Maldonado v. Town of Greenburgh

• Decision Date: 18 May 2020
• Docket Number: No. 18-CV-11077 (KMK),18-CV-11077 (KMK)
• Citation: 460 F.Supp.3d 382
• Parties: Nancy MALDONADO, as the Administrix of the Estate of Jonathan Maldonado, Plaintiff, v. TOWN OF GREENBURGH, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

460 F.Supp.3d 382

Nancy MALDONADO, as the Administrix of the Estate of Jonathan Maldonado, Plaintiff,

v.TOWN OF GREENBURGH, et al., Defendants.

No. 18-CV-11077 (KMK)

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Signed May 18, 2020

Debra Sue Cohen, Esq., Randolph M. McLaughlin, Esq., Newman Ferrara LLP, New York, NY, Counsels for Plaintiff.

Thomas J. Troetti, Esq., Law Offices of Thomas J. Troetti, White Plains, NY, Counsels for Defendants Police Officer Jean-Paul Lara, Lieutenant Gregory P Attalienti, Police Officer Richard Maguire, and Detective/Paramedic Sean Freeman.

OPINION & ORDER

KENNETH M. KARAS, United States District Judge:

Nancy Maldonado ("Plaintiff") brings this Action, as the Administrix of the Estate of Jonathan Maldonado ("Maldonado"), against Defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the United States Constitution, and certain state laws. (See Am. Compl. (Dkt. No. 63).)¹ Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants’ actions led to Maldonado's death while Maldonado was purportedly held in police custody and brings claims for, inter alia, use of excessive force, deliberate medical indifference, deliberate indifference in supervising subordinate actors, negligence, and wrongful death. (See generally id. ) Before the Court is Moving Defendants’ Motion To Dismiss portions of the Amended Complaint pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) (the "Motion").² (See Not. of Mot. (Dkt. No. 86).) For the following reasons, the Motion is granted in part and denied in part.

I. Background

A. Factual History

The following facts are drawn from the Amended Complaint, and are taken as true for purposes of resolving the instant Motion.

Maldonado worked as a school aide for the Yonkers Public Schools. (Am. Compl. ¶ 10.) On November 29, 2017, Maldonado, then 21 years old, finished work at 2:30 p.m. and went to his home, where he lived with his parents and two brothers. (Id. ¶¶ 10–11.) Maldonado then left his home, telling his mother that he was going to drive his grandmother to Central Avenue to run an errand and that he would be stopping by the bank to deposit his paycheck. (Id. ¶¶ 13–14.) Maldonado left at 4:58 p.m. (Id. ¶ 15.)

At 5:45 p.m., Maldonado exited a store located on Central Avenue in Hartsdale, New York. (Id. ¶ 17.) As Maldonado left, an alarm at the store went off. (Id. ¶ 18.) Store employees called 911 to report a suspected shoplifting incident where the shoplifter purportedly took a display model of an iPhone. (Id. ¶¶ 19–20.) Before police could arrive, store employees observed and followed customers they suspected to be a shoplifter. (Id. ¶ 21.) Some employees followed Maldonado out of the store, across Central Avenue, and into a park, Webb Field. (Id. ¶ 22.) While Maldonado was walking away from the employees, he lost his balance and fell down. (Id. ¶ 23.) The store employees surrounded Maldonado and asked him about the phone, which Maldonado denied having in his possession. (Id. ¶¶ 24–25.)

One of the employees saw Maguire's police vehicle traveling towards Webb Field on Central Avenue and flagged him down. (Id. ¶ 26.) At the same time, Lara and Freeman were en route to the store in response to the shoplifting call. (Id. ¶ 27.) Plaintiff alleges that when Maguire was flagged down, Maldonado was kneeling, bent over on the ground, and not attempting to flee or physically confront the store employees. (Id. ¶ 28.) As the police officers began to approach the scene, store employees observed Maldonado take "what appeared to be some small envelopes out of a wallet." (Id. ¶ 29.)

As Maguire got out of his police vehicle, some of the store employees notified him that they believed that Maldonado had put something in his mouth and that it was possibly some type of drug. (Id. ¶ 31.) Maguire, the first police officer to arrive on the scene, ran from his vehicle, jumped on top of Maldonado, and "forcefully" attempted to reach the substance in Maldonado's mouth. (Id. ¶¶ 30, 32.) Lara and Freeman arrived at the scene soon afterwards. (Id. ¶ 33.)

Plaintiff alleges that "one or more" of the police officers lifted Maldonado up and "slammed him to the ground." (Id. ¶ 35.) Subsequently, Lara tasered Maldonado in "prong mode" on his back once and then used "stun mode" on his buttock as he was being restrained face down on the ground by the other officers. (Id. ¶ 36.) According to Plaintiff, Lara first deployed the taser "within only 1 to 2 feet away" from Maldonado, which was too close to cause "neuromuscular incapacitation" and instead could only have caused pain. (Id. ¶¶ 37–39.) Plaintiff also claims that Lara's second use of the taser, in "stun mode," was also for the purpose of inflicting pain. (Id. ¶¶ 40–42.) Plaintiff alleges that Maldonado never fought with the police officers during this confrontation. (Id. ¶ 44.)

Following the tasering, Maldonado became "limp and unresponsive." (Id. ¶ 45.) Plaintiff alleges that when Attalienti arrived at the scene, he saw Maldonado on the ground with his hands behind his back and Lara kneeling beside him. (Id. ¶ 46.) Attalienti allegedly observed the other police officers turning Maldonado over and sitting him up. (Id. ¶ 47.) Attalienti ordered Lara to hold Maldonado up. (Id. ¶ 48.)

Freeman left the scene and the unconscious Maldonado to get "NARCAN

." (Id. ¶¶ 50–51.) In the meantime, a non-party EMT, Jovan Thompson ("Thompson"), arrived in an ambulance, in response to a radio call from Lara. (Id. ¶¶ 52–53.) Following a quick examination of Maldonado, Thompson told Freeman that he detected only a weak pulse and that Maldonado needed to be rushed to "necessary medical treatment." (Id. ¶ 54.) Plaintiff alleges that Freeman's status as a paramedic, however, gave him "seniority" over Thompson in deciding how to assist Maldonado. (Id. ¶ 55.) Instead of immediately transporting Plaintiff to a hospital, Freeman proceeded to administer multiple doses of NARCAN, a medicine used to counteract drug overdoses. (Id. ¶ 56.) Plaintiff alleges that the positive effects of NARCAN are usually "immediately observable" when a drug overdose is the cause of loss of consciousness. (Id. ¶ 57.) However, despite being given NARCAN, Maldonado showed no signs of improvement. (Id. ¶ 58.) Freeman was allegedly able to observe that Maldonado was not breathing, even after administering the NARCAN. (Id. ¶ 59.) Plaintiff also alleges that Freeman did not check Maldonado's airway, provide any "oxygen therapy," or conduct any cardiac intervention. (Id. ¶ 60.)

Ten minutes after Maldonado had been tasered, Thompson lifted Maldonado off the ground and placed him on a gurney. (Id. ¶ 61.) The gurney was moved to the ambulance but not immediately placed inside. (Id. ¶ 62.) Subsequently, a second paramedic, Kenneth Marello ("Marello") arrived at the scene and observed Maldonado being loaded into the back of Thompson's ambulance. (Id. ¶ 64.) Marello allegedly noticed that Maldonado was not moving and unresponsive. (Id. ¶ 65.) Marello also determined that Maldonado did not have a pulse and was not breathing. (Id. ¶ 66.)

Plaintiff alleges that once Marello arrived on the scene, CPR was performed, and "potentially life-saving drugs, including epinephrine

," were administered on Maldonado. (Id. ¶ 67.) At this point, Freeman also took steps to "visualize" Maldonado's airway and insert an endotracheal tube

. (Id. ¶ 68.) Freeman observed five small intact plastic-like bags inside Maldonado's mouth, which he removed with forceps. (Id. ¶ 69.) Even after Marello's arrival, Maldonado continued to be administered NARCAN. (Id. ¶ 73.)

The ambulance transported Maldonado to White Plains Hospital over 20 minutes after Maldonado had been tasered. (Id. ¶ 75.) Thompson drove the ambulance, while Marello and Freeman rode in the back with Maldonado, and Lara escorted the ambulance. (Id. ¶¶ 76–77.) Plaintiff alleges that once they arrived at the hospital, Lara and Freeman provided the hospital with "false information" regarding the events leading up to Maldonado's loss of consciousness. (Id. ¶ 78.)

Maldonado was declared dead at the hospital at 6:54 p.m. (Id. ¶ 79.) On December 2, 2017, Attalienti filed an incident report that allegedly contained "false and misleading information." (Id. ¶ 81.) The report stated that Maguire had used physical force against Maldonado when he arrived at the scene because Maldonado was fighting with the store employees. (Id. ¶ 82.) Plaintiff disputes this, as she alleges that Maldonado never fought with either the store employees or the police officers throughout the entire encounter. (Id. ¶¶ 28, 44.)

Based on the above facts, Plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983 and state law. (See id. ¶ 84.)

B. Procedural History

On November 28, 2018, Plaintiff filed the original Complaint against Defendants. (See Compl. (Dkt. No. 1).) On December 14, 2018 and January 30, 2019, Defendants filed Answers to the Complaint. (See Moving Defs.’ Answer to Compl. (Dkt. No. 33); see also Town's Answer to Compl.; Morello & Thompson's Answer to Compl. (Dkt. Nos. 36–37).) A Case Management and Scheduling Order was adopted on June 18, 2019. (See Case Management & Scheduling Order (Dkt. No. 45).)

On August 14, 2019, counsel for Thompson and Morello filed a Pre-Motion Letter requesting leave of the Court to file a motion to dismiss the Complaint. (Dkt. No. 50.) On August 19, 2019, counsel for Moving Defendants joined in the request to file a "pre-answer motion to dismiss" on behalf of Defendant Freeman. (Dkt. No. 55.)³ On August 23, 2019, Plaintiff responded to the arguments asserted in both Letters and requested an opportunity to amend her Complaint, (Dkt. No. 59), which the Court granted, (Dkt. No. 60). The Court instructed Defendants to either file an answer or a supplemental pre-motion letter in response to the amended complaint. (See id. )

Plaintiff filed the Amended Complaint on September 24, 2019. (See Am. Compl.)⁴ On October 13, 2019, counsel for Moving Defendants filed a Pre-Motion Letter seeking...