Hill v. Curcione
| Decision Date | 15 September 2011 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 10–1320–cv. |
| Citation | 657 F.3d 116 |
| Parties | Mashama HILL, Plaintiff–Appellant,v.Paul CURCIONE, Jeff Chawer, Tammy Williams, Chris Atkins, James Hohensee, Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Mashama Hill, Niagara Falls, NY, pro se.Joel J. Java, Roach, Brown, McCarthy & Gruber, P.C., Buffalo, NY, for Defendants–Appellees Chris Atkins and James Hohensee.Mark C. Davis (Charles E. Graney, on the brief), Webster Szanyi LLP, Buffalo, NY, for Defendants–Appellees Paul Curcione, Jeff Chawer, and Tammy Williams.Before: MINER, CABRANES and STRAUB, Circuit Judges.MINER, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-appellant Mashama Hill appeals pro se from a March 20, 2008 order (the “Order”) dismissing his complaint as against the defendants-appellees Christopher Aikin (named in the complaint as Chris Atkins) and James E. Hohensee, M.D. (named in the complaint as James Hohensee) for failure to state a claim. Pleaded in the complaint against Hohensee and Aikin, medical care providers at the Niagara County Jail (the “Jail”), were claims for deliberate indifference to Hill's medical needs during his incarceration at the Jail. Hill also appeals from a March 24, 2010 judgment (the “Judgment”) dismissing his claims against the remaining defendants-appellees, Paul Curcione, Jeff Chawer, and Sergeant Tammy Williams, Corrections Officers at the Jail. These claims included allegations of excessive force on the part of the named Corrections Officers during Hill's confinement at the Jail. Both the Order and the Judgment were entered in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Skretny, J.), each supported by a Report and Recommendation by Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the Order dismissing the claims against Hohensee and Aikin and affirm the summary judgment dismissing the claim against Williams. We vacate and remand the summary judgment insofar as it dismisses the claims against Curcione and Chawer.
Hill alleges that, on March 28, 2007, while confined at the Jail, he “asked to be removed from Pod Two and placed in the block area after having been told that he would have to perform two particular cleaning details, three (3) days in a row by an officer Carissa Allen.” 1 Shortly thereafter, according to Hill, “the Pod was ordered to lock in,” and Curcione and Chawer approached his cell along with other officers and ordered him to prepare to move. After putting on his sneakers, Hill was ordered to approach the cell door, turn around with his back to the door, get on his knees, and put his hands behind his head. The cell door then was opened and Hill was handcuffed. At that time, he alleges, he “was struck in the upper torso [and] head area several times by Officer Curcione.” He was then led out of his cell into the Pod B sallyport,2 where Curcione and Chawer slammed him against the wall several times. Hill says he then began to resist the officers to prevent being forced to the floor.
With his hands cuffed behind his head and with his torso and arms strapped in by an emergency response belt, Hill ultimately was thrown to the floor face down. He asserts that Curcione and Chawer then “beg[a]n to tighten the handcuffs [and] bind his wrist solely as a means to cause injury.” He avers that he ceased resisting at this point. The officers then bent his legs across one another as Hill remained face down on the floor. At that point, Sergeant Williams, the Tour Supervisor, appeared on the scene. Curcione reported to Williams that Hill had been resistant and force was needed to subdue Hill. When Hill said that Curcione was lying and that the officers had assaulted him, Williams purportedly instructed Hill to “shut up.”
Hill continued to complain that his handcuffs were too tight and alleges that the “Officers put a facemask on [him], causing his breathing to stop, while lifting him from the floor.” He asserts that he then “was carried from Pod 2 sallyport, to the elevator, and then down to isolation.” Placed in an empty cell with the handcuffs still on his wrists, Hill claims that he was not seen until the next afternoon by a nurse after complaining to an officer in the Segregation Unit. He was seen by a physician's assistant two days after the incident, complaining “that his hands were damaged by cuffs and [that he] suffered from extreme pain [and] numbness caused by nerve damage.” An X-ray revealed a broken bone in Hill's wrist, and a cast was placed on the wrist on April 6, 2007, nine days after the injury occurred.
On April 19, 2007, Aikin, a Nurse Practitioner, confronted Hill with an officer's report that Hill had been working out doing push-ups and pull-ups during recreation. Aikin, who had provided Motrin pain medication for Hill, was told “that the officer's allegations were not exact and were an attempt to impede [Hill's] endeavors in filing a law suit against [Aikin's] fellow colleagues in that [Hill] had informed him (Officer Tim Blackley) of [Hill's] intent to do such.” Hill continued to complain of pain, asserting that Motrin was insufficient as pain medication and opined that he should have been “referred for a nerve conduction study.” Hill asserted in his Statement of Facts appended to his complaint that he would soon be placed in the custody of the State Department of Correctional Services,
The version of the events leading to Hill's injury put forward by the Corrections Officer defendants is somewhat different. According to the Officers, the events unfolded as follows: Sergeant Williams, the Tour Supervisor at the Jail on March 28, 2007, received a call from Corrections Officer Carissa Allen that Hill was refusing to perform his cleaning detail and was using vulgar and obscene language toward Allen. After determining that Hill had used abusive language toward Allen in the past and that the conduct was recurring, Williams “decided [Hill] should be written up and moved to punitive segregation for his disruptive behavior.” Accordingly, Sergeant Williams “instructed the Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) Squad leader, Paul Curcione and another CERT member, Jeffrey Chawer, to proceed to plaintiff's cell and escort him to punitive segregation.”
Responding to that instruction, Officer Curcione states that, upon arrival “outside [Hill's] cell, [he] informed [Hill] that [Hill] was charged with jail rule infractions and ordered him to turn around and put his hands behind his back.” Instead of doing so, Hill began to pack his belongings and, when advised that an officer would pack his belongings for him and again ordered to turn around and place his hands behind his back, Hill “became boisterous and yelled, ‘I will pack my shit.’ ” Fearful that Hill would provide further resistance and aware that Hill was a man approximately 6'5? tall with a weight of approximately 240 pounds, Curcione ordered Hill into a kneeling position.
When Hill went to a kneeling position, Curcione entered the cell with Officer Chawer. The officers met resistance when they attempted to secure Hill's hands behind his back. Curcione asserts that it was necessary to apply “wrist compliance” to control Hill's right wrist for placement in the handcuffs. He describes wrist compliance as
After Officers Curcione and Chawer escorted Hill out of his cell, Hill again resisted the officers and attempted to pull away from them while yelling obscenities and refusing to obey verbal commands to cease his disorderly conduct. The officers then placed Hill on the floor and attempted to gain control of his legs as he kicked at Officer Chawer and continued to struggle. Additional officers were called to the scene and the officers then present were able to take control of Hill's torso and secure his legs with an Emergency Response Belt. Hill then was carried to an observation cell where the handcuffs and belt were removed. During the course of the incident, Hill threatened Curcione with physical harm several times.
On April 7, 2007, Hill filed a grievance dated April 5, 2007, asserting that he was assaulted on March 27, 2007, by Officers Curcione and Chawer “as well as others.” In describing his injuries on the Grievance Form, Hill alleged that he “sustained serious hand and wrist injuries as the result of misuse of handcuffs [and] force.” He noted that he later was “seen by a doctor or P.A.” and “was given an X-ray that revealed a wrist fracture.” Noting that he had made two earlier complaints requesting pain medication and a nerve conduction study “but received nothing,” Hill wrote that he still was “experiencing extreme pain [and] loss of sensation in his hands.” The Grievance Form was received by the Grievance Coordinator at the Jail on April 7, 2007.
By Decision dated April 13, 2007, the Grievance Coordinator recognized Hill's claim that he was assaulted and determined that “[t]here is no evidence to support [Hill's] allegation of any wrong doing by any officer.” The Decision also advised that only the Jail physician, Dr. Hohensee, could authorize the tests Hill requested and that Hill was to fill out a “request slip” if he was “experiencing pain.” Hill checked a box on the form on which the Decision was given. Next to the box were the words: “I wish to appeal to the Chief Administrative Officer.” Hill signed that request and dated it April 14, 2007.
Responding to Hill's request to appeal, and on the same form as the grievance, the Chief...
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