Frost v. N.Y.C. Police Dep't
| Decision Date | 12 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | August Term, 2019,Docket No. 19-1163 |
| Citation | 980 F.3d 231 |
| Parties | Jarrett FROST, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, New York City Department of Correction, The City of New York, District Attorney Robert T. Johnson, District Attorney Robert Hertz, Detective Michael Lopuzzo, Detective Richard Spennicchia, Detective Joseph O'Neil, Correction Officer Torres, Correction Officer Soria, Correction Officer Carty, Correction Officer Souffrant, Correction Officer Tatulli, Correction Officer Captain McDuffie, Correction Officer Previllon, Correction Officer Gonzalez, Correction Officer Captain Ryan, Correction Officer Young, Correction Officer McLaughlin, Correction Officer Barksdale, Correction Officer Corker, Correction Officer Sanchez, Correction Officer Hill, Correction Officer Captain Clayton Jemmott, Correction Officer Jay Joye, Defendants-Appellees, Detectives John Doe #1–4, Individually and in Their Official Capacity as New York City Police Officers, Correction Officers John Doe #1–5, Individually and in Their Official Capacity as New York City Correction Officers, Correction Officer Thomas, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Jonathan I. Edelstein (Ellie A. Silverman, on the brief), Edelstein & Grossman, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Claibourne Henry (Richard Dearing, Scott Shorr, on the brief), Assistant Corporation Counsel, for James E. Johnson, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before: Kearse, Katzmann, and Bianco, Circuit Judges.
This case arises out of the detention and prosecution of plaintiff-appellant Jarrett Frost. In January 2011, Frost was arrested and charged with the murder of an individual named Mavon Chapman. Frost was then detained at Rikers Island until June 2014, when a jury acquitted him of all charges. After his release, Frost filed a civil rights action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against several groups of defendants, including New York City Police Department ("NYPD") detectives, New York City Department of Correction ("DOC") officers, and the City of New York. As relevant here, Frost brought malicious prosecution and due process claims against the NYPD detectives, excessive force claims against the DOC officers, and municipal liability claims against the City.
After a lengthy discovery period, defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the district court granted in a Memorandum and Order dated March 27, 2019. See Frost v. City of New York , No. 15 Civ. 4843 (NRB), 2019 WL 1382323 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 27, 2019). With respect to the malicious prosecution, due process, and excessive force claims, the district court (Buchwald, J. ) held that Frost had failed to create a triable issue regarding any individual defendant's liability. Id. at *8–12. And because no individual defendant could be held liable, the district court concluded, Frost's municipal liability claims against the City failed as well. Id. at *12.
On appeal, we hold that the district court correctly dismissed Frost's malicious prosecution claim and one of his excessive force claims, but the district court erred in dismissing Frost's due process claim and two of his excessive force claims.2 We also conclude that the district court should address the substance of Frost's municipal liability claims in the first instance, as certain individual defendants now face potential liability. Accordingly, the district court's judgment is AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and VACATED in part, and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Mavon Chapman was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 6, 2010. The shooting took place at the corner of East 149th Street and Morris Avenue in the Bronx, one block from the apartment building where Frost lived. Approximately 24 hours prior to the shooting, Frost had been assaulted in the same area by members of a neighborhood gang, some of whom were friends of Chapman's.
Shortly after Chapman was killed, defendants Detectives Michael Lopuzzo, Richard Spennicchia, and Joseph O'Neil were assigned to investigate the murder. They interviewed several witnesses to the shooting, including non-party Leon Vega, who was one of the gang members who assaulted Frost the day before. None of the witnesses could identify the shooter, but they told the detectives that the shots had come from the direction of the apartment complex where Frost lived. Vega was interviewed twice on the day of Chapman's murder, and during his first interview he told detectives that he did not know who had shot Chapman or where the shots had come from. During his second interview, however, Vega said that the shots had come from a doorway leading to a stairwell in Frost's apartment complex and that a black male wearing a white t-shirt had been standing in the doorway at the time of the shooting.
In the hours following Chapman's murder, O'Neil and Spennicchia visited the crime scene and recovered surveillance footage from the stairwell described by Vega. The footage showed two black males walking down the stairs and then running back up immediately after Chapman was shot. One of the men, later identified as non-party John McLaurin, was wearing a white tank top and jeans. The other, later identified as Frost, was wearing a green t-shirt and tan shorts.
The next day, July 7, O'Neil and Spennicchia picked Frost up at school to question him. At the time, the detectives considered Frost to be a witness. Frost admitted that he had been in the stairwell with McLaurin when Chapman was shot, but he told the detectives that McLaurin had fired the gun. The detectives did not arrest Frost, and they chose instead to look for McLaurin, whom they were unable to locate.
Six months passed without any major developments regarding Frost. Then, on January 6, 2011, O'Neil and Spennicchia learned that Vega had been arrested for an unrelated crime and wanted to enter into a cooperation agreement in exchange for information about Chapman's murder. The detectives went to observe an interview with Vega at the Bronx District Attorney's Office and to show Vega photo arrays. The detectives, Vega, and an assistant district attorney were present at the interview, as was Vega's defense counsel.
During the interview, Vega identified Frost from one of the photo arrays as the individual who shot Chapman. Three days later, in an apparent coincidence, Spennicchia saw McLaurin on the street, and the detectives brought him in for an interview. Like Vega, McLaurin told the detectives that Frost was responsible for the shooting. And according to McLaurin, Frost admitted that he had killed Chapman in retaliation for the previous day's assault.
On January 13, 2011—one week after Vega's interview—Frost was arrested on charges of murder in the second degree, manslaughter with intent to cause physical injury, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. The following day, Frost was arraigned and remanded to Rikers Island, and he was indicted shortly thereafter. Frost remained incarcerated at Rikers until a jury acquitted him of all charges on June 24, 2014.
During his nearly three-and-a-half-year detention at Rikers, Frost received numerous disciplinary infractions, and he was involved in multiple physical altercations with correction officers and inmates. Indeed, Frost's transgressions earned him a "Red ID" classification, which is given to inmates who are violent or are caught with weapons. Although the record below describes Frost's misbehavior in considerable detail, only the following three incidents are relevant to the instant appeal.
The first incident took place on October 9, 2012, when Frost was brought to Bronx Supreme Court for an attorney visit. While there, Frost was escorted by defendant Correction Officer Captain Clayton Jemmott, and defendant Correction Officer Jay Joye was also present. According to Jemmott, Frost became combative and said, "I should spit in your fuckin’ face." J.A. 609:16–17. In response, Jemmott took Frost to the ground and either Jemmott or Joye kicked Frost in the ribs. Jemmott and Joye then dragged Frost on the ground by his leg shackles. Later that day, Frost was taken to a medical clinic, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum and bruising on his forehead and cheek.
The second incident took place on January 16, 2013, while Frost was housed in the Central Punitive Segregation Unit ("CPSU"). As Frost was returning to the CPSU from court, he was strip searched by defendant Correction Officer Hill. After Frost removed his clothing, Hill observed a bag of contraband cheese on the floor, and Hill also reported seeing a small object wrapped in black plastic. Frost turned over the cheese, but he did not relinquish the small object, which Hill reportedly saw Frost secrete in his anal cavity. Hill informed his supervisor of these events, and defendant Correction Officer Captain Ryan was assigned to lead an extraction team to recover the secreted object. Ryan assembled a team that included defendants Correction Officers Young, McLaughlin, Barksdale, Corker, and Sanchez.
When Ryan's team went to begin the extraction, Ryan first spoke with Frost for 10 to 15 minutes and ordered Frost to return the contraband. After Frost refused to turn anything over, Ryan's extraction team entered the intake search area where Frost was located. Video footage of the extraction shows that Frost resisted the officers and tried to prevent them from entering the area by holding the door shut. Officers then struggled to restrain Frost for several minutes. After being restrained, Frost was taken to a cell where he was ordered to squat, after which a blade wrapped in electrical tape was recovered...
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