Mazuz v. Maryland

Citation442 F.3d 217
Decision Date29 March 2006
Docket NumberNo. 05-1463.,05-1463.
PartiesRafael MAZUZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. The State of MARYLAND; Philip P. Tou, Defendants-Appellants.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

Dawna Marie Cobb, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants. William James Mertens, Bethesda, Maryland, for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Attorney General of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellants.

Before WIDENER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and WALTER D. KELLEY, JR., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge SHEDD wrote the opinion, in which Judge WIDENER and Judge KELLEY joined. Judge KELLEY wrote a separate concurring opinion.

SHEDD, Circuit Judge.

While executing a search warrant in a University of Maryland, College Park, dormitory during a multi-room drug raid, university police detective Philip Tou and other law enforcement officers mistakenly entered the wrong room and briefly detained the residents of that room, one of whom was Rafael Mazuz. Upon realizing the mistake, the officers immediately released the residents and left the room. Mazuz subsequently filed this lawsuit asserting a cause of action against Tou under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, unlawful arrest and detention, and the use of excessive force. Mazuz also asserted an identical cause of action against Tou under Article 26 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Tou moved for summary judgment on both causes of action arguing that no constitutional violation occurred and that he is entitled to qualified immunity. The district court denied the motion, and Tou now appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate the district court's order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.1

I

In May 2002, Mazuz was a student at the University of Maryland, College Park. Mazuz and a roommate resided in room 5108 of Ellicott Hall, which is a university dormitory. Tou was employed by the university police department and was assigned by the university to serve on a multi-jurisdiction drug task force. In this capacity, Tou conducted drug investigations on the university campus. Tou had been employed by the university police department for several years, and he had obtained and executed over 100 search warrants, many of which were for campus dormitory rooms. Mazuz and Tou did not know one another.

In early May, Tou received information concerning the sale of illegal drugs on campus. Tou's investigation revealed that several of the students involved in this drug activity resided in Ellicott Hall. Among other information, Tou learned that in late April an armed robbery of drugs from a resident of Ellicott Hall room 5107 had occurred. Tou also learned that one of the students involved in this drug activity had stated to an informant that he possessed a knife and intended to use it against any police officer who confronted him.2

Based on his investigation, Tou subsequently applied for and obtained search warrants for Ellicott Hall rooms 5105 and 5110, and arrest warrants for students residing in Ellicott Hall rooms 5105 and 5107. Before obtaining the warrants, Tou visited the fifth floor of Ellicott Hall and observed the exterior of rooms 5105, 5107, and 5110. Tou also confirmed with university officials the identity of the residents of these rooms. Neither Mazuz nor his roommate was a suspect in any of the drug activity, and the validity of the warrants is not at issue.

On May 15, Tou prepared an "Operational Plan" for the execution of the arrest and search warrants on the fifth floor of Ellicott Hall. J.A. 43-46. At approximately 10:00 p.m. that evening, Tou met with other officers at the university police station and planned for the raid. Tou reviewed with the officers the information uncovered during his investigation and the floor plan for Ellicott Hall, and the officers were assigned specific duties for the raid. Tou, along with one or more officers, was assigned to enter room 5110. The officers then drove from the police station to Ellicott Hall. Consistent with his normal practice to show warrants to suspects only after a scene has been secured, Tou left the warrants in his vehicle when he arrived at Ellicott Hall. Although Tou was designated as the lead investigator, his immediate supervisor accompanied the officers on this raid.

The search warrant for room 5110 (and presumably the other warrants) authorized nighttime execution, and Tou believed that the likelihood of finding evidence in the rooms was greater at night. At approximately 10:30 p.m., Tou and seven or eight other officers entered Ellicott Hall and took an elevator to the fifth floor. The officers exited the elevator and proceeded down the hallway at a quick pace. From the officers' location, room 5110 was halfway down the hall from the elevator on the right side, room 5108 was immediately past room 5110, and rooms 5105 and 5107 were further down the hall on the left side. Tou moved down the hall staying close to the wall on the right side so that other officers could pass him on the left side. The plan for the raid called for simultaneous entry into the three rooms. Tou reached room 5110 ten to fifteen seconds after exiting the elevator.

The room numbers in Ellicott Hall are not located on the room doors. Instead, they are located on the wall to the upper left of each doorway. Tou was familiar with this numbering system, and he also had reviewed the warrant for room 5110 during the pre-raid meeting. The warrant for room 5110 correctly described the location of the number for the room.

As Tou approached room 5110, which he understood was the room he was supposed to enter, he remained close to the wall. From this vantage point, Tou could not view the room numbers on the wall until he was close to the rooms because the numbers were obstructed by the doorway frames. When Tou viewed the number 5110, he mistakenly associated it with the door to room 5108, which was next to room 5110. The number 5110 is between rooms 5108 and 5110, but it is closer to the door for room 5110. Believing that room 5108 was in fact room 5110, Tou focused his attention on the door to room 5108, and he and another officer moved into position on the sides of that door. At that time, the number 5108 was immediately above Tou, but he did not see it. Nothing in the record suggests that the actual doors of rooms 5108 and 5110 differ in any material respect.

Tou knocked on the door to room 5108 and announced his presence for the purpose of executing a search warrant. Tou then drew his weapon. Mazuz and his roommate were in room 5108, and Mazuz was studying for an examination to be given the following morning. Hearing the knock on the door and believing that another student was outside his room, Mazuz opened the door to find Tou's firearm pointed directly at him. Tou and one or more armed officers entered the room, loudly ordered Mazuz and his roommate to get on the floor, and handcuffed them. Tou was dressed in black "battle dress uniform," which included a black t-shirt, raid vest, and gun belt, and he had some form of clothing over his head or face. J.A. 212. Quite naturally, Mazuz and his roommate were unnerved by the officers' entry into their room, and they attempted to ascertain what was happening and to explain that a mistake had been made. The officers told them to "shut up." J.A. 69. The room was filled with shouting.

Shortly after entering room 5108, Tou became aware that something was amiss. Tou thus went into the hall and checked the room number. At that time, Tou realized that the officers had mistakenly entered room 5108 rather than room 5110, and he informed the other officers of this fact. The officers uncuffed Mazuz and his roommate and went to room 5110 to execute the search warrant. The entire incident involving room 5108 lasted "one to two minutes." J.A. 82. Although the officers "pushed or shoved" some of Mazuz's belongings near the doorway for a few seconds, J.A. 115, they did not physically search Mazuz, his roommate, or the room itself.

Mazuz was understandably upset by this incident, and he therefore attempted (without success) to be excused from his examination the following morning. Because of anxiety resulting from the incident, Mazuz scored poorly on the examination; consequently, he received a poor letter grade for the course. Mazuz has since been diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mazuz has presented a report from his expert witness, Dr. Wendell M. France, who opined (among other things) that "the execution of the search and seizure warrants at Ellicott Hall . . . was a disjointed, poorly managed initiative," and that Tou "disregarded" Mazuz's rights "by failing to ensure a copy of the warrant was in hand to prevent the armed, forced entry of . . . room # 5108." J.A. 313. Dr. France specifically pointed to a State police policy that provides, in pertinent part, that when executing a search warrant "[t]he entry team leader, along with the task force/unit supervisor, is responsible for reading the description of the location to be searched and compare the description to the location being entered." J.A. 339.

For his part, Tou testified during discovery that he had never seen this policy. Tou also testified that the manner in which the warrant for room 5110 was executed is consistent with the normal practice of the drug task force. However, Tou acknowledged that if he had compared the description in the warrant with the doorway immediately before he entered room 5108 he "probably" would not have entered that room. J.A. 195.

II

As we have noted, Mazuz has asserted a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983...

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