Bell v. City of Albany

• Decision Date: 23 September 1993
• Docket Number: Nos. A93A1638,A93A1639,s. A93A1638
• Parties: BELL v. CITY OF ALBANY. DANIEL v. BELL.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 87

436 S.E.2d 87

210 Ga.App. 371

BELL v. CITY OF ALBANY.

DANIEL v. BELL.

Nos. A93A1638, A93A1639.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Sept. 23, 1993.

Short, Fowler & Castellow, James M. Bivins, Moultrie, for Bell.

Black & Black, Eugene C. Black, Jr. and Al Grieshaber, Jr., Albany, for City of Albany and Daniel.

ANDREWS, Judge.

After Bell drove his car into a utility pole, he was arrested by City of Albany police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on a suspended license, and no insurance. Evidence showed Bell was heavily intoxicated, exhibiting slurred and incoherent speech, and needing assistance to walk. Bell was handcuffed at the scene by Officer Daniel of the Albany police department, and taken to the police station for an intoximeter test, which he either refused or was unable to take. Bell was able to walk to the booking desk with support from Officer Daniel. After being either unwilling or unable to respond to the booking officer, Officer Daniel started to walk Bell over to the adjacent jail. Up to this point, Bell had not physically resisted the arrest. However, as Officer Daniel opened the door from the booking area, Bell suddenly refused to go through the doorway, and began to physically resist the officer's attempt to take him through the doorway. Officer Daniel grabbed Bell, and as the officer forcibly struggled to move Bell in front of him through the doorway the officer lost control of Bell as Bell fell forward through the doorway taking Officer Daniel down with him. Bell, who was still handcuffed at the time, struck his head on a car parked just outside the doorway, and suffered a fractured skull. Although the booking officer called for another officer to help Officer Daniel when the struggle began, the fall occurred before the other officer could assist.

Alleging negligent and intentional torts under state law, Bell sued Officer Daniel individually for actions taken in his official capacity as an Albany police officer alleged to have caused the injury, and sued the City of Albany on the basis of respondeat superior. Alleging violation of federal rights, Bell's suit also stated a cause of action pursuant to 42 USC § 1983 seeking to impose personal liability on Officer Daniel for his actions, and liability on the City of Albany claiming the injury resulted from City policy or custom. The trial court entered an order granting the City of Albany's motion for summary judgment on the state and federal claims. In Case No. A93A1638, Bell appeals from a portion of this order, alleging that the trial court erred in concluding there was no evidence of a City policy or custom which caused the injury, and in granting summary judgment in favor of the City on his claims pursuant to 42 USC § 1983. In the same order, the trial court denied Officer Daniel's motion for summary judgment in which he sought a ruling that he was entitled, as a matter of law, to qualified immunity on the claims brought pursuant to 42 USC § 1983. In Case No. A93A1639, Daniel cross-appeals from the denial of his motion for summary judgment.

Case No. A93A1638

Under 42 USC § 1983: "Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State ... subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress...." The statute creates no substantive rights; rather it provides a remedy for federal rights found elsewhere, and supports a cause of action which may be brought in state as well as federal court. Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U.S. 808 816, 105 S.Ct. 2427, 2432, 85 L.Ed.2d 791 (1985); Davis v. City of Roswell, 250 Ga. 8, 295 S.E.2d 317 (1982). Municipalities are persons under the statute held accountable if the deprivation of rights alleged was the result of a municipal policy or custom. Monell v. Dept. of Social Services of New York City, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978); Armour v. Davidson, 203 Ga.App. 12, 416 S.E.2d 92 (1992).

Bell argues that the City of Albany had a policy authorizing the use of excessive force against Bell, and an informal policy or custom of permitting a single police officer to handle and escort highly intoxicated and handcuffed arrestees despite a high risk of injury to the arrestee. Although not clearly stated, the latter allegation appears to include a claim that the injury resulted from a policy of inadequate police training with respect to handling intoxicated arrestees. The only evidence adduced by Bell in support of these contentions was the single incident in which Bell was injured while struggling with Officer Daniel, a non-policymaking employee of the City. In some instances a single decision by municipal policymakers, or a single implementation of a municipal policy or custom by a municipal employee, may be sufficient to establish that a municipal policy or custom caused the alleged deprivation, but municipal liability may not be imposed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for a single incident of unconstitutional conduct by a municipal employee without proof that the conduct was taken pursuant to a municipal policy or custom. Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 478-482, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 1297-99, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986).

There was no evidence of any official City policy or custom of using excessive force against arrestees, nor was there any evidence that the City endorsed a policy or custom of handling intoxicated arrestees in a manner which resulted in injury. There was no evidence of other incidences of such conduct suggesting any widespread informal policy or practice constituting a custom or usage with the force of law. City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 127, 108 S.Ct. 915, 926, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988); Armour, supra 203 Ga.App. at 13, 416 S.E.2d 92. Neither was there evidence sufficient to create any factual issue in support of any claim of inadequate training. "[I]f a city employee violates another's constitutional rights, the city may be liable if it had a policy or custom of failing to train its employees and that failure to train caused the constitutional violation.... [I]nadequate training of police officers [can] be characterized as the cause of the constitutional tort if--and only if--the failure to train amounted to 'deliberate indifference' to the rights of persons with whom the police come into contact." Collins v. Harker Heights, 503 U.S. 115, ----, 112 S.Ct. 1061, 1068, 117 L.Ed.2d 261, 272 (1992) (construing Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 109 S.Ct. 1197, 103 L.Ed.2d 412 (1989)). The evidence showed that City police officers received appropriate training in dealing with intoxicated arrestees. Even assuming that there was evidence to support a factual issue as to whether the training was completely adequate, there was certainly no evidence of a failure to train amounting to deliberate indifference. ¹

The trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the City of Albany.

Case No. A93A1639

Government officials performing discretionary functions ² are granted a qualified immunity shielding them from imposition of personal liability pursuant to 42 USC § 1983 "insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982); Forney v. Purvis, 190 Ga.App. 192, 195-196, 378 S.E.2d 470 (1989). Thus, the test is applied by considering the objective reasonableness of the official's actions (irrespective of his subjective beliefs) in light of legal rules which were clearly established at the time the action was taken. Harlow, supra 457 U.S. at 818-819, 102 S.Ct. at 2738. "The contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. This is not to say that an official action is protected by qualified immunity unless the very action in question has previously been held unlawful ... but it is to say that in the light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be apparent." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3039, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987).

Although Bell's 42 USC § 1983 action does not clearly...