Carter v. Lucas
| Decision Date | 20 July 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1804,93-1804 |
| Citation | 30 F.3d 128 |
| Parties | NOTICE: Fourth Circuit I.O.P. 36.6 states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Fourth Circuit. Robert Edwin CARTER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. D.O. LUCAS; R.D. Gillespie; F.S. Earman; J.R. Buckalew, Superintendent of West Virginia State Police; Glennm. Weatherholtz, Sheriff of Rockingham County; State of West Virginia; Rockingham County, Virginia, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Harrisonburg. James H. Michael Jr., District Judge. (CA-92-63-H)
Leslie Ann Shaner, Singleton & Deeds, Monterey, VA, for appellant.
Leon Francis Szeptycki, McGurie, Woods, Battle & Boothe, Charlottesville, VA, for appellees Gillespie, Lucas, and WVA.
J. Ross Newell, III, Timberlake, Smith, Thomas & Moses, Staunton, VA, for appellees Earman, Weatherholtz, and Rockingham County.
John C. Singleton, Singleton & Deeds, Monterey, VA, for appellant.
R.Craig Wood, McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, Charlottville, VA, for appellees Gillespie, Lucas, and WVA.
AFFIRMED.
Before RUSSELL, Circuit Judge, CHAPMAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and TILLEY, United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina, sitting by designation.
Plaintiff appeals the summary judgment dismissal of various claims under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and the dismissal without prejudice of several pendent state law claims under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1347. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1291. Appellate review of summary judgment proceedings is conducted de novo. For the reasons stated below, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED in all respects.
The facts, stated in the light most favorable to Plaintiff-Appellant Robert Edwin Carter, show the following. Carter and his friend Charles Vandevander spent the day of June 16, 1990, moving Vandevander's furniture into Carter's home. They began drinking beer sometime prior to noon and continued to drink as they worked all day and into the evening. Later that night, Carter and Vandevander went to a Pizza Hut on South Main Street in Harrisonburg, Virginia. At the Pizza Hut, the two shared a pizza and at least one large pitcher of beer. Carter then left the restaurant and "passed out" in the cab of his red Toyota pick-up truck.
Carter was awakened some time later by Vandevander striking him across the chest. Vandevander was driving and stated that the police were chasing them. Carter told Vandevander to pull over. Vandevander, who was a Virginia "repeat offender," replied that he would rather die than return to jail. Vandevander did not have a driver's license.
Frank Earman, a Rockingham County, Virginia, deputy sheriff, first encountered the red Toyota truck at a stoplight in Harrisonburg. When the light turned green, the Toyota spun its tires and "fish tailed" down the street. Earman turned on his emergency lights and siren and attempted to stop the Toyota. The truck refused to stop and a 37-mile chase ensued. The chase began between midnight and 1:00 a.m. on June 17.
The first few miles of the chase were at relatively low speeds as the vehicles moved through the town of Harrisonburg. A Harrisonburg police car joined the pursuit before the vehicles left the city limits. As the vehicles moved out of town and onto a state highway, the speed of the chase increased dramatically. Deputy Earman states that the vehicles reached speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour. Carter, whose memory was admittedly fogged by extreme intoxication, estimates the top speed at 100 miles per hour. There was virtually no oncoming traffic during the entire length of the chase.
As the chase moved toward the West Virginia state line, Earman radioed his dispatcher to notify the West Virginia State Police that a high speed chase was about to enter their jurisdiction. Throughout most of the chase, Earman could not contact West Virginia troopers directly because of equipment limitations and transmission "masking" due to mountains in the area. Except for one brief transmission very near the end of the chase, all communication between the officers had to be routed through both the Virginia and West Virginia dispatchers.
Prior to entering West Virginia, Earman learned that the Toyota was owned by Carter and that the truck was registered to a local Virginia address. At some point during the chase, Earman used his spotlight to illuminate the Toyota from the rear and was able to see that there were two people in the truck.
Three state troopers are assigned to Pendelton County West Virginia. Trooper David Lucas was on duty and was notified of the pursuit by the West Virginia dispatcher. Trooper Richard Gillespie was not on duty but was monitoring his police scanner at home. Upon hearing that Lucas was some distance from the path of the chase, Trooper Gillespie notified the dispatcher that he was coming on duty to assist in the chase. The only information that Lucas and Gillespie had was that a high speed pursuit was entering their jurisdiction and that it involved traffic violations.
Because of communications problems and his distance from the path of the chase, Trooper Lucas was unable to get in proper position to assist in the chase. He encountered the red Toyota while he was going east and it was traveling west. Lucas clocked the speed of the Toyota at 74 miles per hour. Lucas radioed the speed and location of the chase to Trooper Gillespie.
Meanwhile, Trooper Gillespie was able to get into position several miles ahead of the pursuit. He decided to attempt a rolling roadblock. A rolling roadblock is a procedure whereby a police vehicle takes up a position in front of, traveling in the same direction and at roughly the same speed as, the pursued vehicle. The police vehicle then occupies both lanes of the road, attempting to force the fleeing car to slow down and eventually stop. Trooper Gillespie had used this maneuver successfully to stop speeding vehicles on several occasions.
Gillespie picked out a relatively straight and level patch of road just west of Franklin, West Virginia, as a good place to attempt the maneuver. He made radio contact with Earman as the chase came down a mountain just east of his position. Gillespie instructed Earman to back off to make room for the rolling roadblock.
As the chase approached, Gillespie turned on his lights and siren and proceeded west, in the direction of the chase, at a speed of "no less than 70 miles per hour." Within one minute the Red Toyota came up behind Gillespie's vehicle. Vandevander, still driving the Toyota, attempted to pass first on the left and then on the right. Both attempts were blocked by Gillespie. Gillespie began to decelerate by taking his foot off the accelerator and not applying his brakes. Vandevander accelerated and attempted to pass a third time, this time on the left side of Gillespie's vehicle. Gillespie believed that a collision was imminent and moved his vehicle back into the right lane. No collision occurred. However, in his determination to pass Gillespie's vehicle, Vandevander allowed the Toyota's left tires to go off the left side of the road. He then lost control and the Toyota slid back across the highway in front of Gillespie. Gillespie applied his brakes in order to prevent a collision. The Toyota then went off...
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