Holeman v. City of New London

• Citation: 425 F.3d 184
• Decision Date: 30 September 2005
• Docket Number: Docket No. 04-5031-CV.
• Parties: Marion HOLEMAN and Wallace Holeman, Administratrixes of the Estate of Darrel Holeman, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CITY OF NEW LONDON, New London Police Department, Gaspar Vincent Garcia, Bruce Rinehart, Greg Williams and John Doe, Defendants-Appellants, Office of Adult Probation, State of Ct Judicial Dept. and Dept. of Corrections, State of Ct, Movant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

425 F.3d 184

Marion HOLEMAN and Wallace Holeman, Administratrixes of the Estate of Darrel Holeman, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CITY OF NEW LONDON, New London Police Department, Gaspar Vincent Garcia, Bruce Rinehart, Greg Williams and John Doe, Defendants-Appellants, Office of Adult Probation, State of Ct Judicial Dept. and Dept. of Corrections, State of Ct, Movant.

Docket No. 04-5031-CV.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: August 22, 2005.

Decided: September 30, 2005.

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Daniel C. Demerchant, Howd & Ludorf, Hartford, CT (Thomas R. Gerarde and John J. Radshaw III on the brief), for defendants-appellants.

Richard Hustad Miller, Uncasville, CT, on submission, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before: JACOBS, KATZMANN, HALL, Circuit Judges.

JACOBS, Circuit Judge.

Gaspar Vincent Garcia and Greg Williams are officers in the New London Police Department who participated in a traffic stop that ended in the death of passenger Darrel Holeman. They are sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by the representatives of Holeman's estate for alleged violations of Holeman's Fourth Amendment rights, and take this appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Squatrito, J.), denying in part their motion for summary judgment on the defense of qualified immunity. See Holeman v. City of New London, 330 F.Supp.2d 99 (D.Conn.2004). We have jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to the extent that the district court denied qualified immunity as a matter of law. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985).

The narrative of events unfolded in four stages that are useful for organizing the questions presented on appellate jurisdiction and the merits: (1) Officer Williams' initial investigative stop of the car; (2) Officer Garcia's attempted pat-down of Holeman; (3) Officer Garcia's use of deadly force; and (4) Officers Williams and Garcia's post-shooting use of force. As to the traffic stop, the district court ruled that a factfinder could find that Officer Williams lacked probable cause or a reasonable suspicion to justify the stop, and that his belief that he had such a justification was unreasonable. The district court similarly ruled that genuine disputes of material facts prevent a resolution by summary judgment as to the remaining three stages.

We reverse in part, and hold that defendants-appellants enjoy qualified immunity as to their conduct during the traffic stop and the attempted pat-down. However, as to the use of deadly force and the post-shooting use of force, we lack appellate jurisdiction to review the ruling that summary judgment is barred by genuine disputes over concededly material facts, and therefore dismiss that part of this appeal. See Escalera v. Lunn, 361 F.3d 737, 742-43 (2d Cir.2004).

I

Except as indicated, the facts recited are uncontested.

Pre-dawn on August 22, 1999, Officer Williams was investigating a "prowler call" in New London and followed a car with tinted windows that took a circuitous route through a troubled neighborhood. He decided to stop the car on suspicion of criminal activity and on the chance that the driver was lost.

As Officer Williams spoke with the driver, he was joined by Officer Garcia (who was also investigating the prowler call). When Officer Garcia checked out the names of the driver and passenger, he learned that passenger Darrel Holeman was on parole for a narcotics felony. The driver gave Officer Williams consent to search the car; plaintiffs-appellees contest, however, whether the driver acquiesced in a full search of the interior. Williams asked Holeman to step out so that the search could be done. Holeman had to be asked repeatedly to get out.

When Holeman emerged, Officer Garcia attempted a pat-down search. Officers Garcia and Williams testified that Holeman was uncooperative and aggressive; the driver of the car corroborates that account; plaintiffs-appellees contest it. It is uncontested, however, that Holeman said, "I'll show you what I got in my pocket" and moved his hands towards his pocket, and that Officer Garcia asked Officer Williams to assist in restraining Holeman.

A struggle ensued, during which — according to Officer Garcia — Holeman drew a small silver handgun and pointed it at Officer Williams' head. Officer Garcia felled Holeman with three shots. Officers Garcia and Williams testified that they could not see Holeman's hands to tell whether he was still armed, and that Holeman did not respond to their commands that he show his hands. Officer Williams hit Holeman several times in the head and commanded his police dog to "engage" Holeman, which Nero did. Officers Williams and Garcia testified that Holeman then showed his empty hands, and was handcuffed.

An ambulance arrived minutes later. While tending to Holeman, the paramedics found a small silver handgun near him. Plaintiffs-Appellees contend that the handgun was planted by the police. The paramedics testified that Holeman was uncooperative and combative and that, handcuffed as he was, he had to be strapped to a board to restrain him from injuring himself or others. (Plaintiffs-Appellees do not dispute that Holeman was combative when the paramedics arrived at the scene.) Darrel Holeman died at the hospital shortly after.

II

We review de novo the district court's denial of summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity. Savino v. City of New York, 331 F.3d 63, 71 (2d Cir.2003). Our review at this juncture is limited, however, to "circumstances where the qualified immunity defense may be established as a matter of law." Cartier v. Lussier, 955 F.2d 841, 844 (2d Cir.1992). For factual matters, we review "whether a given factual dispute is `material' for summary judgment purposes, ... but we may not review whether a dispute of fact identified by the district court is `genuine.'" Escalera, 361 F.3d at 743 (internal citation omitted). So even when a district court appears to have erred in finding that there is sufficient evidence to create a triable issue of fact, we may only review the district court's ruling that the issue is material to the outcome. At this stage in the proceedings, we cannot review a determination that a material issue of fact is genuinely in dispute.

III

Qualified immunity "shields police officers acting in their official capacity from suits for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, unless their actions violate clearly-established rights of which an objectively reasonable official would have known." Thomas v. Roach, 165 F.3d 137, 142 (2d Cir.1999). Qualified immunity is thus a shield from suit, not simply liability. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 200, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001) (quoting Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985)).

As the Supreme Court explained in Saucier v. Katz, the inquiry into whether a suit against officers should go forward is a two-step process: (1) the court must determine whether the facts, taken in the light most favorable to the party asserting an injury, show a violation of a constitutional right; and (2) the court must determine whether the constitutional right was "clearly established" such that "[t]he contours of the right [are] sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." 533 U.S. at 201-06, 121 S.Ct. 2151 (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)); see also Cowan v. Breen, 352 F.3d 756, 761 (2d Cir.2003); Stephenson v. Doe, 332 F.3d 68, 80 n. 15 (2d Cir.2003). Thus "defendants are entitled to summary judgment unless, in response to defendants' motion for summary judgment, [plaintiffs have] submitted evidence sufficient to establish that objectively reasonable persons in the defendants' position would have known that their conduct violated [plaintiffs'] rights." Savino, 331 F.3d at 71; see also Saucier, 533 U.S. at 206, 121 S.Ct. 2151 (explaining that qualified immunity protects officers from the Fourth Amendment's sometimes "hazy borders"); Mandell v. County of Suffolk, 316 F.3d 368, 385 (2d Cir.2003).

A. The Traffic Stop

The temporary detention of an individual during a traffic stop is subject to limitation under the Fourth Amendment as a "seizure" of the person. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996). The Fourth Amendment requires that an officer making such a stop have probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the person stopped has committed a traffic violation or is otherwise engaged in or about to be engaged in criminal activity. Id. at 810, 116 S.Ct. 1769; United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002). Whether probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists is an objective inquiry; the "actual motivations of the individual officers involved" in the stop "play no role" in the analysis. Whren, 517 U.S. at 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769.

In deciding that the traffic stop was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment and that it was objectively unreasonable, the district court considered five circumstances cited by the police: (1) the car hesitated and stopped at a stop sign; (2) after turning at the stop sign, the car followed a route it had already traveled when Officer Williams first spotted it; (3) the car was in New London, but was registered in Groton; (4) it was approximately 4:30 am; and (5) the car was in a high crime neighborhood. Holeman, 330 F.Supp.2d at 112. The circular driving in the dead of night in a high-crime area is suggestive, and the totality of circumstances for this purpose may be greater than their sum; but if these five circumstances were all, we might agree that they do not amount to a reasonable suspicion: stopping at a stop sign is not sinister; Groton and New London are nearby; and in the dead of night in a high crime neighborhood, it would be...