Aldaba v. Pickens

• Decision Date: 04 February 2015
• Docket Number: Nos. 13–7034,13–7035.,s. 13–7034
• Citation: 777 F.3d 1148
• Parties: Erma ALDABA, as personal representative and next of kin to Johnny Manuel Leija, deceased, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Brandon PICKENS; James Atnip; Steve Beebe, Defendants–Appellants, and The Board of Marshall County Commissioners; The City of Madill, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

777 F.3d 1148

Erma ALDABA, as personal representative and next of kin to Johnny Manuel Leija, deceased, Plaintiff–Appellee
v.
Brandon PICKENS; James Atnip; Steve Beebe, Defendants–Appellants
and
The Board of Marshall County Commissioners; The City of Madill, Defendants.

Nos. 13–7034
13–7035.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

Feb. 4, 2015.

777 F.3d 1151

Philip W. Anderson of Collins, Zorn & Wagner, P.C., Oklahoma City, OK, and Eric D. Janzen of Steidley & Neal, P.L.L.C., Tulsa, OK, for Defendants–Appellants.

Jeremy Beaver of Gotcher & Beaver Law Firm, McAlester, OK, for Plaintiff–Appellee.

Before BRISCOE, Chief Judge, McKAY and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion

McKAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Erma Aldaba brought this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action on behalf of her deceased son, Johnny Manuel Leija, who died after an altercation with Appellants—Officer Brandon Pickens and Deputies James Atnip and Steve Beebe—in the Oklahoma hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia. Plaintiff brought several claims against various defendants, including Appellants. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants as to all claims except Plaintiff's claim of excessive force against Appellants. As for this claim, the district court denied Appellants' request for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity, holding there were numerous fact issues regarding the reasonableness of the officers' conduct that prevented summary judgment. Appellants then filed this interlocutory appeal.

777 F.3d 1152

I.

When reviewing an interlocutory appeal from the denial of qualified immunity, “we ‘take, as given, the facts that the district court assumed when it denied summary judgment.’ ” Morris v. Noe, 672 F.3d 1185, 1189 (10th Cir.2012) (quoting Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 319, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995) ). We accordingly rely on the district court's description of the facts, taken in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, and do not reevaluate the district court's conclusion that the summary judgment record is sufficient to prove these facts. Id.

On March 24, 2011, Mr. Leija went to the hospital and was diagnosed with dehydration and severe pneumonia in both lungs. His pneumonia was causing hypoxia —low oxygen levels—which can affect an individual's mental state. When Mr. Leija was admitted to the hospital at 11:00 a.m., he was pleasant, cooperative, and responsive. He was placed on oxygen and given breathing treatments and intravenous antibiotics, and his oxygen saturation level improved. By 6:00 p.m., however, Mr. Leija's behavior had changed. He complained of extreme thirst, and a female nurse found that he had disconnected his oxygen and cut his intravenous tube. The nurse also saw that Mr. Leija was bleeding from his arms and that there was blood on the floor and the toilet. Although the nurse reconnected Mr. Leija's oxygen and IV, he seemed confused and anxious, repeatedly asking for his girlfriend. The nurse reported this to the doctor who had seen Mr. Leija earlier in the day. The doctor prescribed Xanax to control Mr. Leija's anxiety, but when the nurse attempted to give Mr. Leija the medication, he refused to take it and accused the nurse of telling him lies and secrets. Mr. Leija became increasingly uncooperative and aggressive, shouting that the staff was trying to poison him.

The female nurse contacted the doctor again for assistance, and the doctor sent a male nurse to Mr. Leija's room. The male nurse discovered Mr. Leija had again removed his oxygen and IV and was now yelling, “I am Superman. I am God. You are telling me lies and trying to kill me.” (Appellant's App. at 80.) The male nurse tried to persuade Mr. Leija to calm down and get back in his bed, but Mr. Leija refused. Mr. Leija's doctor was contacted, and he directed the nurse to give Mr. Leija an injection of Haldol and Ativan in order to calm him down. However, Mr. Leija refused this medication as well, insisting that only water was pure enough to help him. The male nurse did not believe he and the doctor could restrain Mr. Leija in order to administer the injection. Accordingly, with the doctor's approval, the nurse called law enforcement at 6:36 p.m. “for assistance with a disturbed patient.” (Id. at 106.) Officer Pickens received the call for assistance while he was eating dinner with Deputies Atnip and Beebe, and the other two officers agreed to go to the hospital with him.

Meanwhile, the doctor arrived at Mr. Leija's room to assist the nurses. He heard Mr. Leija state that the medical staff was trying to poison him, that he was God and Superman, and that only water was pure enough for him. The doctor became increasingly concerned for Mr. Leija's health given the behavioral and personality changes in Mr. Leija from earlier in the day when he was admitted.

Mr. Leija subsequently exited his room in his hospital gown and began walking down the hall. The three police officers arrived at the scene at about this time and observed Mr. Leija standing in the hall, visibly agitated and upset. Medical personnel informed Officer Pickens that Mr. Leija was ill and could die if he left the hospital. Officer Pickens attempted to

777 F.3d 1153

persuade Mr. Leija to return to his room, but Mr. Leija refused, insisting that the staff was trying to kill him. Officer Pickens assured him that no one was trying to kill him, but Mr. Leija continued down the hallway toward the lobby area. At some point, Mr. Leija stopped, pulled out the IV ports on his arms, and said, “This is my blood,” as he clenched and shook his fists. (Id. at 290.)

Deputies Atnip and Beebe testified (and the district court apparently assumed) that they repeatedly ordered Mr. Leija to calm down and get down on his knees, but Mr. Leija did not comply, even after they warned him several times they would use a taser. When Mr. Leija failed to comply with their commands, Deputy Beebe fired his taser at Mr. Leija, striking him in the upper torso with one of the two probes. The taser appeared ineffectual, however, and a struggle ensued. Deputy Atnip grabbed Mr. Leija's right forearm while Officer Pickens took his left arm. The officers thrust Mr. Leija face-first against a wall, at which point Deputy Beebe tased him again on the back of the shoulder with a “dry” sting, which causes direct contact with the electrical probes without launching the penetrating barbs. This second taser shot appeared ineffectual as well, but Deputy Atnip pushed his leg into the back of Mr. Leija's knee, causing it to buckle. As the four men fell to the floor, Mr. Leija continued to resist, falling face-down while Deputy Atnip and Officer Pickens struggled with his arms. Deputy Beebe managed to place a handcuff on Mr. Leija's right arm as Officer Pickens kept hold of his left, allowing the male nurse to administer the injection of Haldol and Ativan. At this point, however, Mr. Leija went limp, made a grunting sound, and vomited clear fluid. The officers moved away from Mr. Leija, and medical personnel immediately began CPR. The efforts to revive Mr. Leija failed, however, and he was pronounced dead at 7:29 p.m.

The medical examiner determined Mr. Leija's cause of death to be respiratory insufficiency secondary to pneumonia, with the manner of death being natural. The medical examiner testified the taser shots “certainly could” have increased Mr. Leija's need for oxygen (id. at 332), and he further testified the exertion caused by Mr. Leija's physical struggle with the officers “exacerbated his underlying pneumonia ” (id. at 333). Mr. Leija's treating physician also testified that placing a man in the prone position with his hands cuffed behind his back could compromise his body's ability to inhale and get oxygen.

The district court held that Mr. Leija was lawfully seized, since probable cause existed for taking him into protective custody based on his mental incompetence and the threat he posed to his own health. The court accordingly granted summary judgment in favor of the law enforcement officers on Plaintiff's unlawful seizure claim. However, the court held that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on Plaintiff's excessive force claim. The court held that there were several material disputed facts relating to the objective reasonableness of the force the officers applied to seize Mr. Leija. “Primarily, the record is in dispute as to the degree of resistance exhibited by Leija after being confronted by the officers.” (Id. at 442.) The court noted the hospital surveillance footage of the encounter between Mr. Leija and the officers showed Mr. Leija simply walking away from the officers. The officers contended Mr. Leija began acting more aggressively after he moved out of the frame of the surveillance video. However, “[t]he gap in the video recording results in a failure to have an objective viewing of what transpired after the time Leija walked away from the officers and up until the point where the officers are seen apprehending Leija [after he had already been tased and grabbed by the officers].”

777 F.3d 1154

(Id. at 443.) The court also held that “[t]he...