Dothan, Alabama police officer Adrianne Woodruff is facing a civil rights suit for using deadly force on Robert Lawrence when he was shot and killed while he was trying to surrender a stray dog at an animal shelter. According to Bloomberg Law, Lawrence was surrendering a dog at the shelter in Dothan on December 30, 2014. The shelter told him he couldn’t abandon the dog unless he was a resident of the county. Lawrence refused to give his identification to the worker and argued that he would leave the dog at the end of the street, which would have been a misdemeanor. According to a family member, Lawrence had recently begun reading about being a “sovereign citizen“, an anti-government movement that includes arguments against the constitutionality of driver’s licenses. He wasn’t willing to produce his license to the officer.
Officer Woodruff was on duty at the shelter and followed Lawrence to his car to get his license plate number, in case he left the dog somewhere else. An argument ensued, and Woodruff asked for identification and called for additional law enforcement backup. Lawrence again refused to give his identification. Two officers arrived, tried to arrest Lawrence. He resisted arrest. He refused to be handcuffed, and he was eventually tasered several times. Officer Woodruff then claims that Lawrence tried to take the taser away from her, so she stepped back and shot him. Lawrence’s estate contests her version of the events.
A lawsuit was filed in December 2016 by Christopher Cantu, Lawrence’s cousin. The lawsuit argued that Lawrence’s 4th Amendment Rights were violated when Officer Woodruff shot him. In November 2018, Federal district judge Emily Marks ruled Woodruff had acted within the scope of her duties during the confrontation, giving her qualified immunity from the lawsuit. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Consitution states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
According to an article from AL.com, Woodruff had been at the shelter for five years. She retired in 2015. She testified that the shooting ended her career. When asked why she said she began to have nightmares and became jumpy. She also stated that for a while after the shooting, she received threats, saying, “people were talking about dragging me out on the street and setting me on fire or hanging me. That’s disturbing.”
However, the most recent ruling argued that while Lawrence resisted arrest, he never threw any punches and hadn’t committed a violent crime. According to Judge Robin Rosenbaum, “A reasonable officer in Woodruff’s position, making an arrest for a relatively insignificant misdemeanor, should have known not to use deadly force.”
The entire incident was recorded by Lawrence’s girlfriend or by the dashboard camera of the officers. Therefore, the court argued, a jury should decide which side to believe.
