Smith v. Thornburg

• Citation: 136 F.3d 1070
• Decision Date: 13 February 1998
• Docket Number: No. 96-6456,96-6456
• Parties: Joey Leon SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeff THORNBURG, Kenneth Slagle, Chris Line, Jim Claiborne, Ron Trentham, Mark Fortner, and The City of Knoxville, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 1070

136 F.3d 1070

Joey Leon SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jeff THORNBURG, Kenneth Slagle, Chris Line, Jim Claiborne, Ron Trentham, Mark Fortner, and The City of

Knoxville, Tennessee, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 96-6456.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 28, 1997.

Decided Feb. 13, 1998.

Herbert S. Moncier (argued and briefed), Knoxville, TN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert H. Watson, Jr. (argued and briefed), John C. Duffy (briefed), Watson, Hollow & Reeves, Knoxville, TN, for Defendants-Appellees Thornburg, Slagle, Line, Claiborne, Trentham, Fortner.

Ronald E. Mills (briefed), City of Knoxville Law Department, Knoxville, TN, Robert H. Watson, Jr., John C. Duffy, Watson, Hollow & Reeves, Knoxville, TN, for Defendant-Appellee City of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Before: KENNEDY, NELSON, and CLAY, Circuit Judges.

KENNEDY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which DAVID A. NELSON, J., joined. CLAY, J. (pp. 1078-1092), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff, Joey Leon Smith, appeals from the District Court's order granting summary judgment on behalf of the defendants in this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985 for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and conspiracy to violate plaintiff's civil rights. For the foregoing reasons we AFFIRM the judgment of the District Court.

I.

In the early morning hours of March 19, 1994, the Repeat Offender Unit of the Knoxville Police Department was conducting a buy/bust operation in the vicinity of the Green Hills Apartments, a housing project in Knoxville, Tennessee. Approximately fifteen to twenty officers, including all six of the defendant officers, were assigned to participate in the buy/bust operation. During the operation, a member of the unit attempted to engage in a drug transaction with an individual in the parking lot of the apartment complex. When the individual attempted to run off with the officer's money, other members of the unit quickly moved in and apprehended the suspect. During this operation, plaintiff, Joey Leon Smith, ¹ had parked his car at the Green Hills Apartments to deliver car keys to his cousin who lived at Green Hills. Plaintiff parked his 1992 Dodge Stealth, valued at $40,000, approximately ten feet from where the officers ultimately apprehended the suspect who attempted to flee with the officer's money. Plaintiff's vehicle caught the attention of several officers involved in the operation for a variety of reasons. The car was unoccupied but the engine was running, the headlights were on, the doors were unlocked, the radio was turned on, and it was parked diagonally between two spaces. ² The fact that the engine was running arose suspicion as stolen vehicles are frequently abandoned with their engines running because the ignitions have been tampered with during the theft process. Furthermore, Green Hills Apartments was known to the officers as a dumping ground for stolen vehicles and an area from which they had recovered many stolen vehicles. While officers Thornburg, Slagle, and Line approached plaintiff's vehicle, a vocal crowd gathered around the area where the suspect was being arrested. In addition, police identified by markings on their jackets and caps surrounded the area.

Officer Thornburg approached the driver's side door, and Officer Line approached the passenger side door. Meanwhile, Officer Slagle returned to his vehicle to run a license plate check to determine if the vehicle had been reported stolen. Officer Thornburg opened the unlocked driver's side door, knelt down, turned down the stereo, and looked at the ignition to see if it had been tampered with. Officer Line peered through the passenger side window at the steering column to determine whether it had been hotwired.

Plaintiff, in his cousin's apartment during these events, was alerted by a silent pager alarm that someone had opened the door to his car. Plaintiff ran from the apartment and in approximately 2.2 seconds reached his car in the parking lot. Plaintiff claims he saw in his car only someone dressed completely in black, stretched out across the front seat with his feet protruding from the driver's door and his eyes and hands in the area of the glove compartment. Plaintiff denies he saw anyone wearing a jacket, vest, or cap marked, "POLICE."

Plaintiff reached into his car and grabbed Officer Thornburg by the collar of his shirt and the seat of his pants, lifted him up, and pulled him out of his car. ³ A surprised Thornburg turned around and struck plaintiff in the mouth. Plaintiff and Thornburg fell to the ground and a struggle ensued. According to plaintiff, several unidentified officers joined the altercation and hit him in the back and shoulder with billy clubs and flashlights while shouting racial epithets at him. Plaintiff was eventually handcuffed and placed in the back of a squad car while dogs sniffed for drugs in plaintiff's vehicle. Plaintiff was charged with assaulting Officer Thornburg and, at a preliminary hearing, the charges were bound over to the Knox County Grand Jury; the Grand Jury did not return an indictment and the charges were dismissed.

As a result of these events, on March 17, 1995, plaintiff filed suit in state court against the defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985 alleging constitutional violations and seeking to recover for personal injuries and property damages resulting from his arrest, the search of his vehicle, and his subsequent prosecution. The action was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee and each defendant moved for summary judgment. On September 16, 1996, the District Court entered an order granting summary judgment on all of plaintiff's claims except for his state law claims for assault and battery against defendants Thornburg, Slagle and Line ⁴ which were remanded to state court. ⁵ Plaintiff appeals from the order granting summary judgment to the defendants. ⁶

II.

Our standard of review of a grant of summary judgment is de novo; we use the same test used by the District Court. See Brooks v. American Broadcasting Cos., 932 F.2d 495, 500 (6th Cir.1991). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party to determine whether a genuine issue of material fact exists. See Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Summary judgment is proper if the evidence " 'show[s] that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to [a] judgment as a matter of law.' " See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Canderm Pharmacal, Ltd. v. Elder Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 862 F.2d 597, 601 (6th Cir.1988)(quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)).

III.

A. Fourth Amendment Violations: 1. Probable Cause to Search

Plaintiff's Vehicle

Plaintiff first asserts that the District Court erred in concluding that the defendants did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights because probable cause existed to search his vehicle to determine whether it was stolen. Pursuant to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, an officer may search a readily mobile vehicle without a warrant if he has probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. See California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-94, 105 S.Ct. 2066, 2068-71, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985); United States v. Wright, 16 F.3d 1429, 1437 (6th Cir.1994). We define probable cause as "reasonable grounds for belief, supported by less than prima facie proof but more than mere suspicion." United States v. Bennett, 905 F.2d 931, 934 (6th Cir.1990). Probable cause exists when there is a " 'fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.' " Wright, 16 F.3d at 1437 (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). Determining whether probable cause existed at the time of the search is a " 'commonsense, practical question' to be judged from the 'totality-of-the-circumstances.' " Id. (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 230, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2338, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). In determining whether probable cause exists, we may not look to events that occurred after the search or to the subjective intent of the officers; instead, we look to the objective facts known to the officers at the time of the search. See United States v. Ferguson, 8 F.3d 385, 391-92 (6th Cir.1993)(en banc ).

We conclude that probable cause existed to search plaintiff's readily mobile vehicle due to the facts known to the officers at the time. Those facts were as follows: (1) an unoccupied expensive car was haphazardly parked at 12:40 a.m. in a high crime area; (2) the engine was running; (3) the headlights were on; (3) the doors were unlocked; (4) the radio was turned on; (5) stolen vehicles are frequently abandoned with their engines running because the ignitions have been tampered with during the theft process; (6) Green Hills Apartments was known to the officers as a dumping ground for stolen vehicles and an area from which they had recovered many stolen vehicles; (7) the Dodge Stealth is a frequently stolen vehicle; and (8) the unlocked and running car was parked only a few feet from a drug bust and within easy reach of any member of the crowd which gathered. Under these circumstances, the officers had probable cause to believe the Stealth may have been a stolen vehicle and, thus, enter the vehicle to determine whether it had been tampered with or to determine the identity of the owner. There is a dispute of fact regarding whether Officer Thornburg opened the glove compartment of Smith's vehicle during his search. Examining the facts in a light most favorable to plaintiff, we assume that Thornburg did open the glove compartment. However, we conclude that Thornburg was justified in doing so in order to assess the identity of the owner of the car. Common sense dictates that a cursory inspection of...