Dobos v. Driscoll

Decision Date19 April 1989
PartiesRobert DOBOS et al. 1 v. Paul DRISCOLL et al. 2
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

John T. Landry, III, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen. (Mark P. Sutliff & William Mitchell, Asst. Attys. Gen. & Stanley Adelman with him), for John F. Kehoe, Jr., & others.

Richard L. Zisson, Boston, for Paul Driscoll.

David C. Casey (Deborah A. Tootalian, Boston, with him) for the plaintiffs.

Before HENNESSEY, C.J., and WILKINS, LIACOS, ABRAMS, NOLAN, LYNCH and O'CONNOR, JJ.

LIACOS, Justice.

This is an appeal from judgments entered against a State trooper, Paul Driscoll, his supervisors, and the Commonwealth. The plaintiffs brought suit against Driscoll for violation of Dobos's civil rights, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1979), as amended, and under the common law for assault and battery, false imprisonment, and the intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress. The supervisory defendants were sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; the Commonwealth was sued for negligence. G.L. c. 258 (1986 ed.). The wife and daughter sued for loss of consortium. Special questions were submitted to the jury, and a judgment was entered for the plaintiffs pursuant to Mass.R.Civ.P. 58(a), as amended 371 Mass. 908 (1977). 3 We summarize the facts as they could have been found by the jury.

1. Evidence against Driscoll. At midday on September 4, 1978, Robert Dobos was driving, with his wife and daughters, on Route 128 near Framingham, when the driver of another vehicle, Bruce Mancinelli, began to harass Dobos. Mancinelli's vehicle eventually struck the passenger side of Dobos's vehicle. Dobos responded by gradually forcing Mancinelli to drive to a halt in the breakdown lane. Mancinelli provided his name, address, and the necessary registration and insurance information. He then stated that he wished to leave. Dobos's wife insisted that he stay until they could obtain police assistance. Dobos and his wife (plaintiffs) then attempted to contact the police, first by means of their own two-way radio, then by means of a cabdriver's radio, and finally by motioning to a passing police cruiser. Approximately five to ten minutes after the accident, another cruiser, driven by Trooper Driscoll, arrived at the scene.

Trooper Driscoll obtained statements from Mancinelli and Dobos, but Dobos refused to sign Driscoll's transcription of his statement because he believed it to be inaccurate. Driscoll refused to amend the statement. Instead, he obtained a statement from Donna Dobos, which she signed. Driscoll returned to his cruiser briefly and wrote out citations charging both Mancinelli and Dobos with violations of laws governing the highways. Mancinelli then departed.

Upon handing Dobos his citation, Driscoll stated in a loud voice, "You are not the law. I am the law. You don't pull nobody off the road." Repeating the statement, Driscoll moved closer to Dobos until his saliva was spraying in Dobos's face. Driscoll also jabbed Dobos in the chest with his fingers. Dobos and his wife pleaded with Driscoll to stop, and Dobos put his hands up and said, "The children are watching. Please, Officer, your behavior will be difficult to explain. Don't scream." The plaintiffs' pleas had no effect. Dobos, who speaks broken English, then said, "I'm so sorry, Officer, I don't hear you." Driscoll said, "If you say that one more time I'm going to lock you up." When Dobos did repeat himself, Driscoll took him by the arm, marched him to the cruiser, frisked him, handcuffed his hands tightly behind his back, and roughly forced him into the cruiser. Dobos asked if he could have his glasses and if he could give his keys to his wife. Driscoll did not respond and drove away at a high speed.

Dobos was taken to the Framingham State police barracks. Driscoll removed the handcuffs with some difficulty, apparently because they were fastened too tightly to Dobos's wrists. Dobos was taken to a cell. Some time later, Dobos stated that he did not feel well and requested medical attention. According to Dobos's testimony, the following exchange then took place.

DRISCOLL: "What's wrong with you? Nothing wrong with you."

DOBOS: "I don't know what's wrong with me, I like to find out."

DRISCOLL: "I don't see anything wrong with you."

Dobos then gave his name and address and refused to say anything further. Dobos was informed that, unless he provided information necessary to be admitted to bail, he would be held in the cell overnight.

Shortly after these events, Donna Dobos arrived at the Framingham barracks. She encountered Driscoll and asked him why he had yelled at them. He responded, "That's the way I talk." When Donna Dobos asked why he had refused to state where he was taking Dobos and why he had left before she could follow, Driscoll responded, "It's not my job to play follow-the-leader." After some further exchanges between Driscoll and Donna Dobos, she was led to her husband's cell by Driscoll and the barracks commander, who then left her with her husband. She observed that he had been crying, that his hand was red and swollen, that his hand was shaking, and that he was pale. Dobos told his wife that he had requested medical help three times, and he asked her to request medical help for him again. She did so, and Driscoll responded, "We don't ask doctors to come here. If you insist on medical help we're going to send your husband to a mental hospital in a straitjacket if necessary for a minimum of ten days." Donna Dobos left the barracks in tears.

After Donna Dobos left the barracks, Driscoll came into Dobos's cell. Driscoll brought with him a sheet of paper containing the bail information provided by Donna Dobos, and, according to Dobos, began yelling that "[n]obody['s] yanking my chain. You s---. I show you, you don't go out so far you don't give me the information." Driscoll proceeded to tear apart the sheet of paper and to throw it before Dobos. Dobos began to sweat, his mouth became dry, and he asked Driscoll for some water, which Driscoll provided. Dobos stated, "You don't see, I need medical help," and fainted. He was taken to a hospital and then returned to the barracks, by which time his wife had retained an attorney who obtained Dobos's release that night.

At trial, Dobos presented testimony about his background and about the long-term effects of his encounter with Driscoll. Dobos was born in Budapest, Hungary. He was subject to physical abuse as a child, from his military father and others. When he was twenty-one years old, he was taken from his parents' home by the Hungarian secret police and placed in a Communist labor camp for three years. He was subject to physical and mental abuse in the labor camp.

Dobos came to the United States in 1967. From 1967 until 1978, Dobos established a successful business as a dental technician. He travelled extensively, both with his family on vacations and by himself, either for his own education or to give professional presentations. After his encounter with Driscoll, however, Dobos began to avoid interaction with anyone outside his family and began to avoid activities outside of his home. In 1980, Dobos sought the aid of a psychiatrist. Dobos received treatment occasionally until 1982, and, although he received medicine to alleviate his fear of going out of the house, Dobos felt that it made him irresponsible. In 1982, Dobos began to receive regular weekly treatments by a clinical psychologist, David Cellani.

Cellani testified that Dobos had received 106 one-hour sessions and that he expected these sessions to continue, although they had become progressively less regular by 1986. 4 He further testified that Dobos "clearly described being agoraphobic, that is, having fear of traveling freely and having fear, excessive fear of leaving his house. He described the fact that whenever he went out, that he would have one or more of his family members come with him." Cellani testified that Dobos had an "underlying psychological structure which could be called a dependent personality disorder," but that Dobos's agoraphobia "did not appear until it was proven to him once again that even in this country, where he came to live, you could be beaten and humiliated" so that "those fears that were already in him were massively exacerbated by this incident [with Driscoll] and he became house-bound, more or less house-bound" for the eight years since the incident.

2. Evidence against the supervisory defendants. The defendant Robert Hunt testified that he was a troop commander with the State police from July, 1977, until after the Dobos incident. In this position, he was responsible for the administration and management of approximately 170 to 190 officers. Driscoll had been removed from highway patrol in November, 1976, but had returned to highway patrol under Hunt's command in October, 1977. Hunt testified that he was not aware of the specific reasons for Driscoll's discipline but admitted that it was "common knowledge" that Driscoll's captain had recommended that he "be removed from field operations and have no direct contact with the public."

Hunt also testified that, on receipt of civilian complaints, it was State police procedure to determine the seriousness of the allegations and to investigate the matter, whereupon the troop commander ordinarily would "make a judgment based on the information that was available to him." In extraordinary circumstances, he testified, the matter would be referred to the internal affairs department, which would make its own investigation and recommendation to the deputy superintendent.

Between the time that Driscoll was reassigned to highway duty under Hunt in October, 1977, and the Dobos incident in September, 1978, Hunt reprimanded Driscoll several times with respect to Driscoll's behavior toward motorists whom he had stopped on the highway. In all, he reprimanded Driscoll approximately five times for what Hunt...

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