Fagre v. Parks

Decision Date13 January 2021
Docket NumberNo. 20-1343,20-1343
Citation985 F.3d 16
Parties Jessica FAGRE, as personal representative of the Estate of Ambroshia E. Fagre, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. Jeffrey PARKS, Trooper, Defendant, Appellee, Mark Brown, Chief of Police; Scott W. Ireland, Lieutenant, Defendants.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Hunter J. Tzovarras, with whom Pelletier Faircloth & Braccio LLC was on brief, for appellant.

Jonathan R. Bolton, Assistant Attorney General of the State of Maine, with whom Aaron M. Frey, Attorney General of the State of Maine, was on brief, for appellee.

Before Lynch and Barron, Circuit Judges, and Burroughs,* District Judge.

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff, Jessica Fagre ("Fagre"), acting as the personal representative of the estate of Ambroshia Fagre ("Amber"), appeals from the district court's March 5, 2020 order granting summary judgment on claims related to Amber's death on February 10, 2017. Fagre argues that the district court erred because the defendant, Trooper Jeffrey Parks, violated Amber's rights under the United States and Maine Constitutions when he unintentionally shot and killed her and was not entitled to qualified immunity. She also argues that Trooper Parks committed state law torts against Amber and was not entitled to tort immunity. We affirm.

I. Facts

On February 10, 2017, at around 4:00 PM, Lieutenant Scott Ireland of the Maine State Police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in his neighborhood in Vassalboro, Maine. He arrived at the scene and found Amber Fagre asleep in the passenger seat of a running Dodge Durango. He said he saw footprints in the snow leading from the Durango to a nearby home. He woke Amber up and questioned her. He said she appeared confused and was either unwilling or unable to explain why she was there or where the driver of the Durango had gone. Lt. Ireland believed that Amber and the Durango's driver were breaking into homes. He reported what he had found over the police radio.

Lt. Ireland continued to question Amber. She admitted that the Durango's driver was breaking into homes. The footprints in the snow led to the home of Richard Browne. Lt. Ireland made a series of phone calls to determine if Browne was safe. He learned from one of Browne's relatives that someone had broken into Browne's home, held him at gunpoint, tied him up, held him in the basement, and ransacked his house. The attacker had also stolen Browne's pickup truck. Lt. Ireland reported this additional information over the radio and requested that all available units report to the scene.

In response, Sergeant Galen Estes arrived at the scene in his cruiser. Lt. Ireland then left to check on Browne, who confirmed that he had been attacked and gave a description of his attacker. Vassalboro Police Chief Mark Brown, followed later by Trooper Jeffrey Parks, joined Sgt. Estes at the Durango in separate vehicles.

When Trooper Parks, appellee here, arrived, he saw Chief Brown talking to someone in the Durango. He did not look at the person in the car but said he assumed it was the female suspect Lt. Ireland had described over the radio. Trooper Parks then left the scene to meet Lt. Ireland. At some point after Trooper Parks left, Sgt. Estes moved his cruiser away from the scene.

Lt. Ireland met Trooper Parks and told him to conduct safety checks of nearby residences. Lt. Ireland then returned to the Durango to join Sgt. Estes and Chief Brown. After he arrived, he heard over the radio that another officer had located Browne's stolen truck. Immediately thereafter, he received a call from Kate Pineau. Pineau said that the armed suspect was in front of her house, which was about two tenths of a mile from the Durango. Lt. Ireland and Sgt. Estes left the scene to investigate. Lt. Ireland drove his police cruiser and Sgt. Estes took Chief Brown's vehicle. Chief Brown stayed with Amber and the Durango. No police vehicles remained at the scene.

Lt. Ireland and Sgt. Estes arrived at the Pineau residence. There, they found footprints. They followed the footprints and eventually saw the suspect. Lt. Ireland said that he realized that the suspect was heading back to the Durango. He told Sgt. Estes to warn Chief Brown over the radio, which he did. Lt. Ireland then headed back to the Durango.

After receiving Sgt. Estes's warning, Chief Brown saw the suspect running toward him. He said the suspect appeared to have a gun. Chief Brown identified himself as a police officer and ordered the suspect to drop his gun. He said the suspect ignored the order, ran to the passenger side of the Durango, and raised his right arm toward Chief Brown. Chief Brown said he believed his life was in danger and that the suspect was going to shoot at him. He fired at the suspect. He then took cover behind a snowbank on the driver side of the Durango. Chief Brown heard the suspect fire at least one shot and returned fire.

The suspect got into the Durango and began driving. Amber was still in the passenger seat. Chief Brown said that he feared the suspect intended to fire on him again. He fired at least two additional shots at the driver-side door of the Durango, aiming for the driver. All parties agree that, had Amber been sitting upright in the passenger seat, she likely would have been hit by one of Chief Brown's bullets. The parties have stipulated that none of Chief Brown's shots hit Amber.

Meanwhile, Trooper Parks had heard over the radio that Lt. Ireland saw the suspect heading back to the Durango. He drove his police cruiser back to where the Durango had been. It had been approximately seventeen minutes since Trooper Parks had last been at the scene. Both police vehicles he had previously seen there were gone. As he approached, he said he heard multiple gunshots near the Durango. He said he saw someone crouched behind a snowbank and movement outside of the Durango. He concluded that the suspect and the police were exchanging fire. He parked his cruiser in the middle of the road, approximately twenty-five yards from the Durango. He got out and took cover behind his car.

Trooper Parks said he saw the Durango start driving toward him. The car was accelerating rapidly, and Trooper Parks said that from the engine noise he believed that the driver had pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The road was too narrow for the Durango to pass Trooper Parks's cruiser without hitting a snowbank, so Trooper Parks concluded that the driver intended to ram his car. Trooper Parks quickly moved away from his cruiser and climbed on top of a snowbank. He said that it was a sunny day and that there was plenty of light outside. He said that, from the snowbank, he could see directly into the Durango and that nothing obstructed his view. He said that he saw only the driver and that the passenger seat appeared to be empty.

The Durango continued to accelerate toward Trooper Parks's car. Trooper Parks said he believed his life was in immediate danger. He fired several shots into the Durango as it passed within a couple feet of him and collided with his police cruiser. He said he aimed all of his shots at the driver and that he intended to stop the driver from using deadly force against him. The Durango crashed into Trooper Parks's cruiser, missing him by a few feet. The force of the impact pushed his cruiser about fifty feet down the road.

Lt. Ireland then arrived back at the scene. He said he had heard the gunshots but did not witness the crash. He saw that the Durango had crashed into Trooper Parks's cruiser. Lt. Ireland began to approach the Durango on foot. Once he was within fifteen or twenty yards of the Durango, he said that he could see the driver and that the driver appeared to have something in his hand. The driver had his hand out of the driver-side window. Lt. Ireland identified himself as a state police officer and told the driver to show him both of his hands. Instead of complying, the driver put his arm back in the car, looked back over his shoulder at Lt. Ireland, then looked at his lap and the Durango's center console before looking back at Lt. Ireland. Lt. Ireland fired one shot, killing the driver.

The police then approached the Durango and found Amber slumped across the center console of the car with her head under the driver's arm. An autopsy revealed that a single bullet, stipulated to have been fired by Trooper Parks, had passed through her right shoulder and head, killing her. The parties agree that the trajectory of the bullet makes it extremely unlikely that Amber had been sitting upright in the Durango when she was shot.

II. Procedural History

Fagre, as the personal representative of Amber's estate, filed suit against Trooper Parks, Lt. Ireland, and Chief Brown. Her complaint alleged: (1) use of excessive force against Amber in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ; (2) use of excessive force against Amber in violation of Article 1, § 5 of the Maine Constitution under the Maine Civil Rights Act ("MCRA"), Me. Stat. tit. 5, § 4682; (3) failure to protect Amber in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ; (4) negligence under Maine state law; and (5) wrongful death under Maine state law.

The district court dismissed all of the claims against Chief Brown and Lt. Ireland, which Fagre does not appeal. After discovery, the district court granted Trooper Parks's motion for summary judgment. Fagre v. Parks, No. 19-CV-00083, 2020 WL 1066977, at *7 (D. Me. Mar. 5, 2020). As to Fagre's § 1983 claim,1 the court held that Trooper Parks had not violated Amber's Fourth Amendment rights and was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. It added that, even if Trooper Parks had seized Amber in violation of the Fourth Amendment, he would be entitled to qualified immunity from § 1983 liability. The district court also granted summary judgment for Trooper Parks on the MCRA § 4682 claim because the protections of Article 1, § 5 of the Maine Constitution are coextensive with those of the Fourth Amendment....

To continue reading

Request your trial
6 cases
  • Rahim v. Doe
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • October 20, 2022
    ...officer on the scene could believe that the suspect "pose[d] an immediate threat to police officers or civilians." Fagre v. Parks, 985 F.3d 16, 23-24 (1st Cir. 2021) (quoting Conlogue, 906 F.3d at 156 ); see alsoKisela, 138 S. Ct. at 1152. Here, an objectively reasonable officer would have ......
  • Estate of Rahim v. Doe
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • October 20, 2022
    ...encounter or whether the officers believed the suspect to be armed. See, e.g., Kisela, 138 S.Ct. at 1154; Sheehan, 575 U.S. at 612; Fagre, 985 F.3d at 24; 911 F.3d at 41; Conlogue, 906 F.3d at 156. Here, the officers believed that Rahim was armed with a knife in his hands at the time of the......
  • Baker v. Goodman
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Maine
    • February 25, 2022
    ...form the basis of a Fourth Amendment violation when the force is objectively reasonable. Id. at 9-10. Sgt Goodman further argues that Fagre v. Parks is similarly analogous case. Id. at 10-11. Sgt. Goodman contends that in that case, the Court upheld qualified immunity for an officer who, be......
  • Plourde v. Redington-Fairview Hosp.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Maine
    • March 10, 2021
    ..."Article I, section 5 of the Maine Constitution provides protections that are coextensive with the Fourth Amendment." Fagre v. Parks, 985 F.3d 16, 24-25 (1st Cir. 2021) (quoting State v. Martin, 2015 ME 91, ¶ 17 n.2, 120 A.3d 113, 118 n.2). Article 1, Section 5 of the Maine Constitution rea......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT