Hodsdon v. Town of Greenville, Civ. 98-93-B.

• Decision Date: 06 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. Civ. 98-93-B.,Civ. 98-93-B.
• Citation: 52 F.Supp.2d 117
• Parties: Joel HODSDON, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF GREENVILLE, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

52 F.Supp.2d 117

Joel HODSDON, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF GREENVILLE, et al., Defendants.

No. Civ. 98-93-B.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

May 6, 1999.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Joshua A. Tardy, Judge, Cox & Tardy, Newport, Maine, for plaintiff.

Jeffrey T. Edwards, Preti Flaherty, Portland, Maine, for defendants.

ORDER AND MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

BRODY, District Judge.

This action arises out of the May 5, 1996 arrest of Plaintiff Joel Hodsdon ("Plaintiff") in Greenville, Maine on a charge of criminal OUI pursuant to Me.Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 29-A, § 2411. Defendants are Officer Steven Hinckley ("Hinckley"), Greenville Police Chief Duane Alexander ("Alexander"), and the Town of Greenville ("the Town"). Plaintiff claims that he was seized without probable cause and by means of excessive force in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and various state statutes. Plaintiff also asserts a number of common law tort claims including assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.¹ Before the Court is Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment on all Counts of Plaintiff's Complaint. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Summary judgment is appropriate in the absence of a genuine issue as to any material fact and when the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). An issue is genuine for these purposes if "the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A material fact is one that has "the potential to affect the outcome of the suit under the applicable law." Nereida-Gonzalez v. Tirado-Delgado, 990 F.2d 701, 703 (1st Cir. 1993). Facts may be drawn from "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). For the purposes of summary judgment the Court views the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See McCarthy v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 56 F.3d 313, 315 (1st Cir.1995).

II. BACKGROUND

At approximately 11:00 P.M. on May 5, 1996, Plaintiff was driving his pick-up truck home from an establishment known as Whiskey Cove in Greenville, Maine. Plaintiff drove his truck onto Washington Street and turned left onto Prospect Street. At the end of Prospect Street, Plaintiff signaled, stopped, and turned right onto Pleasant Street. After proceeding on Pleasant Street for approximately four miles, Plaintiff signaled, came to a "rolling stop," and took a left onto Scammon Road. At the intersection of CCC Road and Scammon Road, Plaintiff signaled, stopped, and turned right onto CCC Road. While driving on CCC Road, Plaintiff swerved to avoid numerous potholes.

At some point while Plaintiff was on CCC Road, Hinckley, a police officer for the town of Greenville, signaled to Plaintiff by turning on the lights of his police car that Plaintiff should pull over. Plaintiff stopped his truck and rolled down his window when Hinckley approached. Plaintiff asked Hinckley why he had been stopped and Hinckley replied that Plaintiff had run a stop sign. Hinckley then asked whether Plaintiff had been drinking. Plaintiff told Hinckley that he had had "two beers and spaced them out." Plaintiff admits that the odor of alcohol possibly was detectable on his breath during this exchange. Hinckley next asked Plaintiff to produce his driver's licence, registration, and proof of insurance. Plaintiff gave Hinckley his licence, but was told to "forget about" the registration and proof of insurance when he had difficulty retrieving the documents from the glove box. Plaintiff asserts that the glove box had a broken hinge and was blocked by items piled on the passenger seat.

Plaintiff claims that when he did not hand over his registration and insurance documentation, Hinckley became agitated and began to shout at him, causing him to feel the early symptoms of a panic attack. Hinckley ordered Plaintiff to get out of his truck and sit in the police car where he was subjected to a series of field sobriety tests. At Hinckley's request, Plaintiff successfully recited the alphabet and performed a manual dexterity test.² He also was able to tip his head back and touch his nose with the index finger of each hand and perform a heel-to-toe sobriety test, despite the fact that it was conducted on a slope dotted with potholes.³ Plaintiff was unable to comply with Hinckley's request to write the alphabet, but he explains that this was due to the loud volume of the police radio and to anxiety caused by Hinckley's shouting.

Following the field sobriety examination, Hinckley informed Plaintiff that he was under arrest for driving under the influence. According to Plaintiff, Hinckley shouted at him to put his hands on the hood of the car and spread his legs. Plaintiff called Hinckley a "jerk", but followed his orders. Hinckley then kicked Plaintiff in the calf and handcuffed him behind his back. Plaintiff claims that Hinckley fastened the handcuffs in an unnecessarily tight manner and slammed his head down on the police car, denting the hood. Plaintiff responded by calling Hinckley obscene names.

After handcuffing Plaintiff, Hinckley attempted to place him in the police car. Plaintiff resisted. Hinckley then ordered Plaintiff to lie face down on the ground. When Plaintiff hesitated, Hinckley tackled him and held him on the ground by placing a knee in Plaintiff's back while pulling up on the handcuffs. According to Plaintiff, Hinckley grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face onto the gravel road several times.⁴

Hinckley got off Plaintiff but tackled him again when he attempted to get up, hitting him in the ribs and pushing his face into the ground. During this altercation, Plaintiff shouted at Hinckley to stop hitting him. These shouts were overheard by Vincent Waldron, Plaintiff's friend, who was listening to a police scanner.

While Hinckley was holding Plaintiff on the ground for the second time, Alexander arrived at the scene. According to Plaintiff, Alexander and Hinckley placed him in the police car with unnecessary force. When Plaintiff complained to the officers about being "manhandled" one of them struck him on the head from behind with a baton or flashlight. On the way to the police station, Alexander and Hinckley stopped the police car, removed Plaintiff's handcuffs, and allowed him to urinate. The officers then replaced the handcuffs and proceeded to the police station.⁵

Plaintiff was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol in violation of Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. tit. 29-A, § 2411.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Fourth Amendment

Count I of Plaintiff's Complaint asserts that Defendants violated his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him without probable cause and by means of excessive force, and seeks damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In their Motion for Summary Judgment, Defendants argue that Hinckley had probable cause to arrest Plaintiff and that the arrest was accomplished without excessive force. Defendants further argue that Hinckley and Alexander are entitled to qualified immunity. As discussed in detail below, the Court concludes that there was probable cause for Plaintiff's arrest, but that genuine issues of material fact preclude summary judgement as to Hinckley on the excessive force claim.

1. Probable Cause

The Fourth Amendment requires that warrantless arrests be based on probable cause. See Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 113-14, 95 S.Ct. 854, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975); Alexis v. McDonald's Restaurants of Mass., Inc., 67 F.3d 341, 349 (1st Cir.1995). The measure of probable cause is whether "at the time of the arrest, the facts and circumstances known to the arresting officers were sufficient to warrant a prudent person in believing that the defendant had committed or was committing an offense." United States v. Bizier, 111 F.3d 214, 217 (1st Cir.1997) (internal quotations omitted). Thus, while "probable cause requires more than mere suspicion, it does not require the same quantum of proof as is needed to convict." Logue v. Dore, 103 F.3d 1040, 1044 (1st Cir.1997).

In his Response to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiff argues that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Hinckley and Alexander had probable cause to arrest him for driving under the influence. Plaintiff points to evidence that he stopped his vehicle at intersections, produced his driver's licence at Hinckley's request, and passed several field sobriety tests. Plaintiff also notes that there are reasonable exculpatory explanations for why his truck swerved on CCC Street, why he failed to produce his registration and insurance information, and why he was unable to write the alphabet and may have appeared unable to perform the heel-to-toe test.

While there may be genuine issues of material fact as to some aspects of Plaintiff's behavior, the Court finds that there is more than enough undisputed evidence to support a prudent officer's belief that Plaintiff was driving his vehicle under the influence of alcohol. First, Plaintiff admits that he rolled through the stop sign at the corner of Pleasant Street and Scammon Road shortly before being pulled over by Hinckley for failing to stop. Second, Hinckley observed Plaintiff's truck swerving as it proceeded on CCC Street. While Plaintiff contends that he was swerving to avoid potholes, his driving nevertheless would have appeared erratic from the perspective of a reasonable officer in Hinckley's position. Third, Plaintiff told Hinckley that he had been drinking and conceded that, as Hinckley claims, the officer may have smelled alcohol on his breath. Fourth, Plaintiff did not promptly produce his registration and insurance information. Thoug...