Martinez v. Simonetti and Rosa, et al
| Decision Date | 01 August 1999 |
| Docket Number | HEINZ-FALJEA,Docket No. 99-7154,E |
| Citation | 2000 WL 129188,202 F.3d 625 |
| Parties | (2nd Cir. 2000) JOHN MARTINEZ, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellee, v. TOSANO SIMONETTI AND RICHARD J. ROSA, Defendants-Appellants, THOMAS McCAULEY, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellant, NANCYsq., Defendant-Cross-Claimant-Counter-Claimant-Appellant, RICHARD OLIVO, Defendant-Cross-Claimant, JAMES FULGINITI, WILLIAM HYLAND, RICHARD TRAPANESE and ANTHONY DISCALA, Defendants-Cross-Claimants-Counter-Claimants, THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, RAYMOND W. KELLY, Police Commissioner, JAMES TAVARES, and RICHARD GUTCH, Defendants, NEW YORK CITY, Defendant-Cross-Defendant |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Johnson, J.), denying the motions for summary judgment made on qualified immunity grounds by each of the defendant-appellant police officers in a civil rights action arising out of the arrest and prosecution of plaintiff-appellee, the district court having identified disputed issues precluding a determination that the acts of the officers were objectively reasonable as a matter of law.
Reversed in part, and dismissed in part.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] FAY NG, Office of Corporation Counsel of the City of New York, New York, NY (Michael D. Hess, Corporation Counsel of the City of New York; Pamela Seider Dolgow, of Counsel, on the brief), for Defendants-Appellants.
BONITA E. ZELMAN, New York, NY (Alexander J. Wulwick, New York, NY, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before: PARKER, MESKILL, and MINER, Circuit Judges.
Defendants-Appellants New York City Police Officers Nancy Heinz-Faljean ("Officer Heinz-Faljean"), Thomas McCauley ("Sergeant McCauley"), Richard J. Rosa ("Captain Rosa"), and Tosano Simonetti ("Assistant Chief Simonetti") appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Johnson, J.), denying their motions for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds. Plaintiff-Appellee John Martinez alleges that the defendants violated his civil rights in connection with an altercation and arrest that resulted in his prosecution, and subsequent acquittal, on charges of assault in the second degree and resisting arrest.
Officer Heinz-Faljean was on the scene when Martinez was badly injured in a brawl with three other officers, and her failure to intervene on his behalf forms the basis of her potential liability. Sergeant McCauley was the patrol supervisor who arrived after the altercation had ended and directed that Martinez be taken to the station house. Captain Rosa was the Duty Captain in charge of conducting a preliminary investigation to decide whether to bring criminal charges against Martinez. Assistant Chief Simonetti was Commanding Officer of the Patrol Bureau, Staten Island. He was called to the station house to confer with Captain Rosa regarding the decision to file the charges against Martinez.
After he was tried and acquitted, Martinez filed a 1983 action, naming eleven individual police officers as defendants. He also named as defendants the City of New York, the Police Department of the City of New York, and former Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly (collectively, the "City-NYPD"). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the City-NYPD and three of the defendant officers. With respect to the claims of immunity of the four defendants-appellants, the court adopted the Report and Recommendation of Magistrate Judge Gold, who found that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to Officer Heinz-Faljean's awareness of Martinez' beating and the objective reasonableness of Sergeant McCauley's decision to credit the officers' version of events when he arrived at the scene, Captain Rosa's decision at the station house to bring charges against Martinez, and Assistant Chief Simonetti's concurrence with Captain Rosa's decision. The four remaining defendants did not move for summary judgment.
For the reasons that follow, we reverse in part and dismiss in part.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on March 19, 1993, four New York City Police Officers responded to a radio dispatcher's report of a domestic dispute at 13 Rathbun Avenue, Staten Island. Officers Heinz-Faljean and Trapanese were the first to arrive; Officers Fulginiti and Hyland arrived as back-up some minutes later.1 The address corresponded to the apartment of Martinez, then a New York City Police Officer, and his girlfriend, Stacey Sinagra.
Shortly after Officers Heinz-Faljean and Trapanese arrived, they separated Martinez and Sinagra; Officer Trapanese accompanied Martinez into the bedroom, while Officer Heinz-Faljean stayed with Sinagra in the kitchen. When Officers Fuliginiti and Hyland arrived, they proceeded to the bedroom as well, and there a physical altercation ensued.
Martinez alleges that he tried to tell the officers he was a fellow policeman but that his assertion was met with derision. He further alleges that a fight broke out when Officer Fulginiti arrived in the bedroom and pushed him into Officer Trapanese. He avers that Officers Fulginiti and Trapanese beat him with their fists, and that, after he was handcuffed, Officer Fulginiti hit him repeatedly in the head with a metal flashlight. He further avers that his beating took place with the "knowledge and consent" of Officers Hyland and Heinz-Faljean. (Pl's. Compl. 8.)
The officers assert that Martinez was the aggressor. They contend that he was in a "highly agitated state," that he struck Officer Fulginiti in the left side of the face, and that he bit Officer Trapanese's right hand while Trapanese was trying to handcuff him. Whether Officer Heinz-Faljean was a witness to the physical altercation is not clearly established in the present record. According to her affidavit, she "heard some banging noises" and went from the kitchen to the bedroom. She claims that she arrived at the bedroom door as Martinez was being handcuffed. Both Sinagra and Martinez assert, however, that the beating continued after Martinez was handcuffed. Furthermore, Sinagra testified at her deposition that she could witness the beating from her vantage point in the living room, and Martinez testified at his deposition that just before being handcuffed, he could see Sinagra and Officer Heinz-Faljean in the hallway.
It is undisputed that Martinez was badly injured in the brawl. He suffered two gashes to his head that together required seven stitches, and an injury to one of his eyes required emergency surgery at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital on the day following his arrest. The officers allege that they, too, were injured: Officer Fulginiti reported a contusion from a blow to the left cheek, and Officer Trapanese claimed that Martinez bit his right hand.2
At some point after Martinez had been placed in handcuffs, his father and brother arrived on the scene, as did two more officers on patrol, Officers Olivo and DiScala. The patrol supervisor, Sergeant McCauley, was called to 13 Rathbun Ave. at approximately 1:30 a.m. Officer Hyland met him outside and told him that an arrest had been made and that Officers Trapanese and Fulginiti had been hurt.
When Sergeant McCauley entered the apartment, he found Martinez in the bedroom, bleeding. Martinez informed him he was a police officer, and Sergeant McCauley verified that information. When Sergeant McCauley asked the officers what had happened, he was told that Martinez had punched Officer Fulginiti in the face and had bitten Officer Trapanese, and that Martinez was injured while the officers were trying to restrain him. An ambulance was called, and Sergeant McCauley instructed Officers Fulginiti and Trapanese to go to the hospital, Officers Olivo and DiScala to take Martinez to the 123rd Precinct station house, and Officer Heinz-Faljean to take Sinagra to the station house.
Once Martinez was taken to the station house, Captain Rosa was summoned. As Duty Captain, it was his responsibility to conduct a preliminary investigation for the NYPD in a case where an off-duty member of the police force had been arrested. Together with Internal Affairs Officer Tavares, Captain Rosa interviewed Sergeant McCauley and Officers Heinz-Faljean, Fulginiti and Hyland. Captain Rosa and Officer Tavares twice interviewed Sinagra, who stated that the officers had assaulted Martinez. They did not, however, interview Martinez himself, who refused to make any statements on the advice of counsel.
Based on these interviews, Captain Rosa concluded that Martinez should be suspended from the police force and that criminal charges should be filed. He conferred with then-Assistant Chief Tosano Simonetti, who agreed with his conclusions.3 An Assistant District Attorney concurred in the decision to arrest Martinez and to file the charges. Captain Rosa wrote a report of the incident that credited the officers' version of the facts, stating that
Police Officer Martinez was in a highly agitated state; screaming and cursing at the officers. . . .[He] struck Police Officer Fulginiti in the left side of the face, causing a contusion to the left cheek. Police Officer Trapanese then tried to restrain Officer Martinez. While attempting to handcuff him, Police Officer Trapanese was bitten on the right hand by Officer Martinez.
Martinez was held at the 123rd Precinct from approximately 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., when he was taken to Staten Island Hospital for medical attention. There his head wounds were stitched, and the examining doctor recommended that he see an eye specialist. He was transported back to the precinct in the early morning hours and, at some point later that day, told that he was to be formally charged. Sometime before 3:00 p.m., he was arraigned on charges of assault in the second degree and resisting arrest.
The case against Martinez proceeded...
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