Jones v. Sherrill

• Decision Date: 02 September 1987
• Docket Number: No. 85-5828,85-5828
• Parties: Janice JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles E. SHERRILL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 1102

827 F.2d 1102

Janice JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Charles E. SHERRILL, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 85-5828.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued April 30, 1987.

Decided Sept. 2, 1987.

James L. Charles, Richard M. Riebeling, Susan Emery McGannon, Nashville, Tenn., for defendants-appellees.

Charles E. Sherrill, pro se.

Vance Cramb, Jr. (argued), Sandra F. Jones, Nashville, Tenn., for plaintiff-appellant.

Before ENGEL and BOGGS, Circuit Judges, and HOLSCHUH, District Judge. ^*

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

This action arose out of a highspeed car chase in which plaintiff's husband, Audie Gaston Jones, was killed. Two police officers of White House, Tennessee, were attempting to apprehend Charles Sherrill, a traffic offender, when Sherrill's car crossed the center line of the highway and collided with Jones's car. Sherrill had been furloughed that day from the Nashville and Davidson County Metropolitan Jail. Janice Jones brought suit under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against Sherrill and a host of officials and agencies involved in the furlough and chase. ¹

The district court granted defendants' motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P., holding that none of the defendants except Sherrill were the proximate cause of the alleged deprivation of constitutional rights. The court also dismissed the action against Sherrill without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because Sherrill was not acting "under color of law." Jones appeals the district court's dismissal of the official defendants. We hold that the complaint did not state a claim for violation of any of plaintiff's constitutional rights, and consequently, affirm the district court's dismissal of the complaint.

I

A motion under Rule 12(b)(6) tests whether a claim has been adequately stated in the complaint. In reviewing a dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6), the court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint. Windsor v. The Tennessean, 719 F.2d 155, 158 (6th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 826, 105 S.Ct. 105, 83 L.Ed.2d 50 (1984). The motion to dismiss must be denied unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of the claim which would entitle her to relief. Id. at 158; Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).

Jones's complaint alleged that Sherrill was incarcerated in the Nashville and Davidson County Metropolitan Jail, under the care of Sheriff Fate Thomas, and that Thomas, the unknown Sheriff's Department employee, and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County allowed Sherrill to be furloughed despite the fact that they knew, or should have known, that Sherrill "had a propensity for criminal, reckless and dangerous conduct, including but not limited to, violence, drinking and driving under the influence." The complaint further alleges that while on furlough, Sherrill obtained an automobile despite his license being revoked, and proceeded to operate that automobile while under the influence of alcohol. The automobile was reported by police bulletin to have been involved in a property damage accident.

The complaint alleges that shortly before the fatal accident, Officers Spain and Gibson spotted a car which resembled the reported vehicle and was being driven in an unsafe manner. The officers tried to stop the driver of this vehicle, which turned out to be Sherrill, but he fled. The officers pursued Sherrill about nine miles from White House to Millersville. Plaintiff alleges that in the course of the pursuit, the vehicles were driven at speeds of 120-135 miles per hour in traffic and in city limits, and that the chasing police cars were following in a manner too close for safety. The complaint alleges that Police Chief Fisher was in radio contact with the officers and was following them on the chase route in his own vehicle. Finally, the complaint alleges that as a result of the pursuit, Sherrill's car crossed the center line of the highway and collided with Jones's car, causing Jones's death.

Plaintiff asserts that the officers operated their vehicles "in a negligent, careless and wanton manner and with reckless disregard for the public" and that their pursuit of Sherrill was a proximate cause of Jones's death, "in violation of his rights under the laws and Constitution of the United States." The complaint further alleges that the failure of the defendants, City of White House, Mayor Hobbs, and Police Chief Fisher, to provide adequate training and supervision regarding the pursuit of suspects amounted to gross negligence and deliberate indifference to the public safety. The complaint also alleges that the failure of the defendants, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Sheriff Fate Thomas, to provide adequate training and supervision regarding furlough of prisoners amounted to gross negligence and deliberate indifference. Plaintiff asserts that this gross negligence was a proximate cause of Jones's death.

II

In order to sustain a claim under section 1983, Jones must demonstrate that: 1) the defendants acted under color of state law; 2) the conduct caused a deprivation of constitutional rights; and 3) the deprivation occurred without due process of law. Nishiyama v. Dickson County, Tennessee, 814 F.2d 277, 279 (6th Cir.1987) (en banc). In applying this test to Jones's complaint, we consider separately Jones's claims against the two sets of defendants. We will first consider the liability of Sheriff Thomas and Nashville and Davidson County for the decision to furlough Sherrill, and then consider the liability of the police officers, police chief and mayor for the pursuit and subsequent accident.

Jones does not have a problem meeting the first prong of this test against either set of defendants. Both the decision of the sheriff's department to furlough Sherrill and the decision of the police officers to pursue Sherrill's vehicle when he refused to stop were actions taken by state officials under color of state law. Jones still must show, however, that the conduct of one or more of the defendants caused a deprivation of her husband's constitutional rights and that this deprivation occurred without due process of law.

Neither Jones's pleadings before the district court nor her briefs before this court indicate precisely what constitutional rights are claimed to have been violated by the state in this case. Her brief makes reference to Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), which held that the use of deadly force to apprehend an unarmed fleeing felon was an unreasonable seizure which violated the fourth amendment. This circuit has held, however, that a high-speed pursuit of a traffic offender which terminates in an accident does not constitute a seizure of the offender because no physical force or show of authority on the part of the officer caused the restraint on the offender's liberty. Galas v. McKee, 801 F.2d 200, 202-03 (6th Cir.1986); Cf. Cameron v. City of Pontiac, Michigan, 813 F.2d 782, 785 (6th Cir.1987) (suspect killed by fleeing onto highway not seized by pursuing officers). It is clear, therefore, that Sherrill could not challenge the officers' conduct as violative of the fourth amendment, as his choosing to flee, rather than the officers' pursuit, caused the restraint on his liberty occasioned by the accident. See Galas, 801 F.2d at 203; Cameron, 813 F.2d at 785. Whether Jones, the innocent bystander, may challenge the officers' pursuit as an unreasonable seizure presents a slightly different question. We hold, however, that similar reasoning applies, and that the officers' pursuit cannot constitute a seizure of Jones any more than it could of Sherrill. The officers were intending to apprehend Sherrill, not Jones. The restraint on Jones's liberty was caused by the accident with Sherrill and not by any physical force or show of authority on the part of the officers. There was no fourth amendment violation.

Jones, however, was killed in the accident, and his right to life is one of constitutional dimension. While Jones is not constitutionally guaranteed life, he is protected by the fourteenth amendment from being deprived of his life by the state without due process of law. See Nishiyama, 814 F.2d at 280. We will consider, therefore, whether the officers' conduct in pursuing Sherrill and the Sheriff's department decision to furlough Sherrill deprived Jones of his life without due process of law.

We consider first whether the actions of the sheriff's department in furloughing Sherrill deprived Jones of his life in violation of the fourteenth amendment. This inquiry must start with the Supreme Court's decision in Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980), holding that the parole board could not be held liable under section 1983 for a murder committed by a parolee. We followed Martinez in Janan v. Trammell, 785 F.2d 557 (6th Cir.1986), holding that a murder committed by a parolee was too remote a consequence of the parole board's decision to release the parolee to state a claim under section 1983. Similarly, we hold that Jones's death in the accident was too remote a consequence of the Sheriff's department's decision to furlough Sherrill to state a claim under section 1983. It makes no difference that the accident occurred on the same day that Sherrill was furloughed or that Sherrill's freedom was the result of a temporary furlough rather than parole. In Carlson v. Conklin, 813 F.2d 769 (6th Cir.1987), we held that state correctional officers could not be held liable for assaults committed by inmates placed in half-way houses. We held that "[t]he fact that Conklin had been placed in a half-way house rather than paroled does not distinguish this case from Martinez." Id. at 772. We continued to adhere to the reasoning of Janan v. Trammell:

[T]he proper analysis is whether a special relationship exists between the criminal...