Court upholds ruling favoring Dare sheriff, deputy in fatal shooting

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a lawsuit filed against the Dare County sheriff and a deputy over a fatal 2023 shooting. Tuesday’s decision upholds a trial judge’s ruling in the case.

Sylvester Demetrius Selby died after an encounter with two deputies outside his Manteo home in October 2023.

Legacy Spencer, the administrator of Selby’s estate, sued the shooter, Deputy Edward Glaser, along with Dare Sheriff Doug Doughtie. She alleged that Glaser used excessive force in violating Selby’s Fourth Amendment rights. She also alleged state-level assault and battery and wrongful death claims.

“Relying on body camera footage of the events, the district court dismissed Spencer’s complaint for failure to state a claim. We affirm,” Judge Allison Jones Rushing wrote for a unanimous three-judge 4th Circuit panel.

Deputies responded to Selby’s home in October 2023 after another man called 911 to report that Selby had suffered a stab wound to the heart, according to the appellate opinion. When authorities arrived and ordered Selby to step outside, he did. He was holding a kitchen knife and an apple.

Deputies asked Selby twice to drop the knife, Rushing wrote. Instead Selby approached the deputies with the knife in hand while descending steps from the home. Glaser shot Selby, who then fell. He then tried to flee, and Glaser shot him two more times. He died at the scene.

The deputies’ body camera footage “shows a fuller picture,” Rushing wrote.

“First, take Spencer’s allegations that, after Selby was initially ordered to put the knife down, he ‘proceeded down the steps’ of the porch and was shot ‘[w]hile [his] arms were raised,’ specifically, ‘raised above his head,’” she wrote. “The videos show instead that, after Deputy Gibbs ordered Selby to drop the knife, Selby jumped down the two or three steps and raised his arms slightly above shoulder height only as he braced himself to land at the bottom of the steps, at which point he was close to Deputy Gibbs.”

“Because the videos blatantly contradict the factual inference from the complaint — i.e., that Selby was complying with Deputy Gibbs’s order and calmly surrendering — we may consider this portion of the videos,” Rushing explained.

The appellate opinion also highlighted the video evidence of events that took place after the first shot.

“The complaint alleges that Selby flailed his limbs and slid on the ground,” Rushing wrote. “That much is true. But the complaint omits that Selby refused to stop moving even though Deputy Glaser repeatedly told him to stop and stay where he was. Indeed, it was immediately after Deputy Glaser told Selby to stop moving and to stay down that Selby instead attempted to get up and run.”

“Finally, take Spencer’s allegation that, once Selby got up and ‘attempt[ed] … to flee,’ he ‘did not lunge in the direction of’ the deputies,” Rushing continued. “Of course, the videos say nothing explicit about Selby’s intent. But the body camera footage clearly shows that Selby indeed got up and lunged toward Deputy Glaser. It was only then that Deputy Glaser fired the second and third shots.”

“A reasonable officer in Deputy Glaser’s situation would have had ‘probable cause to believe that [Selby] pose[d] a threat of serious physical harm’ to both Deputy Gibbs and Deputy Glaser at the time of the first shot,” the appellate opinion explained. “To begin, when Selby exited the residence, there was ‘blood dripping from [his] chest.’ A reasonable officer could have viewed Selby’s injury as suggesting ‘he may have recently engaged in conflict.’”

“More importantly, Deputy Gibbs ordered Selby to put the knife down, but he failed to comply,” Rushing wrote. “Instead, he jumped down the steps with the knife still in his hand, moving in the direction of the deputies and landing near Deputy Gibbs. … [T]he videos reveal no hint of compliance or surrender, notwithstanding the fact that Selby raised his arms slightly upon landing at the bottom of the steps.”

“The complaint’s allegations and the relevant portions of the body camera footage show that Selby was noncompliant, had a knife, and — at least from the deputies’ view — would have been seen as charging the deputies,” Rushing added. “Deputy Glaser was justified in using deadly force under these circumstances.”

“The same conclusion follows for Deputy Glaser’s second and third shots,” the 4th Circuit ruling continued. “[S]econds before the second and third shots, it was reasonable to conclude that Selby charged the deputies with a knife and posed an imminent threat of harm to them.”

Judge Paul Niemeyer and Julius Richardson joined Rushing’s opinion.

“Court upholds ruling favoring Dare sheriff, deputy in fatal shooting” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.