Taylor v. McDuffie

• Decision Date: 03 September 1998
• Docket Number: No. 94-6808,94-6808
• Citation: 155 F.3d 479
• Parties: John R. TAYLOR, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ernest McDUFFIE; Ronnie Lovick, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 479

155 F.3d 479

John R. TAYLOR, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ernest McDUFFIE; Ronnie Lovick, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 94-6808.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued March 6, 1998.

Decided Sept. 3, 1998.

ARGUED: Neal Lawrence Walters, Supervising Attorney, William R. McDonald, Third Year Law Student, University of Virginia School of Law Appellate Litigation Clinic, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Catherine Ricks Piwowarski, Ward & Smith, P.A., New Bern, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Raymond Krncevic, Third Year Law Student, University of Virginia School of Law Appellate Litigation Clinic, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant. Kenneth R. Wooten, Ward & Smith, P.A., New Bern, North Carolina, for Appellees.

Before MURNAGHAN and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and BROADWATER, United States District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, sitting by designation.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILLIAMS wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge BROADWATER joined. Judge MURNAGHAN wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:

John R. Taylor, Jr., a North Carolina prisoner, filed this § 1983 action alleging that Officer Ronnie Lovick and Deputy Ernest McDuffie (Defendants) used excessive force against him while he awaited his initial appearance before a local magistrate. ¹ In his complaint, Taylor sought compensatory and punitive damages in the amount of $20 million. The district court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment based on its conclusion that Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity. ² Because any injuries Taylor may have suffered were de minimis, we affirm.

I.

In the early morning hours of July 4, 1990, Officer H.E. Dombrowsky observed a van traveling south in the northbound lane of a city street, with Taylor running alongside of it, beating on its side, and yelling at the driver. Taylor was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. Darsilene J. Cabbagestalk, his girlfriend, was arrested for driving under the influence. Officer Dombrowsky transported Ms. Cabbagestalk to the State Highway Patrol Office for a breathalyzer test. Officer Lovick, who was called as backup, transported Taylor to the Craven County Jail for booking and appearance before a magistrate. ³

Upon arrival at the Craven County Jail, Taylor was immediately brought to the magistrate's office for processing. While in the lobby of the magistrate's office, Officer Lovick recovered two identification cards from Taylor. One belonged to Taylor, and the other belonged to Ms. Cabbagestalk. In addition, Officer Lovick recovered a four-inch long file blade from Taylor. All three items were placed on the counter in the lobby of the magistrate's office.

Meanwhile, at the State Highway Patrol Office, Ms. Cabbagestalk refused to cooperate with the trooper administering the breathalyzer test. Of particular importance here, she refused to tell the trooper her name. As a result, the trooper called Officer Lovick at the magistrate's office to see if he knew her name. When Officer Lovick asked Taylor for Ms. Cabbagestalk's name, Taylor refused to reveal it to him.

At this point, Taylor's version of events differs substantially from Defendants'. Taylor alleges that Officer Lovick became upset when Taylor refused to provide his girlfriend's name and driver's license, which he admits was in his possession. ⁴ Specifically, Taylor contends that Officer Lovick grabbed him by the collar, pointed his gun at him, and demanded that he turn over his girlfriend's license or he would "blow [his] brains out." (J.A. at 14.) Taylor claims that when he still refused, Officer Lovick threw him to the floor face first, jumped on his back, and searched his pockets. When Officer Lovick could not find the license--which Taylor concedes was in his mouth--Taylor contends that he was hit on the back of his head and punched in the ribs.

After he was moved from the magistrate's office to the booking area, Taylor alleges that Deputy McDuffie assisted Officer Lovick in beating him. In particular, Taylor asserts that in an effort to retrieve the license from his mouth, Deputy McDuffie placed his knee in the lower part of Taylor's back and at the same time grabbed Taylor by the head and started pulling his head backwards until his back popped. Taylor also claims that Deputy McDuffie shoved a small wooden object into Taylor's nose with such force that it caused his nose to hemorrhage and then shoved it into Taylor's mouth with such force that it cracked his tooth. ⁵

Defendants, however, related a very different version of events. According to Officer Lovick, when Taylor refused to reveal his girlfriend's name, he simply walked toward the counter to retrieve the license. In response, Taylor knocked him against the wall, grabbed the license, and appeared to put it in his pants pocket. Officer Lovick claimed that Taylor fought with him to prevent Lovick from getting the license, grabbed the file blade from the counter, and threatened him. When Officer Lovick drew his weapon, Taylor dropped the file blade and placed the license in his mouth. According to Deputy McDuffie, he and other officers assisted Officer Lovick in restraining Taylor. Because Taylor continued to fight, the officers placed leg irons on him before taking him to the booking area.

In the booking area, Defendants contend that Taylor violently resisted the officers' attempt to remove the license from his mouth. Fearing that Taylor would mutilate or swallow the license or hurt himself with it in his mouth, Officer Lovick used a kubaton to apply pressure under Taylor's nose to get him to release the license, and McDuffie applied pressure with his fingers behind Taylor's ears to get him to open his mouth. Defendants eventually removed the license from Taylor's mouth, removed the handcuffs and leg irons, and placed him in a holding cell. The magistrate released Taylor about three hours after the incident. Nine hours after his release, Taylor went to the Craven Regional Medical Center where he was X-rayed and treated for cuts and bruises.

Defendants answered the complaint and moved for summary judgment. With their motion for summary judgment, Defendants submitted Taylor's medical records, which disclosed that Taylor received abrasions on his wrists and ankles, slight swelling in the jaw area, tenderness over some ribs, and some excoriation of the mucous membranes of the mouth. No scalp lesions, bone fractures, swelling in the tissue around the spinal column, cracked teeth, or injuries to his nose were found.

Taylor was sent a notice of Defendant's motion for summary judgment pursuant to Roseboro v. Garrison, 528 F.2d 309, 310 (4th Cir.1975). In response, Taylor filed an affidavit from Nelson Bryant, a detainee who claims to have witnessed the altercation that occurred in the jail's booking area. ⁶ Bryant stated that during the time Taylor was on the floor in the booking area, one officer had his knee on Taylor's back, and another pulled his head back, while a third officer jabbed a stick into Taylor's mouth. Bryant saw a plastic card in Taylor's mouth. After the officers removed the card from Taylor's mouth, Bryant claimed that the officer continued to jab the kubaton into Taylor's mouth. Bryant stated that Taylor's face was swollen and bloody. Defendants, however, submitted affidavits stating that Bryant was not in the booking area on July 4 and, therefore, could not have witnessed the incident with Taylor.

The district court analyzed Taylor's excessive force claim under the Fourth Amendment and granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. The district court concluded that Taylor's evidence was ambiguous because it failed to support his version of the events and that Taylor's medical records did not support his account of the injuries he allegedly sustained because "[he] had no serious cuts or wounds at all." (J.A. at 172.) The district court found that Defendants submitted numerous affidavits supporting their version of the events and opposing Taylor's "conclusory and unsupported allegations." (J.A. at 172.) The district court stated that "[g]iven this state of facts, no rational trier of fact could find that the conduct of defendants was objectively unreasonable, or even that the force used in this instance was excessive." (J.A. at 172.) This appeal followed.

II.

On appeal, Taylor contends that he introduced sufficient evidence to establish that Defendants used excessive force in subduing him and that no reasonable officer would consider Defendants' conduct to be lawful. As a result, he argues that the district court erred in granting Defendants summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. We review de novo the district court's decision to grant Defendants summary judgment. See Halperin v. Abacus Technology Corp., 128 F.3d 191, 196 (4th Cir.1997). Summary judgment is appropriate only "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Rule 56(c) mandates entry of summary judgment "against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). In deciding whether there is a genuine issue of material fact, the evidence of the non-moving party is to be believed and all justifiable inferences must be drawn in his favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

"In addressing an excessive force claim brought under § 1983, [our] analysis begins by identifying the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed by the challenged application of force." Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 394, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). The district...