Wichita officer who fired shot in deadly swatting to appeal lower court ruling
The Wichita police officer who fatally shot an unarmed father during a hoax emergency call in 2017 is appealing a ruling that paves the way for a jury to hear arguments in a case filed by the man’s family.
Attorneys for Justin Rapp filed a notice of appeal Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, asking it to review a lower court order that refused to grant him protection from civil liability in Andrew Finch’s Dec. 28, 2017, death. Rapp’s attorneys argued the officer can’t be sued because he is entitled to qualified immunity, which shields public officials from lawsuits alleging civil rights violations unless victims can show their actions violated clearly established law.
But U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes disagreed, writing in a June 19 order that a “reasonable officer would have known that using deadly force when Finch displayed no weapon and made no overtly threatening movement was unlawful.”
Attorney Steven Pigg, who represents the city and Rapp in the case, declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. Tuesday. Appeals are common in court matters.
Rapp shot Finch with a sniper rifle from across the street after the 28-year-old stepped outside to see why law enforcement had descended on his home at 1033 W. McCormick. Police responded to the address after receiving what turned out to be a fake call about a murder and hostage situation made by a California man, Tyler Barriss, from a south Los Angeles library.
The case brought national attention to swatting, a prank widely used in the online gaming world that’s meant to draw a large police presence to an address to embarrass and harass the resident. In this case, Barriss was recruited to make the call by online gamers caught up in an argument over a $1.50 Call of Duty wager match. The gamer who was the intended target of the swatting gave Barriss his old address. Finch did not know the men involved or play online games.
Lisa Finch, the mother of Andrew Finch, addressed the City Council on Tuesday and then attended a small rally held on her behalf in front of City Hall.
She said she thinks the city’s attorney, Pigg, appealed the case so he can continue to run up legal fees.
Attending the City Hall protest was Mary Ware, a Democratic state senator from Wichita whose daughter, Andrea, was an elementary school classmate of Andrew Finch.
She said the Finch case has gone on too long.
“Everyone who is directly involved in this tragedy has had justice meted to them except the local policeman,” she said. “We really do need to address that. We need to have better communications, better understanding with the public and police and this is not helping. This needs to get resolved.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 1:24 PM.
