Transgender woman’s family dealt setback in Berkeley lawsuit

A federal judge has thrown out of most of a lawsuit that said Berkeley police used excessive force in subduing a woman who died during a 2013 arrest.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco dismissed most of the claims in the suit filed by the family of Kayla Moore, including that Berkeley officers used excessive force against the transgender woman.

Police have said Moore became “increasingly agitated and uncooperative to the officers’ commands and began to scream and violently resist.”

The Alameda County coroner concluded that her death was mainly caused by codeine and methamphetamine in her system, combined with Moore’s obesity and poor cardiovascular health.

Breyer found that the police were largely protected from legal responsibility under the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects public servants from lawsuits unless they violate someone’s “clearly established” rights.

Breyer agreed with Berkeley city attorneys’ arguments that police had been justified in trying to take Moore into protective custody because she was having a schizophrenic crisis.

Under the judge’s ruling, police still can be held liable if a jury finds they didn’t make reasonable accommodations for Moore’s disability — her schizophrenia — during the arrest.