Watkins v. City of Southpark

• Citation: 221 F.3d 883
• Decision Date: 08 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 98-2336,98-2336
• Parties: (6th Cir. 2000) Andre Watkins, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. City of Southfield, Mark Wood, L. Porter, and Jane Doe, Defendants-Appellees. Submitted:
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)

Page 883

221 F.3d 883 (6th Cir. 2000)

Andre Watkins, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. City of Southfield, Mark Wood, L. Porter, and Jane Doe, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 98-2336

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: March 8, 2000

Decided and Filed: July 21, 2000

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit. No. 97-74716--Paul D. Borman, District Judge.

Ernest L. Jarrett, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellant.

Joseph Nimako, CUMMINGS, McCLOREY, DAVIS & ACHO, Livonia, Michigan, for Appellee.

Before: WELLFORD, SILER, and GILMAN, Circuit Judges.

WELLFORD, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SILER, J., joined. GILMAN, J. (pp. 891-94), delivered a separate concurring opinion.

OPINION

HARRY W. WELLFORD, Circuit Judge.

Andre Watkins appeals the district court's decision to grant summary judgment in favor of the defendants in this suit arising out of a stop of Watkins' car. He alleges that Lawrence Porter and Mark Wood, both officers of the Southfield (Michigan) Police Department, violated his constitutional rights when, without a reasonable basis for doing so, they forcibly stopped Watkins' car, pulled him out at gunpoint, handcuffed him, pushed him into the back seat of their patrol car, questioned him, and eventually released him with a ticket for disobeying a police officer's signal to stop.

Watkins filed suit against Porter, Wood, another unidentified officer, and the City of Southfield, alleging a deprivation of his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the intentional infliction of emotional distress under state law. The district court ruled that the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on both claims. For the reasons below, we AFFIRM the district court.

I. BACKGROUND

At the time of the incident in question, Watkins was a seventeen-year-old high school senior. His friend and passenger, Jermaine Gabriel, was a few years older. Somewhere between four and five o'clock in the early morning of July 5, 1995, Watkins was driving Gabriel home after an evening spent at Watkins' home. A marked Southfield Police Department patrol car, operated by defendants Porter and Wood, passed Watkins traveling in the opposite direction, and the officers then began to follow Watkins. They did not, however, immediately signal for Watkins to pull over. According to Watkins, he was driving under the speed limit "at about 20 miles per hour." The district court in this case took judicial notice that the posted speed limit on the particular road being traveled was forty miles per hour. In his brief, Watkins asserts the road had no minimum speed, and the defendants have not questioned that assertion. The record does not indicate whether there was more than one lane in each direction.

Watkins turned down a street commonly referred to as 8-1/2 Mile Road, and traveled east towards Evergreen Road. Watkins claimed that once he was on 8-1/2 Mile Road, he continued to drive very cautiously and slowly. He estimated that he was traveling only fifteen miles per hour in a twenty-five mile per hour zone.¹ Watkins alleges that Porter and Wood began to drive in an intimidating matter, approaching him and following very closely. Watkins stopped at stop signs and when he "was going to make a turn."

Watkins eventually reached Evergreen Road, and turned right. Immediately after doing so, defendant Wood turned on the police car's spotlight and aimed it towards the rear windshield of Watkins' car. Watkins, however, continued to drive for another block or two, maintaining his speed of approximately fifteen miles per hour. When asked at his deposition why he continued driving, Watkins said that "[the officer driving] only had on his side lights." The officers then activated the police car's red and blue flashing lights. Watkins stated that he "slowed down and [he] signaled to the officer that [he] was going to stop at the gas station, which was only a block and a half away." The record does not indicate how or in what manner Watkins "signaled" that he was intending to stop at the nearby gas station. Although Watkins' deposition does not indicate why he sought to reach the gas station, he claims in his brief it was a well lit area because he was concerned about "the bizarre manner" in which the officers were driving. Other patrol cars arrived at the scene and Watkins was forced to stop.

The officers' affidavits included the following explanation regarding the decision to initiate the stop: "Due to [Watkins]' suspicious driving and the recent crime in the area, [we] decided to perform an investigatory stop." Porter and Wood also asserted that, despite having activated their car's red and blue lights, Watkins "failed to pull over or to slow down," and that once the car was forced to stop, Watkins acted "very suspicious and was not cooperative." The police then approached Watkins' vehicle with their guns drawn, and several officers allegedly directed racist remarks toward Watkins and Gabriel. They conceded that Watkins was "ordered out of his vehicle, handcuffed, patted down for weapons, and placed in a police vehicle for questioning." According to Watkins, the officers then "forcibly" placed him into one of the patrol cars, "ram[ming] [his] head up against the top of his car." Watkins admits that he suffered no cuts or bruises.

After being placed in the police car, the officers questioned Watkins at length, primarily asking him how he knew Gabriel and where the two were going. Watkins was eventually released after being issued a ticket for disobeying a police officer's signal. The charge was ultimately dropped.

Watkins and Gabriel subsequently filed the instant suit in the court below. The district court, by stipulation of the parties, dismissed Gabriel's claims because he could not be located. Watkins' state law causes of action for false imprisonment, false arrest, and assault and battery were later dismissed by the district court.

The defendants filed two separate motions for summary judgment, one directed at Watkins' remaining state law claims, and one aimed at his federal cause of action. The district court (1) dismissed with prejudice Watkins' state constitutional claims; (2) dismissed with prejudice those claims asserted against the City of Southfield; (3) granted summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity in favor of the defendants with respect to Watkins' § 1983 cause of action; and (4) granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants with respect to Watkins' remaining state law claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress on the grounds that the officers were protected by governmental immunity and that their alleged conduct was not "extreme and outrageous."

In substance, the district court held that Watkins' driving so slowly at four o'clock in the morning in an area where there had been recent, violent, criminal activity, when considered in light of his subsequent conduct when the officers activated their flashing lights, were sufficient to arouse reasonable suspicion to provide justification for an investigatory stop. The court concluded that "[d]riving at one half the speed limit at 4:00 a.m. would provide a basis for suspecting, inter alia, that the driver was drunk, high on drugs, or trying so hard to provide [sic] suspicion for a police stop as to actually establish highly suspicious behavior. Second, the police were aware of an investigation [of] recent violent criminal activity in that area; there had been a shooting and several robberies within the two days." Furthermore, the district court rejected the Watkins' claim that the officers used unreasonable force in executing the stop. Finally, the district court found that the defendants were entitled to governmental immunity with respect to the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim and concluded that "[a]t four o'clock in the morning, it is not outrageous to draw a gun and handcuff a suspect who is driving strangely, and who fails to yield to police signals to pull over."

In this appeal, Watkins does not take issue with the district court's rulings dismissing his state constitutional claims, nor does he challenge the dismissal of the City of Southfield from his suit. Rather, he argues that genuine issues of material fact exist that preclude summary judgment with regard to his § 1983 claim and his intentional infliction of emotional distress cause of action.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Standard of Review

We review de novo a district court's decision to grant or deny summary judgment. See Smith v. Ameritech, 129 F.3d 857 863 (6th Cir. 1997). Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court must view the evidence and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986). The judge is not "to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249 (1986). A genuine issue for trial exists when there is sufficient "evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff." Id. at 252.

B. Qualified Immunity Analysis

Government officials performing discretionary functions are entitled to qualified immunity from civil suits for damages arising out of the performance of their official duties "as long as their actions could reasonably have been thought consistent with the rights they are alleged to have violated." Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 638 (1987). "To successfully state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must identify a right secured by the United States Constitution and the deprivation of that right by a person acting under color of state law."...