under the Fourth Amendment or Due Process Clause is a legal conclusion.” United States v. Williams, 343 F.3d 423, 435 (5th Cir.2003). Similarly, in Cavanaugh v. Woods Cross City, 718 F.3d 1244, 1250 (10th Cir.2013), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals explained that one way to “ensure that the jury connected the dots from the objective facts to the conclusion that force was warranted” was that “[a] police practices expert could have testified that under the circumstances faced by [the officer who applied the allegedly “excessive force”] a reasonable officer would have concluded that [the victim] was a threat and used similar force.” 718 F.3d at 1251. This is not the same, of course, as allowing a police practices expert to testify that the Defendant Officers’ use of force in the particular case was “reasonable,” which is an ultimate legal conclusion. Indeed, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals had previously reiterated, “ ‘Generally, an expert may not state his or her opinion as to legal standards nor may he or she state legal conclusions drawn by applying the law to the facts.’ ” Christiansen v. City of Tulsa, 332 F.3d 1270, 1283 (10th Cir.2003) (quoting Okland Oil Co. v. Conoco Inc., 144 F.3d 1308, 1328 (10th Cir.1998)).

With these principles in mind, assuming that Mr. Leach is properly qualified and that proper disclosures of his opinions have been made, Mr. Leach would and would not be allowed to testify to the following matters in this case. First, Mr. Leach would not be allowed to opine on a factual matter on which the jurors are entirely capable of making a determination — such as what force was used by the officers, see Lee, 616 F.3d at 809; Westcott, 68 F.3d at 1076, nor would he be allowed to base his opinion on what he believes the correct version of the facts to be. Westcott, 68 F.3d at 1076. On the other hand, if he is properly qualified, Mr. Leach would be allowed to explain the kind of force applied, such as whether or not Sergeant Blanchard actually applied a “mandibular angle restraint,” and even whether or- not Sergeant Blanchard applied that restraint properly, as well as whether using that particular restraint was appropriate in the circumstances presented, under recognized standards and practices for jail administration. Cf. Southern Pine Helicopters, 320 F.3d at 841; Berry, 25 F.3d at 1353. Also, Mr. Leach could permissibly, testify as to what routine and acceptable correctional practices in jails are, based on his training and expertise as a correctional administrator and instructor. Id. I note that Mr. Leach’s expert report does make permissible general references to certain statements of standards concerning “use of force” for the administration of jails or prisons. See Defendants’ Appendix In Resistance To Motion To Exclude Expert a 98-99 (Leach Expert Report at 17-18 & nn. 9-10). Mr. Leach would be allowed to respond to abstract or hypothetical questions by opining that the force described was or was not reasonable in the circumstances described in the question, and would even be permitted to opine as to whether he personally believed that the force used against Peters was reasonable under the circumstances, but he would not be allowed to opine that the use of force satisfied the legal standard of “reasonableness.” Perkins, 470 F.3d at 159-60.

I note, however, that Mr. Leach’s report makes no express reference to the purportedly generally applicable standards for jail administration in his analysis of the application of force to Peters, a topic on which the defendants contend that he will testify. Rather, he repeatedly states what may be prohibited legal opinions, rather than permissible personal opinions, that the Defendant Officers’ application of force against Peters was “reasonable.” To the extent that his references to “reasonableness” are opinions purportedly cast in terms of the applicable legal standard, they are inadmissible. Furthermore, he may not testify to any opinions about whether the legal standard was met, particularly where he frames that legal standard incorrectly as an Eighth Amendment “wanton and unnecessary” use of force standard. I also see little in Mr. Leach’s report that could be considered an attempt to “ensure that the jury connected the dots from the objective facts to the conclusion that force was warranted,” such as this purported jail practices expert’s opinions “that under the circumstances faced by [the Defendant Officers] a reasonable officer would have concluded that [Peters] was a threat and used similar force,” stopping short of stating an opinion framed in terms of the ultimate legal question and the applicable legal standard. Cavanaugh, 718 F.3d at 1251.

C. Summary

I will not grant Peters’s Motion To Exclude Expert Testimony And Strike Expert Report Of Donald Leach, II, to the extent of excluding Mr. Leach’s testimony and report in their entirety. I will grant that Motion, however, to the extent that I will limit Mr. Leach’s trial testimony in the ways described above.

III. THE DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In their Motions For Summary Judgment, the defendants assert that they are entitled to summary judgment on each of Peters’s remaining claims on the ground that the Defendant Officers are entitled to qualified immunity with respect to those claims. They also contend that Peters cannot assert claims based on alleged violations of the Iowa Constitution, that the Defendant Officers are entitled to summary judgment on claims based on jail policy, and that the County Defendants are entitled to summary judgment on claims based on “Monell liability.” I will consider these contentions in turn. I will first summarize the standards applicable to a motion for summary judgment, as those standards are applicable to all of the defendants’ challenges to Peters’s claims.

A. Summary Judgment Standards

Summary judgment is only appropriate when “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c) (emphasis added); see Woods v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 409 F.3d 984, 990 (8th Cir.2005) (“Summary judgment is appropriate if viewing the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”); see generally Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323-24, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). As the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has explained,

“On a motion for summary judgment, ‘facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party only if there is a genuine dispute as to those facts.’ ” Ricci v. DeStefano, 557 U.S. 557, 129 S.Ct. 2658, 2677, 174 L.Ed.2d 490 (2009) quoting Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380,127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007) (internal quotations omitted). “Credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 133, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000), quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The nonmovant “must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,” and must come forward with “specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). “ ‘Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.’ ” Ricci, 129 S.Ct. at 2677, quoting Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348.

Torgerson v. City of Rochester, 643 F.3d 1031, 1042-43 (8th Cir.2011) (en banc). Summary judgment is particularly appropriate when only questions of law are involved, rather than factual issues that may or may not be subject to genuine dispute. See, e.g., Cremona v. R.S. Bacon Veneer Co., 433 F.3d 617, 620 (8th Cir.2006).

B. Challenges Based On Qualified Immunity

1. Standards for qualifíed immunity

In this case, the defendants seek summary judgment on Peters’s claims, in the first instance, on the basis of qualified immunity. “The doctrine of qualified immunity protects government officials ‘from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ ” Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)); see Burton v. St. Louis Bd. of Police Cmm’rs, 731 F.3d 784, 791-92 (8th Cir.2013) (quoting Winslow v. Smith, 696 F.3d 716, 730 (8th Cir.2012)); Johnson v. Carroll, 658 F.3d 819, 825 (8th Cir.2011); Fields v. Abbott, 652 F.3d 886, 890 (8th Cir.2011). In Pearson, the United States Supreme Court offered this explanation of the reasoning behind the concept of qualified immunity:

Qualified immunity balances two important interests — the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably. The protection of qualified immunity applies rega