Figueroa v. Mazza

Decision Date03 June 2016
Docket NumberAugust Term 2015,No. 14–4116–cv,14–4116–cv
Citation825 F.3d 89
Parties Eli SamuelFigueroa, a/k/a Eli Samuel, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Donna Marie Mazza, individually and as a Detective with the New York City Police Department, Christopher Karolkowski, individually and as a Detective with the New York City Police Department, Todd Nagrowski, individually and as a Detective with the New York City Police Department, Joseph Failla, individually and as a Detective with the New York City Police Department, and Detective Dennis Chan, individually and as a Detective with the New York City Police Department, Defendants–Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Robert Milton Rambadadt (Rosa Barreca, on the brief), The Rambadadt Law Office, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Elizabeth S. Natrella (Pamela Seider Dolgow, on the brief), for Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: Kearse, Walker, and Cabranes, Circuit Judges.

Judge Kearseconcurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion.

José A. Cabranes, Circuit Judge:

We consider here whether defendants-appellees are, as the District Court determined, entitled to judgment as a matter of law on plaintiff-appellant's claims for false arrest, excessive force, assault, failure to intervene, and unlawful entry. We conclude that defendants-appellees are entitled to the protection of qualified immunity with respect to the false arrest claims and that they did not use excessive force or commit an assault in arresting plaintiff- appellant. We also conclude, however, that the claims of failure to intervene and unlawful entry present issues of fact that must be resolved by a jury.

Plaintiff-appellant Eli Samuel Figueroa ("Samuel") appeals a September 30, 2014 judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Jack B. Weinstein, Judge) entering judgment as a matter of law in favor of defendants-appellees Donna Marie Mazza ("Mazza"), Christopher Karolkowski ("Karolkowski"), Todd Nagrowski ("Nagrowski"), Joseph Failla ("Failla"), and Dennis Chan ("Chan") (jointly, "defendants"), each a detective with the New York City Police Department.

In the proceeding below, Samuel asserted claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983and state law for false arrest, excessive force, assault, failure to intervene, and unlawful entry, all arising out of his arrest on June 30, 2010. The District Court granted summary judgment as to the claims of unlawful entry. The other claims were tried to a jury. Following a verdict in Samuel's favor on the counts of false arrest, excessive force, and assault, and a mistrial on the count of failure to intervene, the District Court granted judgment to defendants under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b). Samuel appeals the judgment as to each claim and further asserts that the District Court "abused its discretion" in dismissing unnamed defendants from the case and closing discovery.

We agree with the District Court's disposition of Samuel's false arrest claims. The trial record establishes that a reasonable law enforcement officer could have concluded that there existed probable cause to arrest Samuel on the evening of June 30, 2010; accordingly, defendants can claim the protection of qualified immunity. We also conclude, as did the District Court, that the force used in effecting Samuel's arrest was reasonable as a matter of law, and we find no error in the District Court's dismissal of unnamed defendants or discovery rulings. We thus AFFIRMthe judgment insofar as it disposed of Samuel's claims for false arrest, excessive force, and assault, dismissed unnamed defendants, and refused to permit further discovery.

We do not agree, however, with the District Court's disposition of Samuel's claims for failure to intervene and unlawful entry. The District Court erred in concluding, as a matter of law, that defendants had no realistic opportunity to intervene in an alleged assault on Samuel by an unidentified police officer and that Samuel lacked a legitimate expectation of privacy in his mother's apartment. Accordingly, we VACATEso much of the judgment as granted judgment to defendants on Samuel's failure-to-intervene and unlawful-entry claims and REMANDfor such further pretrial proceedings as may be appropriate in the circumstances, or for trial.

BACKGROUND
I. The Facts1

On June 29, 2010, a Duane Reade pharmacy in Brooklyn received eleven phone calls from an unidentified woman. App. 222, 679-81; SPA 8.2 The calls, which were fielded by an employee named Esteban Arias, concerned an order for photographs that had been placed at the pharmacy. App. 222, 230-33. The caller "plead[ed]" that Arias locate the order in Duane Reade's system and delete it without developing the photos. App. 222.

Arias tracked down the photos, which apparently had already been developed. He intended to throw them away, as the caller had directed, but hesitated when he discerned their subject matter. App. 232. The photos appeared to have been taken in a public restroom. They depicted a young boy, perhaps two years old, naked and apparently distressed. Some showed close-up images of the boy's genitals and anus. App. 124-30, 222, 1040-57. In each, a date-stamped money order and a copy of the June 25, 2010 New York Daily Newsappeared in the background. App. 124-25, 222.

Arias called the police. Officers responded and viewed the photos themselves. Some, noting the presence of the date-stamped money order and newspaper, suspected that they were so-called "proof-of-life" photos—that is, photos taken to establish that a missing child is still alive, with the aim of securing a ransom. App. 510. Others thought that the photos might be related to sex trafficking, App. 261, or child pornography, App. 222. Concluding that "urgent[ ]" action was needed to locate the child and ensure his safety, App. 260-61, 275, a number of officers (including the five named defendants) from numerous divisions began investigating. By the next day police had viewed security footage from the pharmacy showing that a young woman had ordered the photos on June 26, 2010.3 App. 244-45.

In the meantime, other officers tried to determine who owned the phone that had been used to call the pharmacy. They learned that on June 28, 2010, a complaint had been lodged with the department under the same phone number. App. 271, 303, 620. The complainant had identified himself as "Eli Samuel."

Samuel had filed the complaint on behalf of a woman named Shirley Saenz ("Saenz") on the ground that Saenz had recently reported to the police suspected child abuse, but her claim had not been taken seriously. App. 595-96. More particularly, Saenz had told police that she thought her son's father was abusing the boy during weekend visits. App. 105, 111-12. Suspecting abuse, she had documented her son's pre-visitation physical condition by taking photos of him while he was unclothed.4 App. 104. But the police had been of little help, prompting Samuel—a rabbi and spiritual advisor who was providing financial aid and guidance to Saenz, App. 102-03, 536-40—to complain. Samuel's complaint also accused Saenz's mother, Beatrice Saenz ("Beatrice"), of harassment.5 App. 304, 596.

Although this information might have suggested that the Duane Reade photos had not been taken for a nefarious purpose, police continued to investigate the case as a potential kidnapping. App. 416. Detective Nagrowski used the information in Samuel's complaint to locate Beatrice.6 Along with six members of the Brooklyn South Homicide Task Force (the "Task Force"), he interviewed her at her residence around 8:00 p.m. on June 30, 2010. App. 270-71, 311. Beatrice told Nagrowski that Saenz was her daughter and, having been shown the photos from Duane Reade, that the child was her grandson. App. 272-74. She went on to say that she had recently kicked Saenz out of her home and that Saenz had joined a cult led by someone named "Eli Samuel." App. 274. According to Beatrice, she had noticed one day that her daughter had sustained a number of bruises. Confronted about her injuries, Saenz had said that Samuel had inflicted them while exorcising demons from her. Id.Beatrice also informed Nagrowski that she and Saenz were engaged in a legal battle for visitation rights concerning her grandson, App. 307, and that Saenz was currently living with a friend named Isabel Romero, App. 311-12.

Nagrowski and the other officers proceeded to Romero's apartment. There they found Romero, who told them that Saenz and her child had been in the apartment that morning; at the time, however, she did not know where they were. App. 280, 999.

While Nagrowski and the members of the Task Force were interviewing Beatrice and Romero, other officers were trying to locate Samuel. They tracked the location of his phone to an apartment in Manhattan (which turned out to be Samuel's mother's). App. 417, 619. Officers headed to the apartment around 10:00 p.m. At the same time—having not yet discounted the possibility that Saenz's child had been kidnapped—a hostage negotiator called Samuel's phone. App. 416-18, 620-22.

Samuel answered, and the negotiator asked him about the complaint he had filed with the department. Samuel stated, as he had in the complaint, that Saenz's child was being abused and the police were failing to appropriately respond. App. 621. The negotiator told Samuel that Saenz and her child had been kidnapped and asked him to come to the 72nd Precinct; Samuel responded that they had not been kidnapped and that he would not come to the precinct willingly. He then hung up. App. 621-24.

A short time later, officers knocked on the door of Samuel's mother's apartment. According to Samuel, his mother opened the door a foot or two; Samuel, seeing Detectives Karolkowski and Failla, stepped in front of her and tried to shut it, but Karolkowski forced it open. App. 627-28. According to defendants,...

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