Whether the use of a less-lethal projectile during a violent protest to repel an attacker and protect officers and civilians constitutes a Fourth Amendment seizure

QUESTION PRESENTED During an emergency medical evacuation amidst a large, violent protest that had become a riot, a six-foot, two-hundred pound man assaulted an officer and grabbed the officer’s riot baton in an apparent attempt to disarm him. Witnessing this, and believing the attack would escalate in violence and impede the medical evacuation of an incapacitated civilian, the officer at issue used a lesslethal projectile to repel the attacker and stop the assault on his fellow officer. No officers attempted to encircle, block, chase, detain, or arrest the assailant as he fled in the direction of his choosing. The questions presented are: 1. Whether the officer’s use of a less-lethal projectile to repel the attacker, to stop an assault on a fellow officer and protect an incapacitated civilian, under these particular circumstances constitutes a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. 2. Whether the law clearly established that the officer’s use of a less-lethal projectile under these particular circumstances constituted a seizure or an unreasonable use of force under the Fourth Amendment.