Jeffery Payne v. Joshua Moser

── Jeffery Payne v. Joshua Moser ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: April 13, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 24-2237 Doc: 37 Filed: 04/13/2026 Pg: 1 of 19 PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-2237 JEFFERY PAYNE, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. SGT. JOSHUA MOSER, individually and in his capacity as a Police Officer with Fairfax County Police Department, Defendant - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Michael Stefan Nachmanoff, District Judge. (1:24-cv-00398-MSN-WEF) Argued: October 21, 2025 Decided: April 13, 2026 Before WILKINSON, GREGORY, and BERNER, Circuit Judges. Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Berner wrote the opinion, in which Judge Wilkinson and Judge Gregory joined. ARGUED: Andrew O. Clarke, DISTRICT LEGAL GROUP, PLLC, National Harbor, Maryland, for Appellant. Kimberly Pace Baucom, FAIRFAX COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Elizabeth D. Teare, County Attorney, FAIRFAX COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellee. USCA4 Appeal: 24-2237 Doc: 37 Filed: 04/13/2026 Pg: 2 of 19 BERNER, Circuit Judge: Acting on a tip from an informant that Jeffery Payne was illegally dealing drugs, Sergeant Joshua Moser together with several other detectives from the Fairfax County Police Department arranged for a controlled drug buy in the parking lot of a commercial shopping complex. The controlled buy never took place, however. Instead, once he arrived at the complex, Payne became suspicious that something was amiss and began to drive out of the parking lot. The detectives pursued Payne in four unmarked vehicles, at least one of which was a black Ford F-150 pickup truck. Just as Payne neared a stop sign at the exit of the parking lot, Sergeant Moser directed the detectives to use their vehicles to stop Payne from leaving. The detectives first attempted to surround Payne’s car with their vehicles. One detective rammed his vehicle into Payne’s car, causing it to spin until it came to a stop near an embankment. The detectives then positioned their vehicles around Payne’s car, blocking Payne inside. Seconds later, fearing that Payne was reaching for a gun, Sergeant Moser shot Payne through the back window of his car. The detectives later determined that Payne had been unarmed at the time of the incident. Payne alleges that Sergeant Moser violated his constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment by using excessive force in arresting him. The district court granted summary judgment to Sergeant Moser, concluding that Payne failed to produce sufficient evidence to genuinely dispute any fact material to his claims. The district court further concluded that, under the facts as found by the district court, Sergeant Moser’s actions were objectively reasonable as a matter of law. The record before us, however, contains genuine disputes of material fact as to whether Sergeant Moser used excessive force, both in 2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-2237 Doc: 37 Filed: 04/13/2026 Pg: 3 of 19 directing the detectives to use their vehicles to forcibly stop Payne from leaving the location of the controlled buy and in shooting him. We therefore vacate the district court’s grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings. I. Factual Backg