Officers Who Shot Man Wielding Hammer in Garage Must Face Suit

Two police officers, who responded to a call from a woman trying to get her drunken ex-husband out of her garage, must face a civil rights suit by the man’s estate after they shot and killed him, the Tenth Circuit said.

The man was allegedly threatening Tahlequah, Okla., police officers Brandon Vick and Josh Girdner with a hammer. But they aren’t protected by qualified immunity because a reasonable jury could find the force they used excessive, and they may have created the threat, the opinion by Judge Carolyn B. McHugh said.

When Vick, Girdner, and officer Chase Reed arrived at ...