Floyd v. City of Detroit
| Decision Date | 06 March 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-2441.,06-2441. |
| Citation | 518 F.3d 398 |
| Parties | Ronald FLOYD, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CITY OF DETROIT, Emmett Quaine, and Juan Reynoso, Jr., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: Sheri L. Whyte, City Of Detroit Law Department, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Victor S. Valenti, Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Johnson, Southfield, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Sheri L. Whyte, City of Detroit Law Department, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Victor S. Valenti, Fieger, Fieger, Kenney & Johnson, Southfield, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: BATCHELDER and GILMAN, Circuit Judges; VARLAN, District Judge.*
This case arises from an incident in which Detroit police officers Emmett Quaine and Juan Reynoso, Jr. opened fire on Ronald Floyd in his own backyard, wounding him in the chest. Floyd, who was unarmed, claims that the officers fired on him without warning and without cause. He filed this lawsuit, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the City of Detroit and the two officers. According to Floyd, the officers violated his constitutional rights by using excessive force, and the City is liable for failing to properly train them. All three defendants filed a joint motion for summary judgment.
The district court denied the motion, finding that genuine issues of material fact precluded the grant of summary judgment. On appeal, Officer Quaine asserts that he is entitled to qualified immunity because his shot missed Floyd, and Officer Reynoso argues that he should receive qualified immunity because he fired under the mistaken but reasonable belief that Floyd had shot Quaine. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court regarding its denial of summary judgment as to Quaine and Reynoso and DISMISS the City's appeal as premature.
The issues in this case stem from a series of events that culminated in the nonfatal shooting of Floyd by Detroit police officers on April 18, 2004. At that time, Floyd lived with his girlfriend, Delilah Hargrove, and her young son in the lower level of a two-family residence located at 3739 Whitney Street in Detroit, Michigan. In the early evening hours on April 18, 2004, Floyd and Hargrove left their residence to attended a barbeque held as part of a birthday celebration for Hargrove's sister. Floyd returned home by himself between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to pick up additional food for the barbeque.
Upon arriving back at his house, Floyd discovered that the car belonging to Jerry Wilmer, the upstairs resident of the dwelling, was parked so as to block the makeshift driveway that Floyd had constructed. Floyd had previously asked Wilmer to leave enough space for Floyd to enter the driveway, and this latest transgression prompted Floyd to call up to Wilmer's second floor balcony to complain. Wilmer allegedly responded by picking up an old metal lawn chair and threatening to throw it down at Floyd. Not to be outdone, Floyd armed himself with what he described as a three-foot silver fence pole and warned that he intended to lob the pole at Wilmer if Wilmer threw the chair.
The argument eventually fizzled without an exchange of projectiles. Floyd retrieved the additional food for the barbeque and left soon thereafter. Richard Grant, a high school senior who lived next-door, witnessed the argument from his porch across the vacant lot that separates his house from Floyd's. Grant confirmed in his deposition that the argument took place, but he described the three-foot pole that Floyd claims to have brandished as an object that "looked like a gun." Furthermore, Grant said that Wilmer specifically reproached Floyd for "bring[ing] a gun out," stating that "little as I am, big as you is, you're going to come out here with a gun on me." According to Grant, Wilmer warned Floyd that he was calling the police, to which Floyd allegedly responded "whatever" and then left the scene to return to the barbeque.
Officers Quaine and Reynoso testified in their depositions that Wilmer had followed through with his stated intent to call the authorities by phoning the Detroit police. The officers were told that a complaint had been made concerning "a person with a weapon." Quaine and Reynoso were dispatched to the scene, but they arrived after Floyd had already left the residence to return to the barbeque. Once there, Quaine spoke with Wilmer to get the details of his complaint. According to Quaine, Wilmer explained that Floyd had threatened him with a shotgun in the course of their parking dispute. Wilmer also told Quaine that Floyd had left after brandishing the weapon.
During the course of Officer Quaine's conversation with Wilmer, Floyd and Hargrove returned to their residence in separate vehicles. Hargrove returned first, and Officer Quaine began interviewing her. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Floyd arrived.
Floyd's account of what happened next differs significantly from that of Officers Quaine and Reynoso. According to Floyd, he drove his car to the rear of the house and parked beside his two trucks. The trucks were lined up in a row parallel to the back edge of the property. Floyd testified that he got out of his car, walked around the back of the truck parked immediately beside it, and then proceeded to walk between the two trucks toward the house. As he walked, Floyd allegedly held his hands out in front of him—above chest level—because he frequently encountered spider webs hanging down from a nearby tree. Floyd contends that he was unarmed and that his hands were empty because he had already placed his keys in his pocket.
As Floyd neared the end of the passage in between the parked trucks, he noticed the officers running toward him because their flashlight beams could be seen in the dusk. A "split second" after Floyd saw the officers, they allegedly began shooting at him without warning. Floyd recalls hearing two shots following in quick succession. He testified that he backed up slightly after hearing the first shot and then began yelling, "I don't have a gun." Officer Quaine admitted in his deposition that he fired the first shot at Floyd, but a ballistics test later confirmed that Quaine's shot missed. Officer Reynoso then fired the second shot. This shot struck Floyd in the upper right portion of his chest.
The account of the shooting given by Officers Quaine and Reynoso differs significantly from Floyd's. Although both officers admitted in their depositions that they approached Floyd with their guns drawn, they denied that they were using their flashlights at the time. The officers also emphasized that they had credited Wilmer's warning that Floyd was armed with a shotgun and had threatened Wilmer with the weapon just hours earlier. Both officers further recalled that Quaine, prior to shooting at Floyd, identified himself as "Detroit Police" and ordered Floyd to "show me your hands."
Officer Quaine asserted in his deposition that he fired at Floyd because he perceived that Floyd was armed with a handgun. He further claimed that Floyd actually fired at Quaine first. Officer Reynoso, in turn, explained that he fired at Floyd because, after hearing the initial shot and seeing Quaine fall to take cover, he mistakenly believed that Floyd had shot Quaine.
Floyd fell to the ground after being hit in the chest by Reynoso's shot, and the officers quickly approached him. The officers immediately asked Floyd "where the gun was." Floyd responded that he had no gun. Upon discovering that Floyd was wounded and unarmed, Officer Reynoso allegedly apologized profusely. Floyd also alleges that, while he lay on the ground wounded, one of the officers reached for a gun in his ankle holster in order to plant it on Floyd. According to Floyd, he foiled this attempt by exclaiming "I see that" and grabbing hold of the trucks on either side of him to prevent the weapon from being placed in his hands. No guns besides the officers' weapons were ever discovered at the scene either that night or after a subsequent search of the premises.
Floyd's neighbor Grant, who had witnessed the initial argument between Floyd and Wilmer, also saw the shooting incident. Although Grant did not see the officers' flashlights turned on before the shooting, he did see them illuminated immediately afterward. He further observed that the officers, upon Floyd's arrival, ran toward the back of the house with their guns drawn. Moreover, Grant agreed with Floyd that neither officer gave any verbal warning before opening fire and that Floyd was unarmed. Grant also corroborated Floyd's testimony that the officers asked "where is the gun" after the shooting occurred.
Unlike the others present at the scene, however, Grant said that he heard the officers fire three shots rather than two. Grant also partially contradicted Floyd's account by recalling that Floyd kept the car keys in one of his hands while walking toward the officers and that he never raised his hands above his waist to swat spider webs. After the shooting, Grant heard one of the officers radio that there was an "officer down."
Officers Quaine and Reynoso quickly summoned Detroit's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to the scene upon discovering Floyd's wound. EMS arrived a short time later and transported Floyd to a nearby hospital. Floyd was found to have suffered a collapsed lung, with the bullet nicking his liver, but the doctors were able to stabilize him. The bullet remains lodged in Floyd's upper back near his spine and continues to cause him pain.
Floyd filed this action in state court against Officer Quaine, Officer Reynoso, and the City of Detroit in May of 2004. His complaint alleges that the officers are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating his constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments through their use of...
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