M.J. v. Akron City Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 15 June 2021
• Docket Number: Nos. 20-3461/3462,s. 20-3461/3462
• Parties: M.J., a minor, BY AND THROUGH his guardian, S.J.; S.J., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AKRON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION; Akron City School District; David W. James, Superintendent of Akron City School District, in his official capacity; Philomena Vincente, Jennifer Ramon, and Christopher Hendon, in their official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees. M.H., legal custodian and next best friend of minor child, W.H.; W.H., by and through his guardian, M.H., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Akron City School District Board of Education; Akron City School District; David W. James, Superintendent of Akron City School District, in his official capacity; Philomena Vincente, Traci Morrison, and Christopher Hendon, in their official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

1 F.4th 436

M.J., a minor, BY AND THROUGH his guardian, S.J.; S.J., Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.AKRON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION; Akron City School District; David W. James, Superintendent of Akron City School District, in his official capacity; Philomena Vincente, Jennifer Ramon, and Christopher Hendon, in their official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees.

M.H., legal custodian and next best friend of minor child, W.H.; W.H., by and through his guardian, M.H., Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.Akron City School District Board of Education; Akron City School District; David W. James, Superintendent of Akron City School District, in his official capacity; Philomena Vincente, Traci Morrison, and Christopher Hendon, in their official and individual capacities, Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 20-3461/3462

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: January 27, 2021

Decided and Filed: June 15, 2021

ARGUED: Edward L. Gilbert, EDWARD L. GILBERT CO., L.P.A., Akron, Ohio for all Appellants. Steven D. Strang, GALLAGHER SHARP LLP, Cleveland, Ohio, for all Appellees. ON BRIEF: Edward L. Gilbert, EDWARD L. GILBERT CO., L.P.A., Akron, Ohio for Appellants M.J., S.J., M.H., and W.H. Steven D. Strang, Richard C.O. Rezie, GALLAGHER SHARP LLP, Cleveland, Ohio, for all Appellees.

Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; BOGGS and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge.

The Constitution does not guarantee a remedy for every wrong. That is unfortunately true in this strange case. Christopher Hendon impersonated a police officer to gain access to Leggett Elementary, a public school in Akron, Ohio. His plan was to restart the city's Scared Straight Program—a program in which unruly children and teens are exposed to arrest and imprisonment in hopes that the process will scare them into behaving well.¹ By dressing and acting like a legitimate police officer, Hendon convinced Leggett's administration and teachers that he worked for the Akron Police Department. This enabled him to roam the school's halls freely.

But Hendon heaped abuse on top of his fraud. He used his freedom to navigate Leggett to place children in handcuffs and force students to exercise. He even violently battered and verbally assaulted one child. Now, some of Hendon's victims are suing the Akron City School District, its Board of Education, and a few of Leggett's employees. They bring a variety of federal constitutional and statutory claims, as well as some state-law claims. The district court granted defendants summary judgment on the federal claims and dismissed the state-law claims without prejudice. Plaintiffs now appeal, and we AFFIRM .

I.

A.

The day Christopher Hendon first arrived at Leggett Elementary was chaotic. It began when a misbehaving child was sent to the front office. Leggett's principal, Philomena Vincente, called the child's mother to come pick him up. But instead of personally coming, the mother told the school that her "boyfriend who is a policeman" would come. That boyfriend turned out to be Christopher Hendon.

In the meantime, a mother of two of Leggett's students called to warn the school that the students’ father, who was high on drugs, was coming to the school to try to kidnap the children. The mother feared that the father would kill himself in front of them. Naturally, the school called the police and summoned Akron Board of Education police officer Don Good, a reserve officer with the Akron Police Department. Though the father beat the police to the school, Vincente intervened in time to prevent him from taking his children, and when a marked police cruiser arrived, the father fled until police apprehended him.

While all this was going on, Christopher Hendon showed up. He was there to pick up the unruly child, who remained in the office as Vincente and the school tried to deal with the disruptive parent. After Hendon pulled up to the school, Vincente saw him speak with the Akron police officer who had arrived in response to the still-ongoing incident. Then, as he entered Leggett, he also talked briefly with Officer Good.

Hendon wore what looked like full SWAT garb—all black, with a vest and badge that said "officer," and his name on his uniform. Dressed this way, Hendon would not stand out on a normal day at Leggett. Uniformed police officers regularly roamed the school's halls at least a couple of times a month. They would interact with students and staff to show the students that "policemen are your friends." And when police showed up, it was usually unannounced—even the specific officer often varied. Staff identified a visitor as an officer simply by his or her uniform—although some said they did not expect officers to discipline students. Still, under an agreement between the Akron City School Board and the Akron Police Department, police officers could respond to "unruly behavior" and were "expected to assist school administrators in situations where the officers’ training and background experience may be useful." (R. 92-6, Agreement at 9–10, PageID # 2791–92).

When Hendon entered the office, the secretaries assumed he was a police officer and did not require him to sign in. They so assumed not only because of his clothing and interactions with police officers, but also because the boy Hendon was picking up had identified him as his mother's "policeman" boyfriend.

Hendon approached the boy and asked Vincente what kind of trouble he was in. He and Vincente then talked briefly about Hendon's efforts with the Akron City Council to restart the Scared Straight Program. Hendon and Vincente did not interact anymore that day, though Hendon hung around Leggett until the end of the day to speak with staff. He also spoke for the first time with one of our plaintiffs, M.J., who was a student at Leggett.

The next morning, Hendon showed up again, uninvited. And again, he was dressed in what looked like SWAT gear. He and Vincente spoke a second time about the Scared Straight Program. But this time, Vincente was explicit that she would not allow Hendon to run the program at Leggett or present the idea to parents. Still, Hendon was committed to his ruse—he showed Vincente a photo of himself posing with Akron's mayor.

Later that same day, M.J.’s teacher, Jennifer Ramon, called Leggett "administration" because M.J. had become aggressive in class. But instead of a school employee, Hendon showed up. He took M.J. out of the classroom and brought him to the office to ask Vincente for a room. Vincente directed them to a room near the office, where Hendon threw M.J. against a wall, table, and chairs and verbally abused him. After leaving the room, Hendon asked the office secretary for M.J.’s report card, and M.J. gave Hendon his mother's phone number. Then, Hendon returned M.J. to class—though M.J. did not tell Ramon or any other school employee about what happened.

Hendon was not finished with M.J. yet. After the first incident, M.J. and another student were misbehaving at recess. Observing this, a special education teacher retrieved Hendon, who took the two students inside to an empty cafeteria and brought them behind a curtain. He then forced them to perform exercises and sent them back to class. Again, M.J. did not tell Ramon about what happened.

One last interaction between Hendon and M.J. bears mentioning. M.J. and a group of students began to act out in class. As she did earlier, Ramon called for administration. And also like the first incident, Hendon showed up instead. He took the boys from class but returned them a few minutes later. The boys apologized to their teacher, and class proceeded. It is unclear from the record what happened between the students and Hendon during their brief absence.

Hendon did not target only M.J. His time at Leggett also included an episode with W.H., another student at the school. W.H. was a student in Theresa Morrison's class when Hendon showed up at Leggett. Morrison first met Hendon in the front office, where Hendon introduced himself and told Morrison he was with the Scared Straight program. At the time, Hendon was dressed in his typical dark "uniform," which Morrison likened to that worn by other officers who visit Leggett. Because Morrison assumed Hendon was a police officer, she asked him if he worked for Akron and if he knew a friend of hers, who was also an Akron police officer. Hendon told Morrison that he indeed worked for Akron and that he knew her friend.

After this initial interaction, Morrison believed Hendon was a police officer. And Hendon reinforced her belief by showing her photos like those he showed Vincente. These included photos of Hendon with the mayor of Akron, a group of children at the Juvenile Detention Center, other police officers, and one of Hendon in uniform presenting to a group of children.

Some time later, W.H. got into a fight with another student during gym class. Morrison went to retrieve her class from gym, and when she arrived, the fight was still ongoing. After she separated the brawlers, Morrison brought W.H. to the office. There, Vincente told Morrison to call M.H., W.H.’s mother, to tell her to come pick W.H. up from school; Morrison obliged. While she was on the phone, Hendon approached her and asked to speak with M.H. Again, Morrison obliged because "[h]e was a police officer." She handed Hendon the phone, and he walked away to talk to M.H.

During the call, Hendon told M.H. that he was an officer with the Scared Straight program. And he explained to M.H. that W.H. was acting up in school. The two finished their call, and M.H. came to the school immediately. When she got there, she, Morrison, Hendon, and W.H. congregated in the hallway outside Morrison's classroom. Hendon told M.H. that he planned to handcuff W.H. and bring him to the office. M.H., assuming Hendon was a police officer, consented and even filmed the episode.

Once they got to the office, Hendon placed W.H. next to another boy. At the time, multiple other children were handcuffed there. Hendon left W.H....