J.P. v. City of Porterville, 1:09–CV–1538 AWI DLB.

• Citation: 801 F.Supp.2d 965
• Decision Date: 06 July 2011
• Docket Number: No. 1:09–CV–1538 AWI DLB.,1:09–CV–1538 AWI DLB.
• Parties: J.P., a minor by her guardian ad litem Ricardo BALDERAS, et al., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF PORTERVILLE, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California

801 F.Supp.2d 965

J.P., a minor by her guardian ad litem Ricardo BALDERAS, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.CITY OF PORTERVILLE, et al., Defendants.

No. 1:09–CV–1538 AWI DLB.

United States District Court, E.D. California.

July 6, 2011.

Brian Edward Claypool, Claypool Law Firm, Pasadena, CA, Dale K. Galipo, John C. Fattahi, Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo, Woodland Hills, CA, Teresa M. Saucedo, Visalia, CA, for Plaintiffs.

Bruce Daniel Praet, Ferguson Praet and Sherman, Santa Ana, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ANTHONY W. ISHII, Chief Judge.

This civil rights lawsuit arises from a fatal shooting involving members of the City of Porterville Police Department and decedent Eusebio Prieto (“Prieto”). Natalie Prieto and minors J.P., R.B, and S.B., who are all relatives of Prieto, filed suit in this Court against the City of Porterville (“the City”), Sergeant John Hall (“Hall”), Sergeant Jeff Dowling (“Dowling”), Sergeant Larry Rodriguez, and Chief Chuck McMillan. The active complaint is the Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”). Plaintiffs allege state law claims for negligence and battery, and claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violation of the Fourth Amendment (excessive force) and Fourteenth Amendment (familial relationship) and Monell liability. Defendants now move for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, Defendants' motion will be granted, and the Clerk will be directed to close this case.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND ¹

On July 24, 2008, sometime in the late morning, Prieto drove his vehicle at an estimated 80 m.p.h. directly towards on-coming traffic.² DUMF 1; SAC ¶ 17. Prieto was driving towards City police officer Kris Contreras (“Contreras”). See Contreras Depo. 18:7–8. Contreras was in an unmarked police vehicle that had lights and a siren. See Contreras Depo. 16:7–16. Prieto swerved his car, causing it to hit the curb where it sustained damage, including two popped tires. See id. at 19:20–25. Contreras turned his lights and siren on, turned his car around, and followed Prieto's vehicle. See id. at 21:5–15. Contreras got on the radio and broadcasted that a vehicle had almost hit him head-on and was traveling eastbound in a westbound lane at a high rate of speed. See id. at 20:5–18. Hall heard Contreras on the radio, and recalled that Contreras said that he was in pursuit and attempting to stop a car that had “tried to take him head-on.” See Hall Depo. 15:6–10. Prieto's vehicle came to a stop about a half mile after passing Contreras due to what Contreras perceived to be mechanical failure. See Contreras Depo. 19:19–25. Prieto's vehicle was near a Foster Farm's plant.

Contreras drew his gun and ordered Prieto to exit the vehicle. See id. at 25:24–26:14. Prieto armed himself with a screwdriver and exited his vehicle. See DUMF 2. Ignoring commands to “stop” and to “drop your weapon,” Prieto lunged or “jabbed forward” at Contreras with the screwdriver. See DUMF 3; Padilla Depo. 24:6–14. Contreras backed away from Prieto. See DUMF 4. Ignoring commands, Prieto yelled “shoot me, kill me.” See DUMF 5. Eventually Prieto ran from Contreras towards civilians and the Foster Farms parking lot, and other police officers began to arrive with their sirens on. See Padilla Depo. 28:14–29:11. Contreras opined that Prieto could not move very fast, in part because Prieto was heavy set, and characterized Prieto's top speed as “barely moving” because of Prieto's size. See PAMF's 49–50.

Contreras informed Hall and Dowling (who had arrived) that Prieto had charged or “come at” him with a screwdriver. See DUMF 7; Contreras Depo. 42:25–43:4. Hall, Dowling, and Contreras pursued Prieto on foot. PAMF 24. The officers followed Prieto into the Foster Farms parking lot, and Contreras radioed dispatch to contact Foster Farms and tell them to “lock down.” See Contreras Depo. 44:17–25. All three officers had their guns drawn. PAMF 31. In the parking lot, Prieto repeated to the officers, “you're going to have to kill me or just shoot me,” and then Prieto stabbed himself in the neck with the screwdriver. See Hall Depo. 32:7–33:3; DUMF's 8, 9. After seeing this behavior, Hall radioed dispatch to send an officer with a Taser weapon. See PAMF 29; Hall Depo. 33:4–8.

Prieto and the officers continued walking through the parking lot and the officers were telling him that they were the police, to stop, to drop the weapon, and not to move, but Prieto kept going through the parking lot, stabbed himself in the neck “a couple more” times, and said that the officers would have to shoot or kill him. See Hall Depo. 33:17–34:3. Prieto's neck was bleeding heavily. See PAMF 32. Hall believed that Prieto was acting like he was “crazy” or under the influence of drugs, see Hall Depo. 49:7–11, and Dowling believed that Prieto's behavior may be due to the use of a stimulant like methamphetamine or cocaine.³ See Dowling Depo. 10:13–19.

Prieto began walking down a sidewalk as the officers moved to a grassy area near Prieto. See PAMF 35. The officers told Prieto to stop, that they were police officers, to don't go any further, and to drop the screwdriver. See Hall Depo. 36:8–11. However, Prieto did not comply and continued to head towards the front of the Foster Farms building while stabbing himself and saying that the officers were going to have to shoot him or kill him. See id. at 36:13–18. Hall positioned himself between Prieto and the door of the Foster Farms building. See id. at 36:19–37:7. Hall wanted to prevent Prieto from getting inside where employees would be, and he wanted to try to change Prieto's direction back to the parking lot. See id. & 56:12–22. At some point, City police officers John Benas (“Benas”), Rick Carrillo (“Carrillo”), and Mark Lightfoot (“Lightfoot”) arrived on the scene.

The officers continued to give commands to Prieto. See Hall Depo. 52:4–9 (“We were giving him commands the entire time.... Commands were continuous pretty much from the moment we got out of the car all the way up to the very end.”). It appeared to Carrillo that Prieto was not “paying attention” to the officers and was in “sort of a daze.” See Carrillo Depo. 9:10–14. Prieto advanced on Hall with the screwdriver raised. See Hall Depo. 49:4–14, 55:10–17; Benas Depo. 33:4–34:12. Hall explained:

He starts to come towards me, and I don't know if he's coming towards me to attack me with the screwdriver, or if he's trying to go over the top of me to get ... inside and attack someone inside. He had already been plunging that screwdriver in his neck. His mannerisms, he was acting like he was either under the influence of drugs, he was acting crazy, and he's obviously extremely dangerous, and he starts to come forward to me, and at that point I felt like he was either going to kill me, or get inside and kill somebody in there. So, I fired.

Hall Depo. 49:4–14. At the time that Prieto turned towards Hall, Lightfoot perceived that Prieto posed a threat to Hall. See Lightfoot Depo. 15:7–11, 16:3–10. Hall was approximately 8 to 10 feet away from Prieto at the time Hall fired this shot.⁴

See DUMF 13. Although Prieto was not running at Hall at the time of the shot, Prieto was advancing on Hall. See PAMF 47; Hall Depo. 54:16–55:17.⁵ The single shot caused Prieto to momentarily pause, hunch/slump over, and then continue walking in another direction. See PAMF 61; Hall Depo. 53:3–8. Hall did not fire a second shot because Prieto's forward movement stopped, and Hall believed that Prieto was no longer trying to get into the business and was no longer an immediate threat to Hall. See id. at 54:5–12. Both before and after Hall's shot, Prieto was injuring himself with the screwdriver. See PAMF 41.

Prieto continued walking and went through an opening in a gate that was next to a guard shack. See PAMF's 64, 65; Hall Depo. 75:6–15, 77:2–4; Linley Depo. 17:8–16. William Linley, a Foster Farms employee, was inside the guard shack. See Linley Dep. 16:14–17. As Prieto walked passed the guard shack, Prieto and Linley were face to face through the guard shack window. See id. at 17:11–16. When Linley saw Prieto “face to face,” Linley felt “real fear.” See id. Linley explained that he was afraid for Prieto and for anyone who came into contact with Prieto because Prieto looked like someone who was not himself and “had a look of extreme anger” or who was “out of his mind.” Id. at 18:6–14. Linley stated that the expression on Prieto's face indicated an intention of expressing anger in some fashion, and even if the intention was not to hurt someone, Prieto looked like he could do so. See id. at 18:17–22. Nevertheless, Prieto passed by the guard shack without attempting to open the door or window, and entered a courtyard area. See PAMF's 65–66.⁶

In the courtyard, Prieto passed several doors without trying to enter, including some that had people standing behind them. See PAMF 71. Prieto stopped at a set of double doors, which led to an employee break room. ⁷ See Linley Depo. 24:4–8. At that time of day, there could have been as many as 50 employees in the break room, and the doors were unlocked. See id. at 15:19–16:8, 23:14–16; Ramos Depo. 36:10–12. Contreras testified that, by the time Prieto reached the double door area, Prieto looked tired, “[a]mong a lot of other things.” See Contreras Depo. 67:1–3. Also, around the time that Prieto entered the courtyard, officer Robert Craig arrived on the scene and joined the other officers. See PAMF 70. Craig arrived with a bean bag shotgun because he knew that a request for less lethal options had been made when he heard the request for a Taser over the radio. See PAMF 68.

In the Foster Farms reception area, receptionist Claudia Ramos heard someone yell “lock the doors,” and she looked out the window towards the courtyard and saw a man enter the courtyard through the gate while being pursued by other men with guns. See Ramos Depo. 10:10–16, 12:3–13:25. Ramos later recognized Prieto as a former Foster Farms employee. See id. ...