Lewis v. Downey

• Decision Date: 04 September 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-2960.,08-2960.
• Citation: 581 F.3d 467
• Parties: Darryl L. LEWIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Michael D. DOWNEY, Todd Schloendorf, Michael Shreffler, Jean Flageole, Miguel Ayala, and Kankakee County, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

581 F.3d 467

Darryl L. LEWIS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Michael D. DOWNEY, Todd Schloendorf, Michael Shreffler, Jean Flageole, Miguel Ayala, and Kankakee County, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 08-2960.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued March 30, 2009.

Decided September 4, 2009.

Peter M. Schutzel (argued), McDermott, Will & Emery, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Michael D. Bersani, Attorney (argued), Hervas, Condon & Bersani, Itasca, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before KANNE, WOOD, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

Darryl Lewis was a federal prisoner in custody at a county jail facility in northern Illinois. Lewis filed a civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 after jail officials shot him with a taser gun when he failed to comply with an order to rise from his bed. Lewis claimed the taser shot constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. He also attempted to present a Fourteenth Amendment claim arising from his placement in segregation without the benefit of a hearing. The district court dismissed Miguel Ayala, for lack of personal involvement, and we affirm that dismissal. Further, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of all other defendants Darryl Lewis did not challenge on appeal the entry of summary judgment in favor of defendants Michael D. Downey, Todd Schloendorf, Jean Flageole and Kankakee County. The grant of summary judgment in favor of those defendants is affirmed. However, as to the remaining defendants pursued in this appeal, we are obligated to accept Lewis's version of events, and we vacate the grant of summary judgment in favor of Michael Shreffler and remand that portion of this case for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

In November 2005, a federal jury found Lewis guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. While awaiting sentencing and the entry of final judgment, Lewis was held in the Jerome Combs Detention Center, a county jail facility in Kankakee County, Illinois.¹ On January 26, 2006, Lewis engaged in a physical altercation with another inmate. Guard Todd Schloendorf entered the cell block, restrained Lewis, and placed him in segregation in the jail's maximum security area. According to Lewis, he was never given any type of hearing regarding his stay in segregation. The next day, Lewis began a hunger strike during which he refused to eat the jail's three daily meals. He continued the hunger strike for approximately twenty days, ending around February 15.

February 6 was Lewis's eleventh day of fasting. That morning, he rang the intercom in his cell and requested medical assistance because he was not feeling well. The officer responding to the call denied Lewis's request, asserting that Lewis had recently refused medical treatment. Lewis, who had previously received a bottle of Motrin-brand ibuprofen tablets from the nurse, held the bottle up to the security camera and told the officer over the intercom that he would "take care of my pain myself." In anger, he threw the bottle to the floor, and the pills and bottle scattered around his cell and under his bunk. Lewis then claims he became dizzy and tired. He laid down. Several minutes later, three guards — defendants Michael Shreffler² and Miguel Ayala and nonparty Marlin Woods — entered Lewis's cell. Shreffler ordered Lewis off the bed.

The parties dispute the events that followed. According to Lewis, he was weak from the hunger strike and sick from ingesting Motrin, rendering him sluggish and unable to respond quickly to Shreffler's directive. Instead of standing, Lewis says that he turned his head toward the officers, and before he could explain his failure to comply and without further warning or provocation, Shreffler shot him in the leg with a taser gun. Lewis asserts that the shock from the taser lasted several seconds and caused him to slide to the floor. The officers then handcuffed Lewis, took him from the cell, and cleaned up the scattered pills.

Shreffler, Ayala, and Woods each filed an affidavit. According to their version of events, they entered the cell in response to Lewis's threat to take an overdose of Motrin, which jail officials viewed as a suicide threat. Once inside, the officers claim that Shreffler ordered Lewis to lie on the floor with his hands behind his back so that they could handcuff him, an order that Shreffler repeated at least three times. Lewis refused each of these orders, cursing and yelling at the officers. It was then that Woods, the group's ranking member, ordered Shreffler to shoot Lewis with the taser, which he did. The officers removed Lewis from the cell and cleaned up the pills.

Acting pro se, Lewis filed a civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.³ The complaint contained two allegations relevant to this appeal. First, Lewis alleged that Shreffler and Ayala violated Lewis's Eighth Amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment by shooting him with the taser. Second, Lewis averred that Officer Schloendorf ran afoul of the Fourteenth Amendment by placing him in segregation without a hearing.

The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which a federal magistrate judge granted on July 2, 2008.⁴ In pertinent part, the magistrate judge found "that the force applied to Plaintiff was done in a good faith effort to maintain discipline and jail security and not to maliciously or sadistically cause harm to Plaintiff." The court further held that the taser was a de minimis use of force that did not implicate Eighth Amendment concerns. The court also dismissed Officer Ayala as a party to the lawsuit, stating that "he lacked any personal involvement in the February 6, 2006, incident." The court did not address Lewis's due process claim arising from his placement in segregation without a hearing.

II. ANALYSIS

On appeal, Lewis contends that the magistrate judge erred by (1) dismissing Officer Ayala from the lawsuit; (2) granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment on his Eighth Amendment claim; and (3) refusing to address his Fourteenth Amendment claim.

A. Officer Ayala's Dismissal from the Lawsuit

In their motion for summary judgment, the defendants argued that the court should dismiss Officer Ayala from the suit due to his lack of personal involvement in the events surrounding the February 6 taser shot. The magistrate judge agreed and dismissed Ayala, a decision Lewis now claims was in error.

It is uncontested that Ayala played no direct role in the taser incident. Officer Shreffler fired the taser at the command of his superior officer, Corporal Woods. Even as a bystander, however, Ayala can be held liable under § 1983 if Lewis can show that Ayala (1) had reason to know that a fellow officer was using excessive force or committing a constitutional violation, and (2) had a realistic opportunity to intervene to prevent the act from occurring. See Chavez v. Ill. State Police, 251 F.3d 612, 652 (7th Cir.2001); see also Harper v. Albert, 400 F.3d 1052, 1064 (7th Cir.2005).

According to Lewis's version of events, which, as we will discuss below, we must accept as true on a motion for summary judgment, see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ("The evidence of the non-movant is to be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in his favor."), Ayala did not have a realistic opportunity to stop Shreffler from discharging the taser gun. In his deposition, Lewis discussed at length how quickly Shreffler shot him with the taser after ordering him off the bed. Lewis said that the shot came "[b]efore I could say I can't get up." Even assuming Lewis was as sluggish as he claims, if the time between the order and the shot was so brief that Lewis could not respond, we decline to hold Officer Ayala liable for failing to respond as well. Ayala's dismissal from the lawsuit was appropriate.

B. Lewis's Excessive Force Claim

Turning next to Lewis's excessive force claim, we review de novo the district court's decision to grant summary judgment. See Outlaw v. Newkirk, 259 F.3d 833, 836 (7th Cir.2001). Summary judgment is appropriate if, after resolving all disputed facts and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Lewis, the nonmoving party, there remains no genuine issue of material fact. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); see also Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (stating that summary judgment is precluded "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party").

Lewis filed suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which provides that a person may not be deprived of any constitutional right by an individual acting under color of state law. The act authorizes claimants to sue persons in their individual capacities who are alleged to have violated such rights. See Lekas v. Briley, 405 F.3d 602, 606 (7th Cir.2005) ("[A § 1983] plaintiff must allege that the defendants deprived him of a right secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, and that the defendants acted under color of state law." (quotations omitted)); see also 42 U.S.C. § 1983; Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 640, 100 S.Ct. 1920, 64 L.Ed.2d 572 (1980).

Lewis's claim on appeal is that Shreffler⁵ applied excessive force when he shot Lewis with a taser gun, thereby violating the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. Before addressing that question, however, we consider the Eighth Amendment's applicability to someone in Lewis's position, i.e., a person found guilty but awaiting sentencing and final judgment.

1. The Eighth Amendment's Applicability to Pre-Sentencing Detainees

Although the Supreme Court has not provided a definitive answer, we doubt that the Eighth Amendment was the proper vehicle for Lewis's suit. As we will explain, it is unlikely that Lewis, who was awaiting sentencing and the...