A jury should decide whether a Canton police officer was wrong to shoot through a fence and kill a man firing a semiautomatic rifle in the air to celebrate the new year, an appeals court has ruled.
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded a lower court was correct in finding that officer Robert Huber is not automatically protected from liability by qualified immunity for fatally shooting James Williams through a wooden privacy fence minutes into the new year in 2022.
The March 6 decision clears the way for a jury to decide whether Huber’s use of deadly force against Williams violated constitutional law. Williams’ widow Marquetta Williams had filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Canton, Huber and police supervisors…