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Butera v. District of Columbia

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

235 F.3d 637 (2001)

Facts

Eric Butera (plaintiff) was a former drug user who came forward to the Metropolitan Police Department (the city) (defendant) with information regarding a high-profile homicide. He gained such information by overhearing conversations at his drug dealer’s house. Butera agreed to act as a police informant and stage a drug deal so that police could pull off an undercover operation. One detective dropped Butera off at the back door of the dealer’s house and drove around to the front where Butera was to exit. Two other officers waited from a position where they also could not see Butera. Butera never made it inside the house as he was attacked and beaten to death by three men in the alley behind the house. His family brought a survival action against the city under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 as well as a wrongful-death action.

Rule of Law

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Issue

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Holding and Reasoning (Rogers, J.)

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