Hampton v. City of Chi.
| Decision Date | 13 July 2017 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 12-cv-5650 |
| Parties | PATRICK HAMPTON, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, MICHAEL DUFFIN, and THOMAS PTAK, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff brings this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Illinois state law for alleged violations of his civil rights stemming from his 1982 criminal conviction. This matter is before the Court on Defendants' motion for summary judgment [104]. For the reasons explained below, the Court grants in part and denies in part Defendants' motion [104]. The Court enters summary judgment in favor of Defendants and against Plaintiff on Plaintiff's Monell claim against the City of Chicago for violation of his right to Due Process (Count I) and on Plaintiff's claims for Failure to Intervene (Count II), Malicious Prosecution (Count IV), Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (Count V), Civil Conspiracy (Count VI), and Respondeat Superior (Count VII). Defendants' motion for summary judgment is denied as to Plaintiff's Section 1983 claim against Defendant Duffin for violation of Plaintiff's right to Due Process (Count I), Plaintiff's Section 1983 claim for Conspiracy (Count III), and Plaintiff's claim for Indemnification (Count VIII). This case is set for status hearing on July 26, 2017 at 9:30 a.m.
The Court takes the relevant facts primarily from the parties' Local Rule 56.1 statements and exhibits thereto, [106], [107], [108], [122], [124], [125], [126], [142], and [148]. In addition, the Court held an oral argument on the summary judgment issues and accepted supplemental briefing [157], [158] on various issues arising out of the briefs and discussed further during the oral argument. The following facts are undisputed except where otherwise noted. The parties' evidentiary objections are discussed and ruled upon where relevant throughout this section of the opinion.
This case begins with events that occurred more than thirty years ago, on December 29, 1981. At that time, Plaintiff Patrick Hampton ("Plaintiff") was 18 years old and living in Chicago at 4429 South Federal in the Robert Taylor Homes. Defendants Michael Duffin ("Duffin") and Thomas Ptak ("Ptak")1 were employed by Defendant the City of Chicago ("City") as Detectives in the Chicago Police Department ("CPD"). They were both assigned to Area 3 violent crimes.
On December 29, 1981, Plaintiff attended the "Holiday Jam" concert at the Chicago International Amphitheater ("Amphitheater"). Denise M. ("Denise"), her then-boyfriend Hugo N. ("Hugo"), his younger sister Martha N. ("Martha"), and her boyfriend Scott S. ("Scott") also attended the concert. They were seated in the fifth row close to the stage. During the concert, a large numbers of concertgoers—around 40 or 50 total, and all or mostly African-American men—moved down the aisle toward the stage. Some of these individuals were chanting or shouting gang slogans and making motions with their hands in support of the "Black GangsterDisciples" gang. While trying to leave the venue, Denise, Hugo, and Martha were attacked by members of this group and struck with fists, chairs, and other objects.
Denise's clothes were ripped off by the attackers. Men pushed their penises into her face while she was being beaten and held down on the floor. All of her jewelry was ripped from her body and stolen. Hugo was also stripped of his clothing and jewelry, kicked in his back, and punched in his face and all over his body. He was hit with chairs while he attempted to shield Denise from the violence. Martha's hair was pulled and her clothing was partially removed. She described her attackers as hitting her and trying to get her to the ground while tearing off her pants and underwear. Her necklace was stolen and she was knocked unconscious, before regaining consciousness, getting up, and running away.2 Following the attack, Denise, Hugo, and Martha were taken to Mercy Hospital.
The record includes a medical report that was prepared concerning Martha. See [124-10]. The "history" section reports that Martha stated "she was in ampi. and attacked by unknown [men] and past out [sic] for about 5 minutes, she is not sure if there was sexual assault." [124-10] at 3.
Detectives Duffin and Ptak were assigned to investigate the Amphitheater attacks. Duffin and Ptak went to Mercy Hospital and attempted to interview Denise. They were unable to conduct the interview because Denise was too emotionally upset. They were able to interview Hugo, who had been released from the hospital but was there visiting Denise. According to the police report, Hugo told Duffin and Ptak that he and his girlfriend were jumped by approximately twenty black males who were yelling "Disciples" and "get her." [122-1] at 5.Hugo also told the detectives that the black males who jumped him and his girlfriend tore their clothes off their bodies and took their jewelry and money. Hugo further stated that approximately ten of the men had their penises out and were attempting to insert them into his girlfriend's mouth and vagina. In an attempt to prevent the men from doing this, Hugo laid himself on top of Denise to shield her body; however, numerous men were still able to put their hands inside Denise's vagina.
On December 31, 1981, Keith Powell ("Powell"), who at the time was fourteen years old, contacted Officer Praski ("Praski") of the Fifth District with information regarding the incident at the Amphitheater. Praski reported that Powell stated that he was at the concert at the Amphitheater on December 29, 1981 and that the individual responsible for the attack of the girl was Ricky Knight ("Knight"). Knight was a local gang leader in the Black Disciples. Knight was the only individual who Powell identified to Praski.
Praski contacted Duffin and Ptak with the information that Powell had provided. Duffin and Ptak interviewed Powell at the Fifth District. They took him to the Gang Crimes office to review gang photographs. Duffin took notes during the interview with Powell. Duffin subsequently wrote a report regarding his interview with Powell, and destroyed his notes. The report that the detectives prepared following their interview with Powell states:
[125] at 8 (emphasis added).
Following the interview with Powell, Martha and the other victims signed complaints against Plaintiff and swore to the facts alleged in the complaints. Duffin also signed the complaints in the capacity of "Clerk," stating that the complaints were "subscribed to and sworn to before" him. [137] at 20-21. Duffin, Ptak, and other police officers arrested Plaintiff, Ezra Garner ("Ezra"), Robbie Garner ("Robbie"3), and Bobby Brooks ("Brooks") at the Robert Taylor Homes. Following those arrests, other suspects, including Knight, Ronald Mallory ("Mallory"), "Bird," and Sandel Pool ("Pool") were still wanted by the CPD.
Ptak and Duffin spoke with Plaintiff following his arrest. The detectives included the following statement about that conversation in their report:
He [Plaintiff] later stated that he was at the Amphitheater during the assault and robberies of the victims. He went onto relate that [he] was sitting in the back of the Concert area when he saw a large group fighting near the stage and then later heard that some people were talking about a girl getting raped. [Plaintiff] went onto relate that he got on an Eastbound CTA bus to go home and while on the bus he overheard a subject by the nickname "Spoon" whose real name is Ronald Mallory state that he had kicked the white broad in her shit. He was asked what Spoon had meant when he said shit and he replied her vagina, he also added that Spoon was talking with Bud, Ezra Garner and Ronnie Garner. He related that Bud is also known as Budline and that he lives at 4429 So. Federal, Apt #1405. Hampton further stated that Spoon kept on bragging about what he did to the white broad and her boyfriend while he was apparently attempting to rape the girl.
[125] at 9-10.
Plaintiff denies the accuracy of several aspects of the report. Specifically, Plaintiff denies that he told the detectives that he was "sitting in the back of the Concert area when he saw a large group fighting near the stage and then later heard that some people were talking about a girl getting raped." [125] at 10. Plaintiff also denies that he...
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