Bates v. City of Columbia, 1484

• Court: Court of Appeals of South Carolina
• Citation: 391 S.E.2d 733,301 S.C. 320
• Docket Number: No. 1484,1484
• Parties: Patrick BATES, Appellant, v. CITY OF COLUMBIA, Respondent. . Heard
• Decision Date: 19 March 1990

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391 S.E.2d 733 301 S.C. 320 Patrick BATES, Appellant,
v.
CITY OF COLUMBIA, Respondent. No. 1484. Court of Appeals of South Carolina. Heard March 19, 1990.
Decided April 2, 1990.

John W. Foard and J. Carlisle Oxner, Columbia, for appellant.

City Atty. James Meggs, Columbia, for respondent.

GOOLSBY, Judge:

Patrick Bates appeals from an order granting the City of Columbia summary judgment in an action brought by Bates pursuant to the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, S.C.CODE ANN. § 15-78-10 et seq. (Supp.1989). Bates' complaint alleges two Columbia police officers unlawfully searched his bicycle and unlawfully arrested and imprisoned him. The trial court [301 S.C. 321] found the officers conducted no search of Bates' bicycle and had probable cause for arresting Bates. We reverse and remand.

Summary judgment should be granted only where it is perfectly clear that no genuine issue of material fact exists and an inquiry into the facts is not desirable to clarify application of the law. Lattie v. SHS Enterprises, Inc., --- S.C. ----, 389 S.E.2d 300 (1990). In determining whether to grant summary judgment, the pleadings and documents on file must be liberally construed in favor of the nonmoving party who must be given the benefit of all favorable inferences that might reasonably be drawn from the record. Id.

A review of the facts in the light most favorable to Bates and as revealed by the pleadings and the three depositions on file follows.

On May 19, 1987, the City's police department advised officers at roll call to be on the lookout for a black male riding a red, ten-speed style bicycle in the areas of Waites Road, Read Street, and Waverly Street in Columbia. Persons fitting the description were regarded as suspects in several fire bombings.

Some two hours later, Officers Kathleen M. George and Karen Mintzer spotted Bates, a black male, pedaling a red, ten-speed style bicycle on Waites Road and carrying a lunch cooler. They asked him to stop and he did.

The officers approached Bates and asked him what was in the cooler and who owned the bicycle. Bates opened the cooler and showed the officers it was empty. He told

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the officers the bicycle belonged to his cousin. Bates also told them he was on his way home from work.

The officers then, as Officer George testified at her deposition, "looked over" the bicycle, looking for its serial number. They found the number, as Officer George described it, "on the back sprocket that's on the frame of the bicycle."

On finding the number, the officers called police headquarters to determine whether the bicycle was stolen. Using information...