Karels v. Storz

• Decision Date: 15 October 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-2527,17-2527
• Citation: 906 F.3d 740
• Parties: Brittany A. KARELS, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Gabriel A. STORZ, acting in his individual capacity as an officer of the Big Lake Police Department, Defendant-Appellant Samuel J. Norlin, acting in his individual capacity as an officer of the Big Lake Police Department, Defendant
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

906 F.3d 740

Brittany A. KARELS, Plaintiff-Appellee

v. Gabriel A. STORZ, acting in his individual capacity as an officer of the Big Lake Police Department, Defendant-AppellantSamuel J. Norlin, acting in his individual capacity as an officer of the Big Lake Police Department, Defendant

No. 17-2527

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: June 12, 2018

Filed: October 15, 2018

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied November 21, 2018

Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellant was Joseph E. Flynn, of Lake Elmo, MN. The following attorney appeared on the appellant brief; Patrick S. Collins, of Lake Elmo, MN.

Counsel who presented argument on behalf of the appellee was Paul Convery Dworak, of Minneapolis, MO. The following attorney appeared on the appellee brief; Robert Bennett, of Minneapolis, MO.

Before WOLLMAN, ARNOLD, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge.

Brittany Karels brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Gabriel Storz and Samuel Norlin, in their individual capacities as officers of the Big Lake, Minnesota, Police Department. Karels alleged, inter alia , that the officers used excessive force in effectuating her arrest in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights. After the officers moved for summary judgment, Karels withdrew her claim against Norlin. As relevant here, the district court¹ determined that Storz was not entitled to qualified immunity on the excessive force claim and denied summary judgment as to Storz. We affirm.

I. Background

Karels rented a room in the basement of Jennifer and Robert Owens' multilevel home in Big Lake, Minnesota. The house has an attached garage with two steps leading from the garage into the house. Karels is five feet, five inches tall and has described herself as being out of shape. At the time of her arrest, she weighed approximately 185 pounds and smoked cigarettes regularly.

On Friday, March 27, 2015, Karels drank a six-pack of beer after putting her five-year-old son to bed. Later that night, Jennifer reluctantly agreed to watch Karels's son while Karels went to purchase cigarettes.

Karels left the house around 1:30 a.m. on March 28. After she purchased cigarettes, Karels stopped at a bar in a nearby town, where she had two shots of liquor and smoked marijuana in the parking lot. Karels took a taxi home sometime after 2:30 a.m. and discovered that Jennifer had gone out to look for her. Karels called Jennifer, who soon returned to the house. The two women began arguing loudly outside the house. When the still-arguing women entered the house, Robert told Karels to go to her room. As the women continued to argue, he called 911 to report Karels as "a drunk that's being ignorant." He gave the dispatcher the address to his home and described Karels as "a friend living here."

Officers Storz and Norlin were dispatched to the scene. At that time, Storz had been a police officer for approximately ten months. He was thirty-three years old, more than six feet tall, and physically fit. Norlin also was tall and fit.

Karels and Jennifer were still arguing in the house when Storz and Norlin arrived. The Owenses told the officers that they did not feel threatened by Karels, but that they wanted her to go to her room because she had been drinking and was being argumentative. Storz spoke to Karels outside as she smoked a cigarette. Karels cursed loudly, but then lowered her voice upon being instructed by Storz to do so. After Karels told Storz her side of the story, they returned to the house.

Storz then asked Karels for her identification. Karels did not remember whether she complied with his first request, but she testified that when she handed her driver's license to Storz, he poked her in the collarbone repeatedly and yelled, "calm down" or "back off." Karels then demanded to speak to the supervising officer. When the officers informed her that there was no supervisor on duty, Karels went into the garage to smoke another cigarette. Norlin followed her, while Storz remained in the house.

While in the garage, Karels called 911 twice to request a police sergeant or a deputy sheriff. According to the call transcripts, Karels told the dispatcher that two Big Lake police officers would not leave her alone and had assaulted her. The dispatcher told Karels that there was nothing she could do and that Karels could file a complaint with the police chief on Monday morning. It is undisputed that Karels was yelling and cursing at the dispatcher during the 911 calls.

During the second call, dispatch relayed to the officers that Karels kept calling 911 and making demands. After dispatch asked whether the officers planned to arrest Karels, Storz exited the house, went down the concrete steps, and entered the garage, where Karels was holding a lit cigarette in her right hand. An empty coffee can that served as an ashtray was located near the steps. Storz informed Karels that she was under arrest and instructed her to put her hands behind her back.

According to Karels, Storz quickly grabbed her left wrist and brought it behind her back. Karels tried to tell the officers that she was going to put the cigarette in the coffee can. She testified that Norlin had grabbed her right wrist, guiding it toward the coffee can, and away from Storz, so that she could dispose of the cigarette. As Storz felt Karels pull away from him, he commanded her to stop resisting arrest, to which Karels responded, "I've got a lit cigarette in my hand." Immediately after Norlin extinguished the cigarette and as she was reaching toward the coffee can, Storz twisted her left arm behind her and body-slammed her onto the concrete steps, causing Norlin to lose his grip on her wrist. She felt her left arm "twisted up almost where the bra strap line would be." Karels landed on her left side and felt searing pain in her left arm. Her glasses flew off her face. The back of her head hit the door, which slammed open and then shut, hitting Karels a second time. Storz landed on the ground next to her. Karels testified that mere seconds passed between the time Storz entered the garage to the time he slammed Karels onto the ground.

Storz disputes Karels's account of events leading up to his use of force, citing evidence that Karels was loud, aggressive, argumentative, and resistant. According to Storz, upon being informed that she was being arrested for disorderly conduct, Karels retorted that she would not do anything until she finished smoking her cigarette. Norlin then extinguished the cigarette and the officers grabbed hold of Karels's wrists. Storz was able to place Karels's left wrist in handcuffs. When Karels began swinging her shoulders, trying to pull her arms away from the officers, she lunged forward and broke Norlin's grip from her right arm. By that time, Storz held only the handcuffs that were secured to Karels's left wrist and had no hold of her left arm. Storz's incident report states that he and Karels tripped over a concrete step as Karels pulled away from him, and that they then fell to the ground.

The officers placed Karels in handcuffs, pulled her to a standing position, and escorted her to the squad car. When they searched Karels, they found a marijuana pipe and a small amount of marijuana.

Karels complained repeatedly about her left arm. She later described the pain as feeling "like a very strong vise clamping down on my upper left arm." She thought that she was being restrained in a new style of handcuffs that secured the upper arm, so she repeatedly asked the officers to move or loosen the handcuffs. Karels requested medical attention, but refused to allow the paramedics to examine her when an ambulance arrived.

Norlin transported Karels to the county jail, where she continued to complain about left arm pain and numbness. During booking, a sergeant examined Karels and felt a grinding in her left arm, which is indicative of a broken bone. He refused to accept custody of Karels because she needed medical attention. The sergeant placed her arm in a splint, and Norlin transported her to a nearby hospital, where an X-ray revealed that Karels had a fracture of the left humerus bone. Karels was then transported to a hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, for emergency surgery on what was found to be a spiral, comminuted shaft fracture, with the radial nerve interposed at the fracture site and wrapped around a fracture fragment.

Karels was charged with the following misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, obstruction without force, possession of marijuana, and possession of paraphernalia. She pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and the remaining charges were dismissed. Norlin's use-of-force review form indicated that force was used to "effect an arrest" and listed "active resistance" as the suspect's actions.

In denying the motion for summary judgment, the district court rejected Storz's argument that his use of force was justified because Karels was resisting arrest. The court concluded that "there is a genuine issue as to whether and to what degree Karels was resisting arrest, and, if Karels did resist, whether Storz's use of force was reasonable." D. Ct. Order of June 8, 2017, at 14.

II. Discussion

We have jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal under the collateral order doctrine. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Our jurisdiction is limited, however, to "abstract issues of law" and does not extend to the "determination that the evidence is sufficient to permit a particular finding of fact after trial." Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 314, 317, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995). Accordingly, we accept as true the facts that the district court found were adequately supported, as well as the facts that the district court likely assumed, to the extent they are not "blatantly contradicted by the record." Burnikel v. Fong, 886 F.3d 706, 709 (8th Cir.2018) (quoting Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 380, 127 S.Ct. 1769, 167 L.Ed.2d 686 (2007) ). We review de...