Tyler Unique McClain v. County of Sebastian, a municipal corporation

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 24-1269
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Tyler Unique McClain
Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
County of Sebastian, a municipal corporation
Defendant
Nick Tuttle, individually and in his official capacity as a Sebastian County
Sheriff’s Sergeant; Brent Thomas Smith, individually and in his official capacity as
a Sebastian County Sheriff’s Deputy; Jonathan David Outhouse, individually and
in his official capacity as a Sebastian County Sheriff’s Deputy
Defendants - Appellants
Does 1 - 20, individually and in their official capacity as employees of the
Sebastian County Sheriff’s Department; Does 21-40, individually and in their
official capacity as employees of the City of Greenwood Police Department
Defendants
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Western District of Arkansas - Ft. Smith
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Submitted: January 16, 2025
Filed: July 31, 2025
[Unpublished]
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Before GRASZ, STRAS, and KOBES, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Tyler McClain lost control of her car and careened off the highway early one
morning. EMTs assessed her and told the responding officers that she was suffering
from hypoglycemia. The officers decided to give her a ride home, but McClain was
disoriented and did not comply with their orders. The officers used force multiple
times, which she says was excessive.
McClain sued three of the responding officers, Sergeant Nick Tuttle, Deputy
Thomas Smith, and Deputy David Outhouse, in their individual and official
capacities, alleging claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Arkansas Civil Rights Act,1
and state tort law. The district court denied the officers’ motion for summary
judgment based on qualified immunity. The officers filed this interlocutory appeal.
See Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530 (1985).
The district court’s decision “lacks consideration of the individual defendants’
actions with respect to” McClain’s excessive force claim against each officer. Handt
v. Lynch, 681 F.3d 939, 945 (8th Cir. 2012). “[W]e are unable to discern if the
district court even applied both steps of the qualified immunity inquiry to” each
officer’s summary judgment claim and “can neither affirm nor reverse the denial of
qualified immunity.” Jones v. McNeese, 675 F.3d 1158, 1163 (8th Cir. 2012). The
district court’s order is vacated, and the case is remanded.
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1 The parties agree that claims under Arkansas’s Civil Rights Act, Ark. Code
Ann. § 16-123-105(a), may be analyzed coextensively with her § 1983 claims. See
Brewington v. Keener, 902 F.3d 796, 801 n.3 (8th Cir. 2018).

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