In
Valencia, this Court held that the Due Process Clause and not the Fourth Amendment provided the applicable legal standard to adjudicate claims of excessive force.
Valencia, 981 F.2d at 1445. However, the
Valencia court rooted its decision primarily in the fact that the plaintiff had been in custody for
three weeks before the disputed incident,
id. at 1444, a fact not emphasized by the majority opinion in
Brothers. Noting that the Supreme Court had been reluctant to extend Fourth Amendment protection beyond the initial arrest, this Court concluded that when a suspect has been in custody for an extended period of time, the Due Process Clause and not the Fourth Amendment provided the applicable constitutional standard to analyze claims of excessive force.
Id. at 1444–45.
However, the crucial factor in the
Valencia analysis—the extended period of time between the arrest and the challenged use of force—is absent in this case. Thus,
Valencia does not apply to the present case where Brothers was killed shortly after his arrest.