Lassiter v. District of Columbia
| Decision Date | 28 June 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-680.,80-680. |
| Citation | 447 A.2d 456 |
| Parties | Albert LASSITER, et al., Appellants, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Harry Toussaint Alexander, Washington, D. C., with whom Patrick Patrissi, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellants.
Edward E. Schwab, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., with whom Judith W. Rogers, Corp. Counsel, and Charles L. Reischel, Deputy Corp. Counsel, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellees.
Before NEBEKER, FERREN and PRYOR, Associate Judges.
This false arrest and assault case presents the question whether the trial court erred in directing verdicts for a Metropolitan Police officer and the District of Columbia on the ground that collateral estoppel barred relitigation of determinative factual issues resolved against plaintiff-appellant in his earlier, juvenile trial. We reverse as to false arrest but affirm as to assault.
Appellant, Erskine Lassiter,1 sought damages for false arrest and assault from the District of Columbia and Metropolitan Police Officer George Willis. Counsel for appellant opened the trial with a statement alleging the following facts:
On October 4, 1976, appellant was a student at McKinley High School. George Willis was on duty there as a security officer. As appellant walked up a stairway during the lunch hour, Willis stopped and arrested him. Willis picked up an envelope from the floor nearby which (it later was established) contained marijuana. Willis forced appellant down the stairs and into the assistant principal's office. Dr. Schulman, the assistant principal, and three students left the office. After the door was closed, Willis struck appellant's legs with his baton and forced appellant to kneel facing the wall. When appellant protested, Willis struck him in the head with the baton. Dr. Schulman returned to the office and tried to stop appellant's bleeding. Other police officers arrived and escorted appellant to the District of Columbia General Hospital, where he received treatment for his head wound. Appellant was released from the hospital the same afternoon.
At the close of this opening statement, counsel for appellees moved for a directed verdict. He pointed out that as a result of the October 4 incident, appellant had been convicted in a juvenile proceeding of assaulting a police officer (Willis). D.C.Code 1973, § 22-505(a).2 Counsel argued that appellant consequently was estopped from litigating his claims because the juvenile court judge had rejected appellant's testimony in favor of Willis' version of the facts.
Appellees' counsel summarized Willis' testimony at the juvenile proceeding: Willis had arrested appellant because he saw him on the second floor rolling a marijuana cigarette; appellant had handed him the envelope of marijuana when he asked for it; appellant had resisted arrest, kicking at Willis as they proceeded down the stairs and while they were in the principal's office; Willis had struck appellant in the head only because appellant had pushed him into the principal's desk and attempted to escape from the office. Specifically, the transcript of the juvenile proceeding reveals that Willis testified, in part, as follows:
A. At this time, he broke off and ran. I ran behind him and caught him. Okay. This was on the second floor. Okay. We struggled down to the first floor.
Q. You say, you struggled down to the first floor?
A. Yes. He was fighting, kicking and hollering and screaming.
* * * * * * *
Q. How many times — approximately how many times, did Mr. L. kick at you, before you got into the Principal's office?
A. About three times.
Q. And, did he connect?
A. Once, he did.
Q. All right. What happened, once you got him inside the Principal's office?
A. Well, I advised him again that he was under arrest. He told me that I could not arrest him, because his mother was a Probation Officer. I told him that I didn't care what his mother was or what she did. He said he was not going to — he was not going to be arrested and that he was going to leave the office.
Q. What did he do after he said that?
A. Well, I told him to go and stand in the corner, while I made a phone call. And, I took and made a phone call, he ran by me. Okay. I caught him again. I put him back in the corner. I said, "Look, stay in the corner and don't try to get away again."
I tried to make the phone call and he broke off and ran again. This happened about three or four times. The last time he broke off, he pushed me into the desk and ran towards the door. And, that's when I ran behind him.
Q. And, then, what happened?
A. At that time, I hit him with a stick, my baton.
The juvenile court judge later ruled:
I have got to decide whether or not you had that brown bag of marijuana, as the police officer said, or whether or not he scooped it up from the floor, as you say. And, I have got to decide whether or not you behaved in a fashion that Officer Willis said you did, or whether or not he hit you in the leg and told you to kneel down and while you were kneeling down that he came up with his baton and struck you in the head. And, I cannot believe that Officer Willis did that, sir.
Under the circumstances, I accept his testimony and I find you guilty of assaulting a police officer.3
On the basis of this ruling in the juvenile proceeding, the trial court granted appellees' motion for a directed verdict as to both the false arrest and the assault claims. This appeal followed.
Appellant contends that the trial court erred when it invoked collateral estoppel to bar his claims.4 He is not necessarily correct, for "a number of jurisdictions have held under the doctrine of collateral estoppel or issue preclusion that in some factual situations a prior conviction may conclusively establish in a civil action the issue adjudged in the criminal case." Ross v. Lawson, D.C.App., 395 A.2d 54, 55 (1978) (footnotes omitted) (plaintiff in civil assault action may assert judgment of conviction in prior criminal assault action against party who is defendant in both cases).
Thus, if Officer Willis were to sue appellant for assault, Willis presumably could use Ross to establish liability solely on the basis of the juvenile adjudication (followed by a separate trial for damages). The question accordingly becomes: whether the substance of Officer Willis' preclusive assault claim is broad enough to bar appellants' own false arrest and assault claims, based on the same incident, against Willis and the District of Columbia.
A. We note, first, that "[i]ssue preclusion generally applies only to those matters actually raised and adjudicated in the antecedent suit." Palma v. Powers, 295 F.Supp. 924, 933 (N.D.Ill.1969); accord, Montana v. United States, 440 U.S. 147, 153, 99 S.Ct. 970, 973, 59 L.Ed.2d 210 (1959); Cromwell v. County of Sac, 94 U.S. 351, 353, 24 L.Ed. 195 (1878); Henderson v. Snider Bros., Inc., D.C.App., 439 A.2d 481, 485 (1981) (en banc).
Because the government dropped the marijuana charge, see note 3 supra, it did not have to prove probable cause or otherwise justify the arrest; the illegality of an arrest is not a defense (and thus is irrelevant) to the charge of assaulting a police officer. See D.C.Code 1973, § 22-505(a); note 2 supra.5 It follows that the juvenile court judge did not adjudicate the legality of appellant's arrest, and thus the trial court erred in ruling that he did. That ruling must be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings on the false arrest claim.
B. Next, we turn to the civil assault claim. The first question is: what conduct of appellant did the juvenile proceeding adjudicate? The government brought one assault charge but presented evidence tending to prove two attacks on Willis — one on the stairs, followed by another in the principal's office. Appellant argues the case as though the juvenile court found appellant guilty only of the first attack, on the stairs, leaving the incident in the principal's office legally unaffected by the court's decision. We disagree; the court accepted Officer Willis' testimony as a whole and thus found that appellant also attacked Willis in the principal's office by shoving him against a desk. Appellant's counsel did not perceive a vague or duplicitous charge, for he did not move for a bill of particulars or otherwise challenge the information. Thus, both attacks were "actually raised and adjudicated" in the juvenile proceeding as actions underlying the conviction. Palma, supra at 933.
Next comes the question of the extent to which appellant's adjudicated conduct also adjudicated the conduct of Officer Willis. "In making an arrest, . . . a police officer is privileged even to use force unless the `means employed are in excess of those which the actor reasonably believes to be necessary.'" Jackson v. District of Columbia, D.C.App., 412 A.2d 948, 956 (1980) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 132 (1965)). This privilege to use reasonable force during an arrest extends from the time an officer approaches and stops a suspect to the point when the officer accomplishes custody — the very period at issue here. In a civil assault action against the police, the question whether the force used was reasonable or excessive is typically for the jury, Jackson, supra at 956 n. 16 (and cases cited), absent a preclusive judgment against the plaintiff. Thus, our precise question is whether the adjudication of appellant's criminal assault on Officer Willis — including a shove against the desk in the principal's office immediately before Willis struck appellant with a baton — precludes appellant's claim that Willis' use of the baton, resulting in a bloody injury to the head, was excessive force under the circumstances.6
Appellant argues that because he did not allege self-defense in the juvenile proceeding, "Officer Willis' conduct was not at issue" and, as...
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