Cyrus v. Town Of Mukwonago
| Citation | 624 F.3d 856 |
| Decision Date | 10 November 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 09-2331.,09-2331. |
| Parties | Chet CYRUS, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. TOWN OF MUKWONAGO, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
James E. Gatzke, Attorney (argued), Gatzke & Ruppelt, New Berlin, WI, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Samuel C. Hall, Jr., Attorney (argued), Crivello, Carlson, Mentkowski & Steeves, Milwaukee, WI, Gregg T. Heidenreich, Attorney, Stilp & Cotton, Brookfield, WI, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before BAUER and SYKES, Circuit Judges, and SIMON, District Judge. *
Nickolos Cyrus suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and was known to local police based on past psychotic-but noncriminal-episodes. Early one morning, after being reported missing by his family and while in a delusional state, he wandered into a partially built new home in Mukwonago, Wisconsin, wearing nothing but a bathrobe. The property owner was present and called the police. Town of Mukwonago Lieutenant Thomas Czarnecki was the first to respond to the scene, and by then Cyrus was standing outside the house. The officer approached and asked him to come to the squad car to talk. Instead, Cyrus turned and began walking back toward the house.
Czarnecki fired his Taser at Cyrus to stop him from reentering the house, and this set in motion a confluence of events. Cyrus fell to the ground after being hit with the Taser. He attempted to stand up but immediately fell over. Czarnecki Tasered Cyrus a second time. Cyrus went into a barrel roll and ended up lying face down on the unfinished gravel driveway. A second police officer arrived, and he and Czarnecki attempted to handcuff Cyrus, but this was difficult because Cyrus's hands were tucked underneath his stomach and he did not comply with the officers' commands to produce them for handcuffing. Czarnecki Tasered Cyrus several more times-there is a dispute about how many-in an effort to force compliance with the arrest. Once Cyrus was handcuffed, the officers turned him onto his back and found he was not breathing. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
Cyrus's parents sued Lieutenant Czarnecki, the Town of Mukwonago, and other defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Cyrus's death was caused by the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, holding that the amount of force used to apprehend Cyrus was reasonable under the circumstances. Cyrus's parents appealed.
We reverse. There are material facts in dispute about the extent to which Cyrus attempted to evade the officers and the actual amount of force Czarnecki used to bring about his arrest. The evidence conflicts, most importantly, on how many times Cyrus was Tasered. Czarnecki testified that he deployed his Taser five or six times, and the autopsy report describes marks on Cyrus's back consistent with roughly six Taser shocks. But the Taser's internal computer registered twelve trigger pulls, suggesting that more than six shocks may have been used. On a Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim, these are key factual disputes not susceptible of resolution on summary judgment.
This case is before us on summary judgment, so we recount the version of the facts most favorable to the nonmoving parties-Cyrus's parents and his estate-noting disputes where they exist.
Nickolos Cyrus suffered from bipolar disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia, and he sometimes exhibited delusional behaviors that required police intervention. This was the case on July 8, 2006. Cyrus, who was then 29 years old and lived with his parents in Mukwonago, left his home on that day, and a Rock County Deputy Sheriff found him wandering along an interstate highway in a delusional state. He was taken to the Rock County Mental Health Facility for evaluation and then released to the custody of his mother, Brenda Cyrus. Cyrus and his mother had a dispute later that evening, and Cyrus removed all his clothes except a bathrobe (and possibly boxer shorts) before leaving home a second time. Brenda Cyrus contacted the Village of Mukwonago Police Department, told the dispatcher what happened, and said she wanted her son taken into custody when the police found him.
At about 7:45 a.m. the next day, emergency dispatchers received a call from Bradford Williams, a resident of the Town of Mukwonago, who said that an unknown man was trespassing on his property-a new home under construction in the Town-and the man was acting strangely. Williams reported that the trespasser wore only a bathrobe and that Williams had a verbal confrontation with him. Lieutenant Thomas Czarnecki, the Town's on-duty officer, was dispatched to the Williams property. The dispatcher informed Czarnecki that the property owner and the suspect had a verbal exchange inside the home, and that the suspect could be found walking back and forth between the home and a garbage dumpster outside. The dispatcher also told Czarnecki that the suspect was likely “that crazy boy.” Czarnecki understood this to be a reference to Cyrus; he was familiar with Cyrus from prior delusional episodes, and also knew he had been reported missing the night before.
Czarnecki arrived at the scene at approximately 7:50 a.m. and saw Williams standing in his driveway and Cyrus standing near the house wearing just a bathrobe. The officer got out of his squad car, assumed an “open stance” toward Cyrus, identified himself, and asked Cyrus to come toward the street to talk. Cyrus told Czarnecki that he lived on the property and that his brother lived next door. Czarnecki told Cyrus that he was on the wrong property. Cyrus responded by saying that Czarnecki was on private property and needed to leave.
After this brief dialogue, Cyrus turned and made his way back toward the house; Czarnecki contends that Cyrus ran, not walked, in the direction of the house. Czarnecki then unholstered his Taser and fired it at Cyrus, striking him in the back with both probes and causing him to fall to the ground. 1 Czarnecki knew that backup was en route to the scene; he ordered Cyrus-who was lying on his stomach on the unpaved gravel driveway as a result of being hit with the Taser-to remain on the ground and put his hands behind his back. After Czarnecki issued this order, Officer Eric Nelson of the Village of Mukwonago Police Department arrived. 2 Nelson got out of his squad car, and at this point Cyrus attempted to stand up but wobbled on his feet and fell back down to the ground. Though he knew Cyrus was unarmed, Czarnecki hit him with the Taser again; after this second shock, Cyrus barrel-rolled four or five times down the driveway. 3 When Cyrus stopped rolling, Czarnecki and Nelson approached him and commanded that he show his hands for handcuffing. Cyrus was lying on his stomach on the driveway with his hands underneath him and did not immediately comply, so the officers attempted to forcibly remove his hands from underneath his body. More specifically, Czarnecki grabbed Cyrus's left forearm with one hand and kept his other hand on the Taser, while Nelson placed his left knee on Cyrus's right shoulder blade to control Cyrus's movement. This maneuver did not succeed in dislodging Cyrus's hands from underneath him; to force compliance, Czarnecki deployed the Taser in drive-stun mode to Cyrus's back several times over the next minute or so. The evidence conflicts about exactly how many times Czarnecki used the Taser on Cyrus while he was face down in the driveway. Czarnecki testified at his deposition that he fired it approximately six times in total-twice during the initial encounter and four more times while Cyrus was on the ground. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy documented marks on Cyrus's back consistent with six Taser shots. Yet the Taser's internal readout of trigger pulls recorded a total of 12 trigger pulls during the relevant timeframe.
The officers eventually succeeded in handcuffing Cyrus and called for an ambulance on a nonemergency basis. But when they rolled Cyrus onto his back, they realized that he was not breathing. Czarnecki then radioed the ambulance and instructed the paramedics to “step it up.” Cyrus never regained consciousness and was formally pronounced dead at the hospital later that day.
Chet and Brenda Cyrus, Nickolos's parents, commenced this action on behalf of themselves and Cyrus's estate (collectively “the Estate”) against Lieutenant Czarnecki, Officer Nelson, the Village of Mukwonago, the Town of Mukwonago, and the police chief of each municipality. The complaint included multiple federal- and state-law claims, but the only one remaining on this appeal is a Fourth Amendment excessive-force claim under § 1983. 4
The Estate identified two expert witnesses: Joseph Waller, who was to testify on the reasonableness of Czarnecki's use of force during Cyrus's arrest, specifically relating to his use of the Taser; and Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki, the Waukesha County Medical Examiner, who performed the autopsy on Cyrus's body and would testify about the results of her examination and the cause of Cyrus's death. Dr. Biedrzycki had certified the cause of death as “sudden death during struggle and restraint,” and identified eight factors that she believed contributed to Cyrus's death: (1) the exertion and struggle with the officers; (2) panic and fear; (3) Cyrus's prone position; (4) the pressure applied to Cyrus's torso and possibly neck; (5) Cyrus's psychiatric condition; (6) Cyrus's restraint in handcuffs and the officers' additional attempts to restraint him with leg irons; (7) the pain and panic caused by the Taser; and (8) the electrical shock from the Taser. Dr. Biedrzycki testified at her deposition that while she believed all eight factors contributed to Cyrus's death, she could not determine whether...
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