Rowland v. Perry

Decision Date29 November 1994
Docket NumberNos. 93-2589,94-1023,s. 93-2589
Citation41 F.3d 167
PartiesOtha ROWLAND, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. B.M. PERRY, Individually and as Police Officer, City of Raleigh Police Department; City of Raleigh, a municipal corporation organized under and pursuant to the laws of the State of North Carolina, Defendants-Appellants. Otha ROWLAND, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. B.M. PERRY, Individually and as Police Officer, City of Raleigh Police Department; City of Raleigh, a municipal corporation organized under and pursuant to the laws of the State of North Carolina, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

ARGUED: Dorothy Virginia Kibler, Bailey & Dixon, Raleigh, NC, for appellants. Edward Hardy Lewis, Marcus W. Trathen, Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove, Raleigh, NC, for appellee. ON BRIEF: Kenyann G. Brown, Bailey & Dixon, Raleigh, NC, Thomas A. McCormick, Jr., City Atty., City of Raleigh, Raleigh, NC, for appellants. Roger W. Smith, Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove, Raleigh, NC, for appellee.

Before POWELL, Associate Justice (Retired), United States Supreme Court, sitting by designation, and MURNAGHAN and WILKINSON, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part; reversed in part; dismissed in part; and remanded by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Justice POWELL and Judge MURNAGHAN joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to consider once again questions of qualified immunity under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 raised in the context of a defendant police officer's motion for summary judgment. The district court denied the officer's assertions of immunity and allowed the case to proceed to trial on all plaintiff's claims. We affirm the trial court's denial of summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff's claim of excessive force, but we reverse and dismiss plaintiff's claims of unlawful detention and due process violations. We decline to pass upon the district court's discovery rulings, and with respect to those rulings, we dismiss defendant's appeal. We dismiss plaintiff's cross-appeal contesting the district court's denial of his motion for leave to amend his complaint to add a claim of municipal liability against the City of Raleigh.

I.

This case arose out of a scuffle between a police officer and a citizen over a lost five dollar bill. Plaintiff Otha Rowland, Jr., is 37 years old, mildly retarded, and possesses a severe speech impediment. On November 5, 1991, at around 3:00 p.m., Rowland was waiting for a bus at the Moore Street Station in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Officer Billy M. Perry, the defendant in this action and a twenty-five year veteran of the City of Raleigh Police Department, was patrolling the bus station at that time. Officer Perry observed a woman at the station ticket window drop a five dollar bill. He then saw Rowland, who was standing nearby, walk over and pick up the money. Rowland pocketed the money and walked away without attempting to return it to the woman who had lost it, identified as Julia Campen. It appeared to Officer Perry that Mr. Rowland had seen Ms. Campen drop the money, but Rowland claims he had no idea to whom the money belonged when he picked it up.

The parties give somewhat conflicting accounts of subsequent events. Officer Perry immediately approached Mr. Rowland and told him to return the money to Ms. Campen. Rowland claims that he walked over to Campen and politely offered her the money but she declined, stating that it did not belong to her. According to Officer Perry, however, Mr. Rowland simply waved the money in the face of an openly distressed and tearful Ms. Campen. The officer did not hear the words, if any, that passed between them. A ticket window attendant who witnessed the interchange interpreted Mr. Rowland's actions as a crude proposition to Ms. Campen rather than an attempt to return the money. Campen, who is also slightly retarded, has offered conflicting affidavits on the details of this exchange.

Rowland then left the bus station, heading out toward Blount Street. After confirming that the money had not been returned to Campen, Officer Perry followed Rowland into the street. Perry claims that Rowland began to run and that he chased him to a nearby construction site. By contrast, Rowland maintains that he was merely standing at the corner of Blount and Hargett Streets when Officer Perry approached, and that he never ran from or was chased by the officer.

Both parties agree that at this point a struggle began and that Officer Perry ultimately used disabling force to gain control over Mr. Rowland. They differ, however, on who initiated the use of force and on the nature of resistance offered. Officer Perry asserts that Rowland shoved him in an attempt to escape, whereupon the officer grabbed Rowland by the collar. The use of force then escalated as Rowland's level of resistance increased. Both combatants fell to the ground, whereupon Officer Perry finally subdued the suspect. According to Officer Perry, no blows were inflicted during this scuffle. Again, Mr. Rowland portrays events quite differently. He contends that, without any provocation, Officer Perry grabbed his collar and jerked him around, yelling harshly as he did so. Frightened, Rowland instinctively tried to free himself. In response, Officer Perry punched him and threw him to the ground. Officer Perry then used a wrestling maneuver, throwing his weight against Rowland's right leg and wrenching the knee until it cracked. The struggle ceased as soon as Rowland's leg gave way.

During the struggle, Officer Perry called for backup. In response, Officer B.E. Myatt arrived on the scene, appearing soon after the fight ended. The officers placed Rowland in a squad car and briefly detained him while Officer Perry returned the five dollars to Ms. Campen. She confirmed that the money did belong to her but told Officer Perry she did not wish to press charges. Rowland was detained for a total of ten to fifteen minutes. He was never arrested.

Soon after the fight ended Rowland began to complain to the officers that his leg was "broken." Rowland contends that they ignored his complaints and also ignored his request for an ambulance, telling him to "go soak his leg." The officers dispute this account, maintaining that they offered to call a doctor but that Rowland declined. Moreover, Perry claims Rowland displayed no obvious signs of injury, either to his leg or elsewhere on his person. Rowland eventually limped, according to him, from the scene. He checked into a hospital the next day. It was later determined that the primary injury Mr. Rowland suffered to his right leg was a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He has had surgery twice, and now has a permanent partial disability.

Rowland originally filed claims against Officer Perry in both his official and individual capacities. He sought damages under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and various state law theories. In particular, Rowland brought Sec. 1983 claims of excessive force, unlawful detention, and due process violations, as well as state law claims of assault and battery and false arrest. The district court denied Perry qualified immunity on all claims against him in his individual capacity, and compelled the discovery of all requested personnel and medical records relating to him. The original claim against Perry in his official capacity, in reality a claim against the City, was dismissed as an inadequate respondeat superior allegation. The district court also denied plaintiff's motion to add to his complaint a claim of municipal liability against the City. Defendants brought an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985), challenging the denial of qualified immunity and the grant of discovery. Plaintiff cross-appeals the denial of his motion to amend.

II.

We shall first address Perry's various claims of qualified immunity. The basic rules of Sec. 1983 immunity are well known. Underlying the doctrine is a desire to avoid overdeterrence of energetic law enforcement by subjecting governmental actors to a high risk of liability. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 638, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). The concerns behind the immunity defense are especially salient in the context of street-level police work, which frequently requires quick and decisive action in the face of volatile and changing circumstances. The law thus shields police officers from civil liability unless the officer reasonably should have known that his actions violated clearly established constitutional rights. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982).

The reasonableness inquiry is an objective one. Id. To gauge objective reasonableness, a court examines only the actions at issue and measures them against what a reasonable police officer would do under the circumstances. Graham v. Connor 90 U.S. 386, 397, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1872, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). Subjective factors involving the officer's motives, intent, or propensities are not relevant. The objective nature of the inquiry is specifically intended to limit examination into an officer's subjective state of mind, and thereby enhance the chances of a speedy disposition of the case. Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, ---- - ----, 112 S.Ct. 534, 536-37, 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991).

Though it focuses on the objective facts, the immunity inquiry must be filtered through the lens of the officer's perceptions at the time of the incident in question. Sevigny v. Dicksey, 846 F.2d 953, 957 (4th Cir.1988). Such a perspective serves two purposes. First, using the officer's perception of the facts at the time limits second-guessing the reasonableness of actions with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Graham, 490 U.S. at 396, 109 S.Ct. at 1871-72. Second, using this perspective limits the need for decision-makers to sort through conflicting...

To continue reading

Request your trial
290 cases
  • White v. Town of Chapel Hill, Civ. No. 1:93CV00304.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Middle District of North Carolina
    • January 6, 1995
    ...the issue of qualified immunity is ripe for summary judgment.") (quoting Gooden, 954 F.2d at 964-65); see also Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167, 174 (4th Cir.1994) (officer "had an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause"). There is no genuine dispute as to the reasona......
  • Brown v. Ray, Civil Action No. 7:09cv00180.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. United States District Court (Western District of Virginia)
    • February 26, 2010
    ...what the official reasonably perceived, and the court is not to look at the actions with the benefit of hindsight. See Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167, 173 (4th Cir.1994). For a determination of whether the defendants violated clearly established constitutional rights, the inquiry is to be un......
  • Cromartie v. Billings
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Virginia
    • January 16, 2020
    ...a "minor one ... the first Graham factor weighed in plaintiff’s favor." Jones , 325 F.3d at 528 (quoting in part from Rowland v. Perry , 41 F.3d 167, 174 (4th Cir. 1994) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Speeding, the offense for which Billings stopped Cromartie, is not a criminal offens......
  • Amato v. City of Richmond
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Virginia)
    • December 15, 1994
    ...American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, Inc. v. Wicomico County, 999 F.2d 780, 784 (4th Cir.1993). Recently, in Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167 (4th Cir.1994), the Fourth Circuit explicated the nature of the reasonableness inquiry holding The reasonableness inquiry is an objective one. Id......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
3 books & journal articles
  • Rethinking Police Expertise.
    • United States
    • Yale Law Journal Vol. 131 No. 2, November 2021
    • November 1, 2021
    ...the plaintiff was a "slender young female" and the police officer was "large, burly, [and] professionally-trained"); Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167, 174 (4th Cir. 1994) (denying qualified immunity given a lack of evidence that the suspect "was a danger to the larger, trained police (327.) Re......
  • Qualified Immunity and the Colorblindness Fallacy: Why 'Black Lives [Don't] Matter' to the Country's High Court
    • United States
    • Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives No. 13-2, July 2021
    • July 1, 2021
    ...standard usurps the role of the judge as sentencer and invites the police—who, 200. Gandy , 520 F. App’x at 140 (quoting Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167, 173 (4th Cir. 1994)). 201. Id. 202. Id. at 140-41. All facts are ordinarily considered “in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Scot......
  • PLAINLY INCOMPETENT: HOW QUALIFIED IMMUNITY BECAME AN EXCULPATORY DOCTRINE OF POLICE EXCESSIVE FORCE.
    • United States
    • University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 170 No. 2, January 2022
    • January 1, 2022
    ...that the proper test for qualified immunity in excessive force cases is the same as the test on the merits); Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167, 173 (4th Cir. 1994) ("The immunity test and the test on the merits both rely on an objective appraisal of the reasonableness of the force employed."); ......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT