Maravilla v. US

Decision Date17 October 1994
Docket NumberNo. 2:93-CV-129-RL.,2:93-CV-129-RL.
Citation867 F. Supp. 1363
PartiesEvangelina MARAVILLA, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Melecio Maravilla; et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

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Ivan E. Bodensteiner, Valparaiso, IN, for plaintiffs.

Orest S. Szewciw, Asst. U.S. Atty., U.S. Attorney's Office, Dyer, IN, Terrance L. Smith, East Chicago, IN, for defendants.

ORDER

LOZANO, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the following motions: Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment filed by the United States on November 10, 1993; Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment filed by Agents John Malone, Tim Wilson, and Kevin Cronin on November 10, 1993; Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the United States on June 23, 1994; Renewed Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Agents John Malone, Tim Wilson, Kevin Cronin, and Richard W. Marianos1 on June 23, 1994; and Motion for Summary Judgment filed jointly by the City of East Chicago and Officers Michael Muskin, Feliciano2 Rodriguez, John Nava, and Ralph Flores on July 12, 1994. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment of the United States is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, the Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative for Summary Judgment of Malone, Wilson, and Cronin is DENIED; the Renewed Motions for Summary Judgment of the United States and Malone, Wilson, Cronin, and Marianos are GRANTED, and the Motion for Summary Judgment of the City of East Chicago and Muskin, Rodriguez, Nava, and Flores is GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

Early on the morning of February 4, 1992, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ("ATF" or "Bureau") and officers of the East Chicago, Indiana Police Department ("ECPD") went to the residence of the Maravilla family to execute a warrant for the arrest of Jesus Maravilla. During the course of that arrest, Melecio Maravilla, Sr. was shot and killed by ATF agents. Plaintiffs, who include the estate of Melecio Maravilla, Sr. and several members of the Maravilla family, then filed this law suit. Named as Defendants are the United States, four ATF agents, four ECPD officers, and the City of East Chicago. Plaintiffs seek to hold Defendants liable under the Federal Torts Claims Act ("FTCA"), the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and Indiana law.

In connection with their Renewed Motions for Summary Judgment and pursuant to Local Rule 56.1, the United States and the ATF agents filed a joint statement of the material facts in this case. The City of East Chicago and the ECPD officers also filed a joint statement of material facts. Those statements, which, as discussed below, are not effectively controverted by Plaintiffs, can be summarized as follows:

In May 1991, ATF agents began to investigate criminal offenses involving firearms and street gangs in Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana. On September 25, 1991, Jesus Maravilla participated in the sale of an illegal firearm. Based on this transaction, a probable cause warrant was sworn out and an arrest warrant was issued for Jesus Maravilla on January 31, 1992. Prior to the issuance of the warrant, ECPD officers informed ATF agents that Jesus' father, Melecio Maravilla, Sr., had threatened ECPD officers. ECPD officers also informed ATF agents that Melecio, Sr. had told ECPD officers they should know that if the ECPD took any action against him, he had more firepower than the ECPD did.

In late January 1992, ATF agents began to plan the execution of an arrest warrant on Jesus Maravilla. A ranking ATF agent, Michael Brostowitz, decided to use an entry control team ("ECT") to effect the arrest at Jesus' residence. An ECT is composed of ATF agents trained as a unit and used to ensure the safety of law enforcement personnel and members of the public during high-risk arrest, search, and undercover situations. In deciding to use the ECT, Agent Brostowitz relied on his observations of weapons purchases at the Maravilla residence, reports that Melecio Maravilla, Sr. disliked police, information that Jesus Maravilla had been armed when he sold weapons, and reports that Jesus Maravilla was a leader of a street gang, the East Chicago Latin Kings. Based on this information and his past experience, Agent Brostowitz believed it possible that Jesus and others at the Maravilla residence might resist the arrest of Jesus.

ATF Special Agent/Group Supervisor John Malone, who was an assistant team leader of the Chicago District Office ECT, also worked on planning the arrest. In doing so, Agent Malone considered the size of the Maravilla residence, the configuration of the doors leading into the house, the fact that Jesus had sold sawed-off shotguns, the fact that Melecio, Sr.'s handgun permit demonstrated that there might be firearms in the residence, Jesus' status as a gang member, and reports that Melecio Maravilla, Sr. was a "cop-hater."

Participants in the arrest were assigned roles at a briefing in the early morning of February 4, 1992. Participants were to include ATF agents who were members of the ECT, ATF agents who were not ECT members, and ECPD officers. The ECT was divided into three bunker teams, each composed of three to four agents. Two bunker teams were assigned to secure the first floor of the Maravilla residence and the third bunker team was assigned to secure the second floor. The second floor bunker team was composed of three of the four named ATF agents: Kevin Cronin, Timothy Wilson, and Richard Marianos. The fourth named ATF agent, John Malone, assigned himself to supervise and assist the second floor bunker team. No ECPD officer was a member of any bunker team.

The entry plan included using non-ECT ATF agents and ECPD officers to cover the perimeter of the Maravilla residence. The perimeter included the front and rear of the residence as well as the vacant lot south of the residence. The agents and officers assigned to perimeter security were to ensure that no one escaped from the south windows, prevent any nonofficers from entering the residence, and recover evidence that suspects might throw out the windows. Agents and officers assigned to perimeter security were directed to assume positions in the vacant lot south of the residence. Members of the second floor bunker team learned that agents and officers would be located in the vacant lot.

At approximately 6 a.m. on February 4, 1992, ATF agents and ECPD officers arrived at the Maravilla residence in East Chicago, Indiana. An ECT member knocked on the rear porch door and announced himself, stating, "Police with a warrant." Numerous ECT members then began to yell "police, police." After a few seconds, the first ECT member broke down the exterior door, enabling the bunker teams to enter the porch area. The first two bunker teams entered the first floor of the house. The third bunker team, led by Agent Cronin, went to the second floor of the house. As the third bunker team went up the stairs, members of that team yelled "police, police."

At approximately the same time, ATF agents and ECPD officers who were in front of the house parked and exited their vehicles. ATF agents Thomas Ahern and Matthew Gorecki heard the ECT members yelling "police." These agents then took perimeter positions in front of the house and in the vacant lot to the south of the house. ECPD Lt. Michael Muskin and ECPD Sgt. Feliciano Rodriguez exited their vehicle in front of the Maravilla residence and heard the ECT entering the house and announcing "police." ECPD Officer Hector Rivera parked and exited his vehicle in the rear of the residence and moved into position in the vacant lot to the south of the house, at the western edge of that lot. Officer Rivera heard the ATF agents yelling as they entered the residence.

When they arrived at the top of the stairs, the third bunker team encountered a closed door leading into the second floor of the house. Agent Cronin then announced himself, stating, "Police officers with a warrant, open the door." After receiving no response, he forced open the door and entered the second floor. The third bunker team proceeded across the second floor in the following order: Cronin, Wilson, Marianos, and then Malone. The first room they entered was a kitchen. As they proceeded through the kitchen toward the front of the second floor, all members of the team continued to yell "police, police." As they approached the doorway leading from the kitchen into the front room of the second floor, a bedroom, members of the team heard gunshots.

Upon reaching the doorway and looking into the bedroom, Agents Cronin, Wilson, and Marianos saw Melecio Maravilla, Sr. kneeling on a bed and firing a gun through a window that looked out onto the vacant lot south of the Maravilla residence. Agents Cronin, Wilson, and Marianos saw muzzle flashes coming from the gun. Wilson was able to discern that Maravilla was pointing the gun downward. All three agents who saw Maravilla say they concluded that he was firing at the agents and officers performing perimeter security outside the residence. Malone, the fourth ATF agent to enter the second floor, heard gunshots from the bedroom but was not able to see into the bedroom. Several ATF agents and ECPD officers then positioned outside the residence — Agent Ahern, Agent Gorecki, ECPD Lt. Muskin, ECPD Sgt. Rodriguez, and ECPD Officer Rivera — saw and heard Maravilla firing out the window.

On the second floor, Maravilla did not respond when Agent Cronin yelled at him, "Police, drop it." When Maravilla continued firing out the window, Agent Cronin fired once at Maravilla and Wilson fired several times at Maravilla. Shots from the agents struck Maravilla and he fell to the floor. Cronin and Wilson state...

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