In the Summer of 2005 Carl Bryan was ticketed for speeding on the freeway.  A short time later that morning, Bryan was pulled over again by Coronado police officer Brian McPherson for failure to wear his seat-belt.  Becoming upset with himself, Bryan started hitting his steering wheel and shouting expletives.  McPherson said he told Bryan to remain in his car, but the motorist instead got out of the vehicle and took one step toward the officer, who Tasered him, according to the ruling.  Bryan denies hearing officer McPherson tell him to stay in the car.  Bryan suffered severe injuries resulting from the Taser, including broken teeth from the fall and having to have the Taser probe surgically removed.  What Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw called "a bad day for Carl Bryan," turned into a law suit against Officer McPherson, the City of Coronado, the Coronado Police Department and its police chief.  Although the district court granted relief to the city and the department, they held that McPherson was not entitled to qualified immunity.  Qualified immunity was initiated in 1971 to protect state and federal employees from civil liability.  Proponents argue that qualified immunity shields taxpayers and officials from expenses or damages associated with law violations.  Detractors argue that it places the burden of cost on the damaged individual and fails to deter wrongful conduct. 

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