Ellis v. City of Huntsville, Alabama, et al.

On March 9, 2026, Huntsville police officers Jacob Turner and Rebecca Liu responded to a noise complaint at a residential gathering. Marcus Ellis, an unarmed Black man, was recorded stepping onto his porch. Officers claimed he matched the description of a burglary suspect and demanded he lie prone. Ellis questioned the order while raising his hands. Within seconds, Officer Turner deployed a taser and Officer Liu physically restrained him, resulting in a severe head injury and subsequent death. The Ellis family filed a federal lawsuit against the officers and the City of Huntsville, alleging excessive force, wrongful death, and a municipal custom of tolerating constitutional violations.

A federal jury found Officer Turner and Officer Liu liable for excessive force and wrongful death in December 2026. The City of Huntsville was held liable under Monell for deliberate indifference to citizens' rights. The court awarded the Ellis family $14.7 million in compensatory and punitive damages, and the City entered a consent decree mandating de-escalation training and body-worn camera policies.

Whether the officers' use of force was objectively unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and whether the City of Huntsville maintained a policy or practice of inadequate training and supervision that caused the constitutional deprivation.

The case sparked widespread protests in Alabama and renewed national debate over police accountability. It accelerated legislative efforts to ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in the state, and prompted the Department of Justice to open a pattern-or-practice investigation into the Huntsville Police Department.