Charron v. Cnty. of York
| Decision Date | 27 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 21-1753 |
| Parties | John A. CHARRON, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. COUNTY OF YORK; William L. King, Jr., individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of York County; Rachel A. Horning, individually and in her official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Darren Cyr, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Heath Mains, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Steven Thistlewood, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Wilfred Vachon, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County, Defendants, Appellees, Christopher Moss; Eric J. Pilvelait, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
49 F.4th 608
John A. CHARRON, Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
COUNTY OF YORK; William L. King, Jr., individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of York County; Rachel A. Horning, individually and in her official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Darren Cyr, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Heath Mains, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Steven Thistlewood, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County; Wilfred Vachon, individually and in his official capacity as Deputy Sheriff of York County, Defendants, Appellees,
Christopher Moss; Eric J. Pilvelait, Defendants.
No. 21-1753
United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.
September 27, 2022
Gregory O. McCullough, with whom Sanford Law Offices was on brief, for appellant.
John J. Wall, III, with whom Monaghan Leahy, LLP was on brief, for appellees.
Before Barron, Chief Judge, Selya and Kayatta, Circuit Judges.
KAYATTA, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff John Charron was arrested in March 2016 after a confrontation among neighbors left a Pontiac Sunfire abandoned in a snowbank. An occupant of the Sunfire alleged that Charron had pushed the car into the snowbank using his plow truck -- an allegation Charron denied. Deputies of the York County Sheriff's Office arrested Charron and charged him with several crimes. Charron worked to develop a body of exculpatory physical evidence that pointed strongly towards his innocence. The charges against him were eventually dropped, after which Charron brought an array of federal and state-law claims against the County of York and various County officials.1 The district court granted summary judgment for the County defendants. For the following reasons, we now affirm.
I.
On the night of March 8, 2016, an individual who requested anonymity called 911 to report a disturbance at his neighbor's house.2 He reported hearing "a lot of tires burning out, spinning out, a lot of people screaming, yelling, swearing and stuff," "a lot of people yelling ‘I'm gonna fucking kill you,’ and stuff like that." The caller said it sounded "like people fighting pretty bad." Dispatch told officers that the caller had reported "some sort of disturbance" involving "a lot of yelling, cars burning out, [and] males yelling threats." Dispatch said that the caller had reported the address as "the second house on the right" on "Langley Shores Drive" in Acton, Maine.
Deputies Rachel Horning and Darren Cyr were both dispatched to the area. On their way, they received notice that a female caller on Buzzell Road wanted her son removed from the house.3 Buzzell Road is less than half a mile from Langley
Shores (plural) Drive. They are connected by Langley Shore (singular) Drive. Dispatch noted that the two calls involved locations "fairly close to each other" and stated that they "may be related."
Horning recounted that when she arrived at the Buzzell Road home, she found Christopher Moss ("Moss") and his parents Walter and Denise.4 Moss claimed to have been at the house of his friend, Eric Pilvelait, when Pilvelait's neighbor, Charron (who is decades older than Moss and Pilvelait), came to the house in his plow truck.5 According to Moss, Pilvelait and Charron had a long-running feud. Moss said that when Charron got to Pilvelait's driveway, he began "peeling his tires" and "yelling threats." Moss claimed that he and Pilvelait got into Pilvelait's car, that Charron lifted his plow and struck the car, that the plow scraped over the hood of the car, and that both airbags deployed. Moss claimed that Charron then pushed the car down to the end of the street. Moss said that Charron yelled "[y]ou guys are fucking dead," and that Moss feared for his life. Horning noted that she "could see and smell that [Moss] had been drinking." At some point, Horning photographed what she described as injuries Moss claimed to have sustained in the crash.6
Moss's father Walter told Horning that Charron had called him twice that night. The first time, Charron said that Pilvelait and Moss "were laying rubber strips in his driveway and that someone was going to get hurt." The second time, Charron said that "he had his plow truck and he was going to take [Pilvelait and Moss] into the ditch." Walter said that he went to go collect his son and Pilvelait, but that when he arrived, Charron "had already pushed them down the road."
Horning -- who was by this time with other officers -- examined Pilvelait's car (a Pontiac Sunfire) where it had crashed into a snowbank, apparently near the intersection of Langley Shore Drive and Langley Shores Drive.7 Horning believed the damage to the Sunfire (along with car parts strewn in the road) was consistent with Moss's story. She tried to interview Pilvelait at his house, but no one answered the door.
Along with officers Heath Mains and Steven Thistlewood, Horning and Cyr proceeded
to Charron's house, where he was arrested. Charron says that when the officers arrived, he protested, "I didn't do anything. They rear-ended me. Why are you arresting me? They came to my house and terrorized me." Charron was taken to jail, where he declined to provide a statement to Horning. Horning's arrest report indicated that Charron was arrested for aggravated reckless conduct and criminal threatening.
Horning signed a Uniform Summons and Complaint charging Charron with aggravated reckless conduct.8 He was released on a $3,000 cash bail, subject to conditions of release that initially included, among other things, (1) a prohibition against using or possessing alcoholic beverages; (2) a prohibition against possessing firearms; and (3) submission to searches "at any time without articulable suspicion or probable cause." Sheriff William King published details of the allegations against Charron, including in a statement posted to Facebook.
The police photographed the Sunfire on the night of the incident but did not take it into evidence. Instead, the car was towed. Charron later located the Sunfire and his attorney purchased it on May 10 "to preserve it as evidence."
On June 7, Charron was indicted on one count of aggravated reckless conduct; two counts of aggravated assault; two counts of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon; and one count of driving to endanger.
Charron later provided the prosecutor with a crash analysis interpreting physical markings on the Sunfire to indicate that the car had collided with the back of Charron's truck. That scenario was consistent with Charron's claim that the Sunfire had rear-ended him and inconsistent with Moss's claim that the collision had occurred head-on. The report also concluded that there was "no objective physical evidence on the [Sunfire] that suggests that [Charron] was able to lift the plow on the front of [his truck] and drop it onto the hood" of the Sunfire.
In July 2016, the prosecutor dismissed the case against Charron because the prosecutor was "no longer certain about what had occurred" on the night in question.
As to what actually transpired on March 8, defendants now largely admit the key features of Charron's version of events: The Sunfire's driver peeled the car's tires in Charron's driveway, its occupants yelled threats, and the car sped away. Charron unsuccessfully pursued the Sunfire in his truck. The Sunfire then returned and rear-ended Charron. Charron got his truck free of the Sunfire and returned home. He heard the Sunfire race to the end of Langley Shore Drive and discerned that the car had become stuck in the snow. He got back into his truck and drove to the end of Langley Shore Drive to get a closer look. As he backed away towards home, Moss exited the Sunfire and chased him. When Charron reached home, Moss banged on his door, yelled for him to come out, and broke the passenger-side window of Charron's truck. Walter Moss then arrived at Charron's house and left with his son.
Charron filed this suit against the County, its sheriff, the four officers involved in his arrest, and a court officer who was not
present for the events of March 8, but who later relayed information between police and the prosecutor assigned to Charron's case.9 As relevant on appeal, Charron claimed violation of his civil rights, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and defamation per se. Central to Charron's case is the notion that County officers knew or should have known that Moss's version of events was false.
In a comprehensive order, the district court granted summary judgment for the County defendants. See Charron v. Cnty. of York, No. 18-cv-00105, 2020 WL 1868767 (D. Me. Apr. 14, 2020). The court concluded that Charron had not shown any constitutional violation and that, even if he had, qualified immunity would shield the County officials from liability for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and failure to preserve or disclose evidence. Id. at *41–48. The court rejected Charron's claims of municipal and supervisory liability. Id. at *48–49. The court further rejected Charron's state-law claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and defamation per se. Id. at *49–52. And in any event, the court continued, Maine's discretionary-function immunity would shield the...
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