Grim v. Balt. Police Dep't

• Decision Date: 08 November 2019
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. ELH-18-3864
• Parties: TARA GRIM Plaintiff, v. BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

TARA GRIM Plaintiff, v. BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. ELH-18-3864

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

November 8, 2019

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This civil rights action arises from a traffic stop that occurred in the early evening of January 1, 2016. Plaintiff Tara Grim has sued the Baltimore City Police Department ("BPD"); BPD Officer Marcos Paul, who conducted the traffic stop; former BPD Commissioner Kevin Davis; "Unknown Supervisors" of the BPD; the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore (the "City"); and the State of Maryland (the "State"), alleging that, during the traffic stop, Officer Paul groped her breasts and exposed her vagina and buttocks, under the guise of a search. ECF 13 (the "Amended Complaint").¹ According to plaintiff, defendants violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution as well as the Maryland Declaration of Rights and common law. The individual defendants have been sued in their personal and official capacities. Id. ¶¶ 9, 10, 11.

The Amended Complaint contains seven counts. Count I lodges a "Monell" claim against the BPD and Davis, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Id. ¶¶ 49-55; see Monell v. New York CityDep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658 (1978). In particular, Grim asserts two theories of liability. First, she contends that the BPD and Davis had "a policy, practice or custom of condoning unlawful strip searches." ECF 13, ¶ 50. Second, she maintains that the BPD and Davis "failed to adequately supervise, train, or discipline their employees," regarding unconstitutional strip searches. Id. ¶ 54. Count II sets forth a "Supervisory Liability" claim under § 1983 against Davis and the Unknown Supervisors. Id. ¶¶ 56-62. In Count III, plaintiff asserts a § 1983 claim against Officer Paul, alleging an unlawful search and seizure, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. ¶¶ 63-71. Count IV, lodged against the BPD and Davis, is styled as a "Pattern and Practice" claim under Maryland law. Id. ¶¶ 72-77. Count V asserts that Officer Paul violated unspecified provisions of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Id. ¶¶ 78-87. Count VI contains a claim against Officer Paul under Maryland law for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Id. ¶¶ 88-91. And, in Count VII, plaintiff seeks "Indemnification" from the BPD and the City. Id. ¶¶ 92-95.

Five motions are now pending. The City has moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (ECF 19), supported by a memorandum of law. ECF 19-1 (collectively, the "City Motion"). The BPD and Davis have also moved to dismiss, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (ECF 20), supported by a memorandum of law. ECF 20-1 (collectively, the "BPD Motion"). In a consolidated submission, plaintiff opposes the City Motion and the BPD Motion. ECF 25 ("Opposition"). The City and the BPD have replied. ECF 28; ECF 29.

In addition, plaintiff has filed three motions against Officer Paul. She has filed a motion for default judgment as to Officer Paul (ECF 31), and another titled "Motion to Treat as Conceded Plaintiff's Motion For Default Judgment Against Defendant Paul Marcos." ECF 34 (collectively, the "Motion for Default Judgment"). Plaintiff has also filed a motion for attorney's fees and costs in regard to service of the suit on Officer Paul. ECF 32 (the "Motion for Fees").

No hearing is necessary to resolve the motions. See Local Rule 105(6). For the reasons that follow, I shall grant the City Motion (ECF 19); grant in part and deny in part the BPD Motion (ECF 20); deny the Motion for Default Judgment (ECF 31; ECF 34); and deny the Motion for Fees (ECF 32).

I. Factual and Procedural Background²

A. The Incident

On January 1, 2016, at approximately 7:00 P.M, BPD Officer Marcos Paul effectuated a traffic stop of Grim while she was driving on Greenspring Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. ECF 13, ¶ 15. After Officer Paul checked Grim's license and registration, he asked Grim questions unrelated to the stop, including why she had a child's car seat in her backseat and where she worked. Id. ¶¶ 16, 17. Officer Paul told Grim that she needed to follow his patrol car to a separate location, so that he could conduct a search of her vehicle. Id. ¶ 18. When Grim questioned this procedure, Officer Paul responded that she could either obey his command or be arrested. Id.

"[T]errified," Grim followed Officer Paul's patrol car. Id. ¶ 19. While driving, she tried to call a friend on her cell phone. Id. However, Officer Paul stopped abruptly and screamed out of his window that Grim "better not be on [her] fucking phone." Id. ¶ 20. Grim was unable to reach her friend. Id. ¶ 19.

Grim followed Officer Paul to a "secluded area." Id. ¶ 21. There, Officer Paul searched Grim's vehicle. Id. Next, he searched Grim's person. According to plaintiff, Officer Paul "unzipped her jacket and groped her breasts." Id. ¶ 22. Officer Paul then "pulled the front area of Ms. Grim's leggings, exposing her genitalia," and "shined a flashlight down Ms. Grim's leggings and viewed her genitalia in the guise of a 'search.'" Id. ¶ 23. Similarly, Officer Paulproceeded to "pull[] the rear area of Ms. Grim's leggings," exposing her buttocks. Id. ¶ 24. Again, he shined the flashlight down her leggings. Id.

Plaintiff, who was pregnant at the time, was "convinced that the officer was going to rape her." Id. She was both "frightened and humiliated." Id.

When another vehicle approached, Officer Paul ceased his action. Id. ¶ 25. Although Officer Paul told Grim that she could leave, he also said he would follow her home. Id. Officer Paul did not issue a citation or a ticket to Grim. Id. ¶ 26. Plaintiff drove to her residence on Greenspring Avenue, where she was living with her uncle. Id. ¶ 26. Officer Paul followed Grim, and said "words to the effect of, 'so this is where you live'" and "words to the effect of, 'I'll be contacting you for counseling.'" Id. ¶ 28.

Grim entered her home and told her sister and uncle what had just happened. Id. ¶ 30. Her sister called 911. Id. ¶ 31. Officer Paul initially responded to the 911 call, but he soon left the scene. Id. ¶ 32. Shortly thereafter, a BPD detective arrived and interviewed Grim about the stop. Id. ¶ 33. Grim provided a recorded statement to the BPD on January 5, 2016. Id. ¶ 34.

Scared for her safety, Grim changed homes and sold her car. Id. ¶ 35. In addition, plaintiff alleges that she "was unable to perform her day-to-day functions and lost her job." Id. ¶ 36.

B. Pattern and Practice Allegations

Plaintiff alleges that the "unconstitutional strip search was not an isolated event." Id. ¶ 43. Rather, she alleges that "it was undertaken pursuant to, and caused by, BPD's policy and practice of providing deficient oversight and accountability, failure to train, supervise and discipline its officers, failing to reliably record when officers conduct a frisk, failing to ensure that officers comply with its strip search policy, failing to separately categorize or track complaints allegingunlawful strip searches and internal affairs officials failing to adequately investigate complaints that officers violate its strip search policy." Id.

To bolster these allegations, plaintiff quotes various portions of an investigative report issued by the Department of Justice ("DOJ") on August 10, 2016, regarding BPD policies and procedures (the "DOJ Report"). Id. ¶ 37. According to the Amended Complaint, the DOJ Report contains the following findings:

• "'BPD stops, searches, and arrests individuals on Baltimore streets without the reasonable suspicion or probable cause required by the Fourth Amendment.'" Id. ¶ 37.

• "[T]he 'BPD does not reliably record when officers conduct a frisk.'" Id. ¶ 38.

• "Betweeen [sic] 2011 and 2016, the BPD had more than 60 complaints of unlawful strip searches." Id. ¶ 39.

• "'[Officers in BPD's Eastern District publicly strip-searched a woman following a routine traffic stop for a missing headlight. Officers ordered the woman to exit her vehicle, remove her clothes, and stand on the sidewalk to be searched. The woman asked the male officer in charge, 'I really gotta take all my clothes off?' The male officer replied 'yeah' and ordered a female officer to strip search the woman. The female officer then put on purple latex gloves, pulled up the woman's shirt and searched around her bra. Finding no weapons or contraband around the woman's chest, the officer then pulled down the woman's underwear and searched her anal cavity. This search again found no evidence of wrongdoing and the officers released the woman without charges. Indeed, the woman received only a repair order for her headlight. The search occurred in full view of the street, . . . . After the woman filed a complaint, BPD investigators corroborated the woman's story with testimony from several witnesses and by recovering the female officer's latex gloves from the search location. . . . The male officer who ordered the search received only a 'simple reprimand' and an instruction that he could not serve as an officer in charge until he was 'properly trained.'" Id.

• "' [I]n September 2014, a man filed a complaint stating that an officer in the Central District searched him several days in a row, including 'undoing his pants' and searching his 'hindquarters' on a public street. When the strip search did not find contraband, the officer told the man to leave the area and warned that the officer would search him again every time he returned. The man then filed a complaint with Internal Affairs and identified the officer who conductedthe strip search by name. When Internal Affairs investigators pressed the man to provide a detailed description of the officer, the man recalled that the officer 'had red patches with sergeant stripes' on his uniform. The investigator recognized this description as patches worn by the officer in charge of a shift and confirmed that the officer named by the man was working as an officer in charge in the Central

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