Raiche v. Pietroski

Citation623 F.3d 30
Decision Date25 October 2010
Docket NumberNo. 09-1910.,09-1910.
PartiesMatthew RAICHE, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. Jamie PIETROSKI, Defendant, Appellant, James Coyne, Defendant.
CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

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Evan C. Ouellette, Assistant Corporation Counsel, with whom William F. Sinnot, Corporation Counsel, was on brief, for appellant.

Rudolph F. Miller, with whom Gabriela Mendoza was on brief, for appellee.

Before THOMPSON, SELYA, and DYK, * Circuit Judges.

THOMPSON, Circuit Judge.

Officer Jamie Pietroski suffered a late-night lapse in judgment and forcibly removed a compliant Matthew Raiche from his stopped motorcycle in order to arrest Raiche for, ironically, failure to stop. A jury saw the irony and, after a trial on a number of related civil rights claims, awarded Raiche damages for injuries sustained as a result of Pietroski's use of excessive force. Pietroski filed post-trial motions (1) for judgment as a matter of law on the ground that he was entitled to qualified immunity because he had acted reasonably, and (2) for a new trial on the ground that the jury's verdict was not supported by the evidence. The district court denied Pietroski's motions and entered judgment for Raiche.

Pietroski now appeals the district court's denial of his post-trial motions and challenges the validity of the jury verdict on the basis that the evidence does not support a finding of excessive force. After careful review of the record, we agree with the district court that the evidence supports a finding that Pietroski acted unreasonably and may not avail himself of qualified immunity's protection. We affirm.

I. Background
A. Facts

The parties present very different versions of the events that culminated in the arrest of Raiche at 2:50 A.M. on Saturday, August 17, 2002.

According to Boston Police Officers Pietroski and James Coyne, they were inside their marked police cruiser parked on Brigham Circle, in Roxbury, MA, when they spotted Raiche driving his motorcycle without a helmet in violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 7. The officers testified that they pursued Raiche in their cruiser and signaled for him to stop, using the cruiser's overhead lights. They then testified that, rather than pulling over, Raiche led them on a chase, speeding and going the wrong way down one-way streets. Under the officers' version of events, Raiche only stopped when he negotiated a turn poorly and his motorcycle got stuck between a parked vehicle and the curb of the sidewalk.

Raiche testified that no pursuit occurred as far as he could tell, and as soon as he had the opportunity to stop safely after he saw the cruiser's flashing lights, he pulled over in the belief that the police wanted to pass him. According to Raiche, he pulled over behind a parked vehicle, shut off his motorcycle's engine, and “bounced” the motorcycle between his legs as he waited 15-20 seconds for the police to pass. Instead of passing him, however, the cruiser skidded to a stop at an angle behind him. The next thing he knew, he was being tackled off his bike.

Pietroski testified that he exited the cruiser and ran at Raiche, shouting that he was a Boston Police Officer and instructing Raiche to get down on the ground and show his hands. However, both Raiche and Coyne testified that they did not hear Pietroski identify himself or give Raiche any instructions. In any event, Pietroski reached Raiche within seconds, grabbed him by his shoulders, and either “physically lift[ed] him off [his] bike and tr[ied] to pull him as far away from that bike” as possible (under Pietroski's version) or launched himself in the air and tackled Raiche, football-style, to the ground (under Raiche's version). Raiche's forehead struck the sidewalk, and the motorcycle landed on top of his right leg. The force of Pietroski's takedown also caused the motorcycle's handlebars and forks to bend and suffer irreparable damage.

Pietroski then pulled up on Raiche's left arm to apply handcuffs, twisting Raiche, who was still tangled up with the motorcycle. According to Raiche, he asked, “Please, can you ease up on my left arm? It comes out of socket.” Raiche testified that his left shoulder was partially dislocated during the handcuffing process. Also while handcuffing Raiche, Pietroski put his knee on the small of Raiche's back, which caused Raiche's head to hit the pavement a second time.

As a result of the force used to make the arrest, Raiche's motorcycle was rendered a total loss. In addition to the temporarily dislocated shoulder, Raiche received cuts and abrasions that did not require medical attention. Raiche submitted photographs showing cuts on his face, on his right arm, on his right knee, and on the back of his left leg.

Raiche was charged with the criminal offense of “failure to stop for police officer” in violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 90, § 25.

B. Procedural History

On May 5, 2006, Raiche filed suit against Officers Pietroski and Coyne in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Raiche asserted civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 12, §§ 11H & I (MCRA), alleging that his arrest had been effected without probable cause and by means of excessive force. Raiche also asserted common law claims alleging false imprisonment and assault and battery.

A jury trial began on January 12, 2009. At the close of Raiche's evidence, the officers filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law based on, inter alia, qualified immunity, and the officers renewed the motion at the close of all evidence pursuant to Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court denied both motions without written findings or opinion.

On January 16, 2009, the jury returned verdicts in favor of (1) Coyne on all claims against him, (2) Pietroski on the claims asserting arrest without probable cause (§ 1983, MCRA, and false imprisonment), and (3) Raiche on claims alleging that Pietroski used excessive force to make the arrest (§ 1983, MCRA, and assault and battery). The jury awarded Raiche $2,500 in compensatory damages but did not award punitive damages. On May 19, 2009, the district court entered judgment in accordance with the verdicts.

On June 3, 2009, Pietroski renewed his motion for judgment as a matter of law based on qualified immunity or, in the alternative, insufficient evidence of excessive force; he also moved in the alternative for a new trial. 1 On June 4, 2009, the district court denied his post-trial motions. Pietroski timely filed his notice of appeal on June 18, 2009. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. Qualified Immunity

We will first address Pietroski's argument that he is entitled to qualified immunity. A district court's denial of qualified immunity is a legal determination that we review de novo. Iacobucci v. Boulter, 193 F.3d 14, 22 (1st Cir.1999). When reviewing a question of qualified immunity originally resolved after a jury verdict, we must construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the party that prevailed at trial, giving “deference ... to the jury's discernible resolution of disputed factual issues.” Id. at 23. Here, the jury returned a verdict in Raiche's favor on his excessive force claims; thus, we construe the facts in a manner supportive of that verdict. See id.; see also Jennings v. Jones, 499 F.3d 2, 7 (1st Cir.2007) ([W]here the jury has issued a general verdict ... we view the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict.”) (internal quotation marks and brackets removed). In the end, [t]he availability of qualified immunity after a trial is a legal question informed by the jury's findings of fact, but ultimately committed to the court's judgment.” Acevedo-Garcia v. Monroig, 351 F.3d 547, 563 (1st Cir.2003).

Qualified immunity affords limited protection to public officials faced with liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, ‘insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)). Thus, to determine whether qualified immunity applies in a given case, we must determine: (1) whether a public official has violated a plaintiff's constitutionally protected right; and (2) whether the particular right that the official has violated was clearly established at the time of the violation. Estrada v. Rhode Island, 594 F.3d 56, 62-63 (1st Cir.2010). These two prongs of the analysis need not be considered in any particular order, and both prongs must be satisfied for a plaintiff to overcome a qualified immunity defense. See Maldonado v. Fontanes, 568 F.3d 263, 269-70 (1st Cir.2009). Additionally, in applying the second prong, we must consider two subsidiary issues:

(a) the clarity of the law in general at the time of the alleged violation; and (b) the clarity of the law as applied to the case-in other words, whether a reasonable person in the defendant's shoes “would have understood that his conduct violated the Plaintiff['s] constitutional rights.” Id. at 269. In conducting the whole analysis, we must take care “to avoid the chilling effect of second-guessing where the officer[ ], acting in the heat of events, made a defensible (albeit imperfect) judgment.” Statchen v. Palmer, 623 F.3d 15, 18, 2010 WL 4027830, at *2 (1st Cir.2010) (citing Roy v. Inhabitants of Lewiston, 42 F.3d 691, 695 (1st Cir.1994)).

Although we do not need to follow the rigid structure that we once did, we will proceed to conduct each step of the analysis in the traditional order. This exercise reveals that, given the jury's resolution of the facts, Pietroski's use of force was not defensible and, therefore, that qualified immunity affords him...

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