Estate of Bennett v. Wainwright

• Decision Date: 26 November 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-2169.,07-2169.
• Citation: 548 F.3d 155
• Parties: ESTATE OF Daniel BENNETT, II, Arlene Bedard, Isabel Bedard, and Laurie Hart, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Christopher WAINWRIGHT, Matthew Baker, Timothy Turner, James Miclon, James Davis, Lloyd Herrick, and County of Oxford, Maine, Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

548 F.3d 155

ESTATE OF Daniel BENNETT, II, Arlene Bedard, Isabel Bedard, and Laurie Hart, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. Christopher WAINWRIGHT, Matthew Baker, Timothy Turner, James Miclon, James Davis, Lloyd Herrick, and County of Oxford, Maine, Defendants, Appellees.

No. 07-2169.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard April 7, 2008.

Decided November 26, 2008.

Thomas J. Connolly, for appellants.

Peter T. Marchesi, with whom Cassandra S. Shaffer and Wheeler & Arey, P.A., were on brief, for appellees Christopher Wainwright, Matthew Baker, James Miclon, James Davis, Lloyd Herrick, and County of Oxford.

Ronald W. Lupton, Assistant Attorney General, with whom G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General, and Paul Stern, Deputy Attorney General, was on brief, for appellee Timothy Turner.

Before LYNCH, Chief Judge, CUDAHY,^* and TORRUELLA, Circuit Judges.

TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.

This appeal involves the tragic death of Daniel Bennett II ("Bennett"), a mentally ill young man, when he opened fire against Maine law enforcement officers who had been called to his home. The officers responded with gunfire and Bennett was killed. Bennett's estate ("the Estate") — his mother, Arlene Bedard ("Arlene"); his grandmother, Isabel Bedard ("Isabel"); and his sister, Laurie Hart ("Laurie") — brought suit against the officers asserting numerous violations of both the Estate's and Bennett's constitutional rights, as well as state law claims. The district court rejected all of the Estate's causes of action by granting the defendants' motions to dismiss, for judgment on the pleadings, and for summary judgment. The Estate now appeals. We affirm the judgment of the district court for the reasons explained herein.

I. Background

A. Facts

As this appeal arises from dismissals pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), 12(c), and 56, we recite the facts in the light most favorable to the Estate as non-movant, drawing all reasonably supported inferences in its favor. See Prescott v. Higgins, 538 F.3d 32, 39 (1st Cir.2008) (addressing Rule 56 summary judgment); Pérez-Acevedo v. Rivero-Cubano, 520 F.3d 26, 29 (1st Cir.2008)(addressing Rule 12(c) judgment on the pleadings); Young v. Lepone, 305 F.3d 1, 8 (1st Cir.2002) (addressing Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss).¹

Between 1996 and 2000 Bennett suffered various psychological problems for which he was taking prescribed medication. In November 1999, Bennett stopped taking his medication. During the course of Bennett's illness, Maine state law enforcement officials had been summoned to his home on various occasions. Those police interventions resulted in Bennett being safely transported to a mental care facility each time.

The events giving rise to the present appeal took place on January 21, 2000. On that morning Bennett walked from Bucksfield, Maine, to his grandmother's house in Sumner, Maine ("Bedard residence"), a distance of between ten and fifteen miles, in the snow wearing only slippers. Upon his arrival, he beat a stray dog to death. Though the Estate asserts that his family did not perceive Bennett to be a threat, Bennett's grandmother Isabel became concerned and attempted to call his mother, Arlene. When Arlene could not be reached, Isabel called Bennett's sister, Laurie. Laurie eventually contacted Arlene, who said she would go to the Bedard residence. Laurie nonetheless remained concerned and called her cousin Derrick Laughton ("Laughton"), to request that he go to the Bedard residence immediately; he agreed to do so. Laurie then called her husband at work and told his employer that there was a real emergency. Laurie's husband also went to the Bedard residence.

Upon Arlene's arrival at the house, she found Isabel, Laughton, and Laughton's father there. Arlene tried speaking to Bennett, but he replied "leave me the fuck alone, I don't want to kill you, too." Arlene then called 9-1-1 and stated "[Bennett] just told me to get out of there, he's going to kill me, so I came out here to call you." Arlene also told the dispatcher that Bennett had killed a dog with a bat; that he was not taking his prescribed medication; that there were firearms inside the Bedard residence which were either non-functional or the location of which was unknown to Bennett; and that they "need somebody right away." The Estate asserts that Arlene specifically indicated she did not want police assistance, just a mental health transport.

The 9-1-1 operator contacted the Oxford County Sheriff's Department ("OCSD") at approximately 2:00 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Christopher Wainwright was the first officer to arrive at the scene. Wainwright had been told that Bennett had beaten a dog to death with a baseball bat, had threatened family members and that there was a rifle and a shotgun present in the Bedard residence. He thereupon requested that a perimeter be established around the residence and that a Maine state police unit, as well as Deputy Sheriff Matthew Baker and the State Warden, also respond. The Estate asserts that Wainwright was known in the community as "Deputy Death" and that he had a "proclivity for confrontational escalation of police-citizen encounters" because he was responsible for the only other police shooting death in the history of Oxford County. The victim in that instance was also a mentally ill person.

Wainwright and Maine State Police Officer Timothy Turner entered the Bedard residence almost simultaneously. They spoke to the family members gathered in the kitchen and were shown the door leading through the living room to the back of the house where Bennett was located. Wainwright and Turner then notified the family that they had to evacuate. The family did so against their wishes. Isabel insisted that they keep the wood fires going inside the house lest the water pipes freeze and burst in the extremely cold weather. Wainwright and Turner accompanied the family to Laurie's residence nearby. As they were leaving, Bennett momentarily emerged from the back of the house and yelled "get the fuck out!"

OCSD Captain James Miclon arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and became the ranking officer. He ordered Turner and Wainwright to return to the house and assume a defensive position until the Maine state police tactical ("SWAT") team arrived. Chief Deputy James Davis subsequently arrived on the scene, became the ranking officer, and confirmed these orders. Wainwright and Turner, along with Deputy Sheriff Matthew Baker, re-entered the Bedard residence at approximately 3:10 p.m. and took positions in the kitchen. Baker brought with him a department-issue shotgun which he later exchanged for a lighter "long gun," an AR-15 belonging to Wainwright. As the SWAT team assembled outside, Wainwright, Turner, and Baker took turns monitoring the doorway that led through the living room to where Bennett was located. At that point, all of the defendants believed that Bennett had to be taken into protective custody and transferred to a psychiatric facility.

Shortly thereafter, Miclon contacted the District Attorney's office and sought a warrant, but was refused for lack of probable cause. In an effort to secure additional information, Miclon visited Laurie's house to speak to the assembled Bedard family members. While there, both he and Laurie tried to contact Bennett by phone but were unsuccessful. The family members then prepared two diagrams of the Bedard residence indicating the location of the firearms, and Arlene again informed Miclon that Bennett did not know where the guns were and that the only functional firearm was a single-shot breach-loader. The Estate asserts that Miclon was "shocked and despondent" about what was happening back at the Bedard residence to the point that he vomited in Laurie's restroom. Miclon also allegedly told the assembled family members that the officers at the house "were out of control," were "too gung ho," were going "way too fast," and had prevented him and available mental health workers from contacting Bennett.

Back at the Bedard residence, Wainwright identified himself from the kitchen and tried communicating with Bennett but was unsuccessful. Thereafter, Bennett emerged from the back of the house and entered the living room briefly on two occasions. On one of those occasions, Bennett surprised Baker by saying "oh shit" and Baker responded by pointing the AR-15 at him and ordering him to put his hands up. When Bennett did so, he was clutching a roll of toilet paper. The estate believes that Bennett was headed towards the restroom located beyond the kitchen. After both such instances, Bennett retreated peacefully towards the back part of the house.

On his third foray, however, Bennett entered the living room without warning and aimed a single-shot breach-loader shotgun at Baker, to which Baker responded by yelling "Danny, drop the gun, drop the gun." Bennett nonetheless fired and Baker responded with five rounds from the AR-15. Wainwright also fired a full thirteen-shot magazine from his 40-caliber handgun and then reloaded. Turner did not fire because he was behind a wall that obstructed his view. After reloading, Wainwright walked into the living room and fired two or three more shots at Bennett, who had fallen behind the sofa. The Estate characterizes these shots as a "coup de grace" because one shot was to Bennett's head and the other to his chest "straight down."

After the shooting ended, Wainwright called a "signal 2000" and members of the OCSD and Maine state police rushed the Bedard residence. A sergeant with the Maine state police performed CPR on Bennett, and Bennett was transported to a hospital at 4:20 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 5:20 p.m. Bennett had been hit by the AR-15 five times, resulting in two through-and-through wounds in the left arm, a wound to the left shoulder, and Bennett's left pinky finger being shot off. The 40-caliber handgun produced two wounds, one to the head and the other to the chest.

B. Procedural...