Mehari v. Dist. of Columbia

• Decision Date: 31 March 2020
• Docket Number: Civil Case No. 16-1889 (RJL)
• Parties: ALEHEGN MEHARI, Plaintiff, v. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ET AL., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

ALEHEGN MEHARI, Plaintiff, v. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ET AL., Defendants.

Civil Case No. 16-1889 (RJL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

March 31, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION[## 44, 45]

Plaintiff Alehegn Mehari ("Mehari" or "plaintiff") brought this action alleging that defendant Metropolitan Police Department ("MPD") officers Candice Wilkes ("Wilkes"), Nico Alfredo Scott ("Scott"), Blake Edward Johnson ("Johnson"), and Bryan Francis Christian ("Christian"), as well as the District of Columbia itself, conspired to violate his constitutional rights, as well as committing several torts against him. Specifically, he alleged various violations of his Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, negligent supervision, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. After I granted in part and denied in part defendants' Motion for Partial Dismissal or Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, see Mem. Op. [Dkt. #21], the remaining parties (Mehari and the officers) proceeded to discovery as to the remaining claims: Fifth Amendment substantive due process (Count I) and Fourth Amendment false arrest (Count II).¹ This matter is now before the Court on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment [Dkt. ## 44, 45]. Upon consideration of the parties' submissions, defendants' motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiff's motion is DENIED. The case against Wilkes as to false arrest, however, will proceed. All other claims against Wilkes and all other defendants are dismissed.²

BACKGROUND

Before explaining my reasons for granting defendants summary judgment in part and denying it in part, a little background is necessary. Please note, however, that I am only including those facts that are material to deciding this motion.³

After midnight on a Friday in late September 2015, Wilkes was posing as a prostitute at a Shell gas station on New York Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C. as part of an undercover sting operation. See Defs.' Statement of Material Facts ("Defs.'SOMF") [Dkt. #44-1] ¶ 1.⁴ Johnson and Scott were also involved with the operation, tasked respectively with surveilling Wilkes's interaction with suspects and arresting any targets identified by Wilkes. Id. ¶¶ 2-3. Christian was supervising the operation from afar and was responsible for approving any arrest paperwork prepared by the arresting officer. Id. ¶ 4.

Mehari arrived at the gas station in his taxicab at 2 a.m. and pulled up to one of the pumps on the station's west side. Id. ¶ 6. He immediately exited his taxicab and entered the gas station's store. Id. ¶ 7. After he entered the store, Wilkes walked around the side of the gas station's store towards the pumps on the station's west side. Id. ¶ 8. Meanwhile, Merhari purchased a lottery ticket, exited the store, and returned to his taxicab. Id. ¶¶ 7-9. As he approached his taxicab, Mehari looked at Wilkes.⁵ Id. ¶ 9. Wilkes then walked past the driver's side of the taxicab, around the front of it, and pastthe passenger's side before returning to the driver's side. Id. at ¶¶ 10-12. While Wilkes was walking around Mehari's taxicab, he started the car and lowered the driver's side window. Id. ¶ 11. Wilkes stopped walking several feet from Mehari's window and put away the cell phone on which she had been talking. Id. ¶ 13. She and Mehari began speaking. Id. ¶ 16. Seconds later, Mehari's taxicab started moving forward but then stopped. Id. ¶ 14. Seconds after that, the same thing happened again. Id. ¶ 15. The two continued speaking, and, less than two minutes later, Mehari's taxicab moved forward and then stopped a third time. Id. ¶¶ 16-17. The two spoke for another minute, and Wilkes extended a hand above the taxicab and pointed roughly towards the west. See id. ¶¶ 18-19. Mehari then drove off towards the south, and Wilkes signaled for him to be arrested. See id. ¶ 20; Def.'s Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. 6 ("Ex. 6"), Camera 11 2:06:30-36, Camera 14 2:06:36-50.⁶ Police intercepted his taxicab just as it was leaving the gas station and arrested Mehari. Defs.' SOMF ¶ 21.

All told, the cameras at the gas station captured video images only showing Mehari and Wilkes speaking for around two and half minutes. See id. ¶¶ 16, 18, 19-20; Ex. 6, Camera 11 2:03:58-06:32. In a subsequent police report, Wilkes recounted their conversation as follows:

Mehari: You're so pretty

Wilkes: Thanks, you looking for a date

Mehari: I'm just looking

Wilkes: Oh are you sure? You don't want any head or fuckMehari: I don't know what you are saying.

Wilkes: Do you want me to suck your dick or fuck you?

Mehari: Oh, I have a wife.

Wilkes: So you're going to tell her that I sucked your dick

Mehari: Yes

Wilkes: I didn't know you were married aren't wearing a ring

Mehari: I don't need a ring my love is here (puts hand to heart)

Wilkes: Oh, o. It's $30.00 for me to suck your dick

Mehari: Ok

Wilkes: So, you got my $30.00

Mehari: Yes

Wilkes: Ok

Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. [Dkt. #44] Ex. 7 ("Police Report") at 1-2. Mehari's account of the conversation, from his deposition testimony (through a translator), somewhat agrees with the police report, although it clearly demonstrates that Mehari, for whom English is not his first language, did not understand much of what Wilkes was saying:

A. She was the one that started speaking. I don't remember. Yeah, she was the one that started speaking first.

Q. And was she speaking in English?

A. Yes.

Q, What did - after she said something to you, what did you say to her?

A. Initially, I told her I don't understand what - you know, what she said.

Q. And you told her that in English?

A. Yes. I said I don't understand

Q. And what did she say in response to that?

A. So that's when she said do you want a date and I still didn't understand what that was, so I said, "What's that" - you know, "What's that?" So then that's when she said, "Do you want sex" and then she said "date" again. That's when I told her, "No. I'm not interested. I am married."

. . .

Q. When you told this woman that you were married, what did she say then in response?

A. And so after I said that, I was about to leave. Then she looked at my hand and she said that "I don't see a ring on your finger."

Q. And what, if anything, did you say in response to that?

A. When she said, I - my response was - I told her that I don't have a ring because the ring is in my heart.

Q. And did she then say anything in response to that?

A. Well, she didn't really give me a response to that but she kept on talking and I kept on saying what is that, I didn't understand.

Q. Okay. And so do you recall - after the comment about your ring being in your heart, do you recall anything else specific either being said by you or by her?

A. She kept on asking do you want dick and she kept on saying that over over again, and I kept on asking her what is that, and she kept on saying do you want dick.

. . .

Q. The report suggests that you said to this - the woman who came to your vehicle, "You're so pretty." Do you recall saying that?

A. I don't - I did not say that. I don't remember saying that.

Q. Okay. The report indicates that you said, "I'm just looking." Did you say that to the woman?

A. I don't remember that.

Q. So you indicate that you don't remember but my question is, did you say it?

A. I did not say that.

Q. The report indicates that the woman said to you, "Oh, are you sure you don't want any head or fuck?" Did she say that to you?

A. Well, yes, she asked something like that, you know, a question something like that, and that's when I told her "no, I'm married."

Q. Okay. All right. Skipping ahead here that the report indicates that the woman said to you, "It's $30.00 for me to suck your dick." Did she say that to you?

A. Yes, she did. I do - I did hear her say $30.00. I - yeah, she said that.

. . .

A. So she was saying that, you know, $30.00 and would you suck, it's $30.00, you know, would I suck and she was saying a lot of things.

Q. Okay. The report indicates in response to that offer from a woman about $30.00 to suck your dick, you said, "Okay." Did you say that?

A. No. I was not saying okay to agree with her. I was - I wanted to leave and I said, okay, okay, and I was leaving.

Q. The report indicates that the woman said to you, "So you got my $30.00?" Did she say that to you?

A. I remember her saying, you know, something about $30.00 but I didn't say anything, you know, to her about that.

Q. Okay. So in response to the question or the statement, "So you got my $30.00," the report indicates that you said, "Yes." Did you say that?

A. I did not say that. I don't remember.

Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. 8 ("Mehari Dep.") at 27-37.

Although mentioned nowhere in her contemporaneous statement recounted in the police report (nor, for that matter, anywhere in the text of the defendants' motion for summary judgment⁷), Wilkes explains in a declaration filed with the defendants' motion for summary judgment that her pointing over the taxicab may have been done in order to arrange a meeting with Mehari at a nearby hotel:

While I do not specifically recall what I said to Plaintiff at [the] moment [I pointed in the general direction of the west], it has been my practice in undercover prostitution operations to tell individuals who are soliciting me that (1) I have reserved a room at the hotel located at 1615 New York Avenue NE; and (2) they should meet me at the hotel.

Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. 2 ("Wilkes Decl.") ¶¶ 6-7.

Scott arrested Mehari and completed the arrest report. See Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. 4 ("Scott Interrog. Resp.") ¶¶ 6-7; Arrest Report at 1. Mehari was held in custody for several hours after his arrest. See Def. Wilkes's Answer to Pl.'s Am. Compl. ("Wilkes's Answer") [Dkt. #41] ¶ 46. Scott and Johnson signed a Gerstein affidavit in support of Mehari being charged.⁸ See Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. Ex. 1 ("Wilkes's Interrog. Resp.") ¶ 21. Thereafter, he had to appear in court on at least four occasions. See Defs. Scott, Johnson, and Christian's Answer to Am. Compl. ("Other Defs.'Answer") [Dkt. #27] ¶ 50....