Brewton v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 01 May 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-CV-3574 (ENV)(RLM).,05-CV-3574 (ENV)(RLM). |
| Citation | 550 F.Supp.2d 355 |
| Parties | Toyya BREWTON, Plaintiff, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, the New York City Police Department, Police Officer Detective Dwight Hovington and Police Officer Detective Frank Manns, and Police Officers John Does and Jane Does (the last two names being fictitious, and who are employees of the New York City Police Department who are not yet identified), Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York |
Robert H. Parker, Esq., Law Office of Robert H. Parker, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.
Michael Cardozo, Esq. & Craig Hanlon, Esq., Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, John Arlia, Wenger & Arlia, LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants.
Plaintiff Toyya Brewton brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that defendants violated her rights under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution by subjecting her to false arrest, unlawful imprisonment, and malicious prosecution. She also raises pendent state claims, including intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Three defendants, the City of New York and Detective Dwight Hovington (the "City Defendants") and Detective Frank Manns,1 have now moved for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56. For the reasons set forth below, the City Defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part. Detective Manns's motion is granted in its entirety.
The relevant facts are drawn from the submissions of the parties on the motions for summary judgment. To the extent there are any disputes as to fact, those disputes are noted.
This action arises out of the aftermath of a domestic incident report ("DIR") filed by Brewton with the New York Police Department ("NYPD"), at the 100th Precinct, on February 24, 2004, related to and prompted by an allegedly harassing phone call she claims to have received from her ex-boyfriend, Albert Regan. According to Brewton, she and Regan had been involved in an on-and-off relationship beginning in 1997. Their relations were often violent and, on more than one occasion, the NYPD was called to respond to their fighting. Correspondingly, Brewton purportedly filled out successive domestic incident reports with the NYPD which resulted in the issuance of successive orders of protection against Regan. Throughout their relationship, Regan also was in-and-out of jail for various offenses unrelated to his relationship with Brewton. The Brewton-Regan relationship finally ended in 2000.
On or around February 11, 2004, Brewton received a voice message on her answering machine at home, which stated: "Hello, Toyya, Toyya, are you there, is anyone there, Toyya, are you there." That message was preceded by a voice prompt stating that the conversation would be recorded. Brewton recognized the voice on the answering machine as Regan's. She believed that Regan was calling her from prison, because she recognized the voice prompt from prior occasions when she had spoken to Regan from prison. Almost two weeks later, on February 24, 2004, Brewton called Detective Manns, a NYPD police officer but also another former boyfriend, seeking advice with respect to the phone call.2 Detective Manns went to Brewton's house later that day and listened to the message. He informed Brewton that if she felt she was being threatened she had the right to go to the local police precinct and fill out a complaint report.3
Later that day, Brewton went to the 100th Precinct stationhouse. Once there, Detective Manns directed Brewton to Police Officer Thomas Marrone, who assisted her in completing the DIR at issue. The "Victim's Statement" on the DIR, which appears to have been completed by Brewton, states as follows: "My ex-boyfriend called my home from jail looking for me and I had a domestic violent dispute with him in the past and I fear for me and my daughter's safety." The "Description of Incident" on the DIR, apparently completed by Officer Marrone, states:
At TPO C/V present at 100 pet S/H states that her ex-boyfriend is currently incarcerated and he called her house and left a message on her machine. C/V further states she had an order of prot. against him and she does not know when he gets out, but she is in fear that he will & (sic) do something to her.
Brewton's DIR was subsequently directed to Detective Hovington, who conducted an investigation.
Detective Hovington's testimony and investigation notes indicate that his entire investigation took place on February 27, 2004. According to Detective Hovington, he first called Brewton at home but received no answer. Next, he performed a computer check on Regan, which indicated that Regan was out of jail on parole. The computer search did not indicate that there was any history between Brewton and Regan.4 Detective Hovington then called Regan's parole officer, Laura Owens. Owens confirmed that Regan had been released from prison approximately one month prior to the date on which the alleged phone call to Brewton was made. Owens also told Detective Hovington that Regan was making regular visits to her office, had full-time employment, and that he was starting a new family.5 Regan then called Detective Hovington himself. Detective Hovington informed Regan of Brewton's allegations. Regan denied leaving the voice message and stated that he had not seen Brewton in five or six years.6
Detective Hovington then called Brewton and requested that she come to the precinct. She arrived at approximately 1:30 pm. Later that afternoon, Brewton was formally arrested and charged with falsifying a police incident report in the third degree, a misdemeanor under New York Penal Law § 240.50.
The picture painted by the parties of the events that occurred between the time that Brewton arrived at the precinct and the time that she was placed under formal arrest is as conflicted as the tales of what preceded her visit. The parties, moreover, have provided little to no information at all in their Rule 56.1 statements concerning the events leading up to the arrest. In spite of the failure of the parties to blaze a trail through the admissible proof, the Court has, nonetheless, conducted a careful review of the deposition testimony and affidavits,7 and has found the proof, in large part, to be both externally and internally inconsistent. At least this much can be divined:
Upon arriving at the police station, Detective Hovington asked Brewton to accompany him to an interview room. He proceeded to interview her for approximately 15 minutes and then left the room. According to Detective Hovington, he did not believe at that time that Brewton was lying, but felt that there were inconsistencies in her story with respect to the time of the phone call, the date of the phone call and the location of the caller. Leaving the room was a mental strategy that he used, he said, to give her an opportunity to think about their conversation, before he questioned her again. Brewton does not deny that Detective Hovington left her in the interview room. In fact, she claims that she went outside the room to look for him. It was at this point, Brewton contends, that Detective Hovington shoved her back inside the room and threatened to put handcuffs on her if she moved again.
Detective Hovington questioned Brewton a number of times that afternoon, although the substance of these conversations remains unclear. In relevant part, Brewton claims that she called her house and played for Detective Hovington the tape of Regan's voice message; but Detective Hovington denies having heard the tape. Brewton also testified at her deposition that Detective Hovington stated to her that he had spoken to Regan and that Regan sounded like a nice young man who had moved on. She also quoted Detective Hovington as stating that "it's typical, you black women always want to see us black man in jail," though, curiously, in her affidavit, she attributes that very same statement to Detective Manns and not Detective Hovington.
After their third conversation, Detective Hovington informed Brewton that she would be placed under arrest. Brewton started to cry and asked to see Detective Manns. She also asked to call her mother, which she was permitted to do. After Brewton spoke to her mother, her mother spoke with Detective Hovington. According to Detective Hovington, plaintiff's mother stated that she did not understand why Brewton was being arrested and that she intended to call the Internal Affairs Bureau.
When Detective Manns arrived at the 100th precinct, sometime after 4 pm, he was informed that Brewton had been placed under arrest for filing a false report. He went to see Brewton in the interview room and told her that everything would be all right. According to Brewton, Detective Manns stated to her that the only reason she was being placed under arrest was because her mother had threatened to call Internal Affairs.
Brewton was held in the interview room for a number of hours before she was transported to Central Booking. She was eventually arraigned on her alleged violation of New York Penal Law § 240.50, which provides, in relevant part:
A person is guilty of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree when, knowing the information reported, conveyed or circulated to be false or baseless, he: ... 3. Gratuitously reports to a law enforcement officer or agency (a) the alleged occurrence of an offense or incident which did not in fact occur; or (b) an allegedly impending occurrence of an offense or incident which in fact is not about to occur; or (c) false information relating to an actual offense or incident or to the alleged implication of some person therein.
A motion for summary judgment is granted only if "the pleadings, the discovery...
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