Statement of Facts:

John Smith was arrested for public intoxication and taken to the city jail by officers Jones and Brown. he was very intoxicated, yet able to walk unassisted and did not stumble or fall on the way back to the cell where he was to be lodged. Upon arrival at the cell door, he refused to enter and was twice physically "walked into" the cell by Officer Jones. Each time he followed Jones out of the cell, protesting his innocence. Finally, Officer Jones put his hands on Smith's shoulders and shoved him three to four feet into the cell, quickly shutting the cell door. Smith immediately began screaming and Officer Jones opned the two-inch thick steel door to discover that three of Smith's fingers were caught between the door and the jam on the hinge side of the door. John Smith later sued Officer Jones for monetary damages because he eventually lost the tips of the three fingers that had been caught in the door.

At the trial, Smith testified that when he was shoved into the cell, he lost his balance and "pitched forward," extending his hand to catch himself from falling just as the door as being violently slammed. Officer Jones testified that the shove was just enough to get him into the cell, and that when he (Jones) started to close the door, Smith was standing upright, hands at his side, three to four feet away from the door, and that Smith must have then lunged at the door as Jones was closing it.

Nebraska law provides that a police officer has a hight degree of care to protect an intoxicated prisoner and it also provides that a police officer may use reasonable force in the handling of a prisoner.