Ryan Gould Lawsuit: Excessive Force, False Arrest, Qualified Immunity

Ryan Gould’s lawsuit against Palm Beach Gardens Officer Bethany Guerriero ended in dismissal. A federal judge granted summary judgment for Guerriero and her fellow officer in August 2024, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that ruling in May 2025, holding that qualified immunity shielded both officers from Gould’s excessive force and false arrest claims.¹

What Happened at the Pool

On May 9, 2023, Gould was swimming laps at the Sabal Ridge apartment complex pool in Palm Beach Gardens when a dispute broke out with a woman there. Her husband then confronted Gould and displayed a firearm. Gould called 911. The couple also called police.²³

When Officer Guerriero and Officer Joseph Strzelecki arrived, Gould identified himself as the 911 caller. He was in swim trunks and visibly unarmed. Guerriero drew her firearm and pointed it at him. She issued three commands to keep his hands out of his pockets and drop his phone. When he did not immediately comply, she ordered him to the ground and arrested him. Strzelecki drew his Taser. Gould was taken to jail, released before processing, and never charged.³⁴

The entire encounter was captured on video. It showed Guerriero holding Gould at gunpoint for roughly 12 seconds after he reached into his pocket. It also captured her telling him to “shut your mouth” and declaring, “I’ve been here for 20 years, punk. I’m in charge. Not you.”⁵

What Gould Sued For

In January 2024, Gould filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Guerriero and Strzelecki. The complaint alleged false imprisonment and excessive use of force, arguing that the officers’ treatment of an unarmed 911 caller who posed no threat was unjustified.⁵ The man who had brandished the firearm at the pool was not named as a defendant, and no reporting indicates he faced criminal charges.⁶

How the District Court Ruled

Guerriero first moved to dismiss the case. In July 2024, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks denied that motion, finding that the video “create[d] a question of reasonable force” that precluded granting qualified immunity at the pleading stage.⁵

The case then proceeded to summary judgment. On August 29, 2024, Middlebrooks reversed course and dismissed the lawsuit entirely. He ruled that the officers had probable cause to arrest Gould because he failed to follow their commands and wrote that he did “not find there to be a triable issue of fact as to whether the Defendants used excessive force.” Body camera footage, the judge noted, showed Gould reaching into his pocket after being told not to, and any reasonable officer responding to a report of a concealed weapon would have perceived that action as dangerous. The court also held that both officers were entitled to qualified immunity.⁷

Gould appealed the next day.

How the Eleventh Circuit Ruled

On May 5, 2025, the Eleventh Circuit issued an unpublished per curiam opinion in Gould v. Guerriero affirming the dismissal on every claim.¹

Excessive Force

The panel evaluated the claim under Graham v. Connor, which weighs the severity of the crime, the immediacy of the threat, and whether the suspect was actively resisting. The court assumed without deciding that pointing a firearm at Gould could constitute excessive force. Even so, it held Guerriero was entitled to qualified immunity because existing case law did not make it “beyond debate” that drawing a weapon on someone who disobeyed three direct commands at an unsecured scene involving a reported firearm was unconstitutional. Gould, the court emphasized, was not a “compliant bystander.” He placed his hands in his pocket and twice failed to drop his phone after being ordered to do so.¹

False Arrest

On the false arrest claim, the court found Guerriero had both actual and “arguable” probable cause to arrest Gould for obstruction under Florida Statute § 843.02, a first-degree misdemeanor that prohibits resisting or obstructing an officer in the lawful execution of a legal duty. Because she was responding to a 911 call about an armed individual, her commands to keep his hands visible were part of her lawful duty to secure the scene. Gould’s “verbal defiance coupled with his defiant conduct” in refusing those commands satisfied the elements of obstruction. Probable cause, the court held, was an “absolute bar” to both the federal and state-law false arrest claims.¹

No petition for rehearing or further appeal appears on the docket. The case is terminated.⁸

Why Qualified Immunity Decided the Case

The outcome turned on qualified immunity, a doctrine that protects government officials from personal liability for civil damages as long as their conduct does not violate a constitutional right that was “clearly established” at the time. The Supreme Court has described the standard as protecting all officials except “the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.”⁹

The standard sets a high bar in police use-of-force cases. Even where a court suspects the force was excessive, the plaintiff must point to existing case law making clear that the specific type of force in similar circumstances was unconstitutional. Without an analogous precedent, the officer is shielded. That is what happened here. The Eleventh Circuit assumed the force might have been excessive but found no prior ruling squarely establishing that an officer could not draw a weapon on a noncompliant person at an armed-suspect scene. Without that precedent, Guerriero’s immunity held.

Where Guerriero Stands Now

The lawsuit was one track. The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department’s internal response was another, and it ran in the opposite direction. Investigators concluded the video brought “disrepute to the department on a large scale,” and the department fired Guerriero for violating policies on “conduct, courtesy and response to resistance.”⁵¹⁰

Guerriero, a 20-year veteran of the department with three prior disciplinary incidents, challenged her termination through her police union. An arbitrator determined that while her conduct warranted discipline, firing her was “too severe,” and the city was ordered to reinstate her. She returned to the force without back pay and was initially assigned to the records division for retraining. As of 2025, she remains on the force with the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department.¹⁰⁴

1
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Gould v. Guerriero, No. 24-12818
2
CBS News Miami. Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer Faces Lawsuit
3
WPBF. Florida Palm Beach Gardens Officer Cleared in Viral Gunpoint Incident Lawsuit
4
NBC News. Florida Officer Fired After Video Showed Calling Man Punk Wins Back Job
5
Palm Beach Post. Judge Rejects Fired Palm Beach Gardens Officer Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit
6
WPTV. Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Fired Palm Beach Gardens Police Officer
7
Palm Beach Post. Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Gardens Officers
8
CourtListener. Ryan Gould v. Bethany Guerriero Docket
9
National Conference of State Legislatures. Qualified Immunity
10
Palm Beach Post. Appeals Court Rules on Palm Beach Gardens Officer Bethany Guerriero Case