Paiva v. City of Reno, CV-N-94-218-ECR.

Citation939 F. Supp. 1474
Decision Date30 August 1996
Docket NumberNo. CV-N-94-218-ECR.,CV-N-94-218-ECR.
PartiesJohn PAIVA, Margaret Schepp, and Guy P. Felton III, Administrator of the Estate of John Paiva, Jr., Deceased, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF RENO; Richard Kirkland, Chief of the Reno Police Dep't; Brian Chittenden; Gary Quam; Chris Alexander; Gary Pointer; and Does 1-20, inclusive, Defendants.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. District of Nevada

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Terri Keyser-Cooper, Santa Cruz, CA, Donald York Evans, Reno, NV, for Plaintiffs.

Dianne E. Foley, Deputy Reno City Attorney, Reno, NV, for Defendants.

ORDER

EDWARD C. REED, Jr., District Judge.

Introduction

John Paiva, Jr. was shot and killed by officers of the Reno Police Department on the night of April 4, 1992. His parents and his estate have sued the individual officers involved, their Chief of Police, and the City of Reno, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of his federal civil rights, and appending various tort claims under Nevada law. This court by Order filed August 14, 1994 (Doc. # 71) dismissed Plaintiffs' Eighth Amendment claim, their wrongful death claim, and their claim of conspiracy to frustrate their efforts to prosecute this action.1 Defendants have now moved for summary judgment on Plaintiffs' remaining claims (Doc. # 77). The court had previously ordered all pretrial proceedings in this action referred to the United States Magistrate Judge (Doc. # 47), pursuant to which Order the Magistrate Judge has issued his Report and Recommendation as to the pending defense motion for summary judgment (Doc. # 88). Defendants have filed objections (Doc. # 90) to the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation, as have Plaintiffs (Doc. # 93). Because the parties have, together, objected to every dispositive recommendation2 contained in the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation, the court must undertake de novo review of the entire record on summary judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72.

I. Undisputed Facts

The following facta are undisputed: On a Saturday evening in April 1992, Reno Police Officers Gary Quam, Brian Chittenden, Chris Alexander and Gary Pointer responded to a report of an altercation between two neighbors outside a Reno apartment house in which both were tenants. Upon arrival, the officers encountered one Michael Pistone, a resident of the apartment house. Mr. Pistone described to the officers a violent exchange between him and his neighbor, plaintiffs' decedent John Paiva, during which, according to Mr. Pistone, he had broken a beer bottle over Mr. Paiva's head.

The officers approached Mr. Paiva's residence, and began knocking on his front door with their nightsticks, announcing themselves as police officers, and calling on Mr. Paiva to open the door. Mr. Paiva did not immediately respond. Officer Chittenden then opened the outer screen door to the residence, apparently using some degree of force.3 The officers continued to knock for several minutes, after which Mr. Paiva opened his front door. In response to the officers' questions, Mr. Paiva denied being hit on the head with a bottle, denied having fought with Mr. Pistone, and refused the officers' request that he permit them to enter his residence. Officer Quam then planted one foot in the doorway to prevent Mr. Paiva from closing his door. Mr. Paiva asked Officer Quam to remove the offending foot from his doorway. Officer Chittenden placed his foot in Mr. Paiva's doorway, and was told to remove it. Officer Quam then drew his weapon and fired at Mr. Paiva. Mr. Paiva closed his front door, and Officers Quam, Alexander and Chittenden proceeded to empty the magazines of their weapons into Mr. Paiva's front door and the windows on either side of the door, reload, and keep firing.

Within minutes of arriving on the premises, the four officers summoned hostage negotiation and special weapons and tactics units. When, after several hours of waiting, SWAT officers fired tear gas into the residence and stormed the front door, John Paiva was already dead.4 In the interval, apparently, Officers Quam, Pointer and Chittenden were able to converse; the defendant officers were eventually transported to RPD headquarters by one Lieutenant Cardwell, and gave recorded statements of their versions of events later the following morning. It remains unclear from the record precisely who first entered the residence, and at what time. It does appear undisputed that when Lieutenant Raymond Wright and Investigator William Stevenson of the RPD's Forensic Investigation Section arrived on the scene shortly after midnight, other RPD officers had already arrived on the scene and had entered the residence. Lieutenant Wright and Investigator Stevenson placed numbered markers around the site of the shooting, and proceeded to make a photographic and videotape record of the scene. The two forensic investigators then collected physical evidence, including fingerprints, firearms and ammunition from the body of John Paiva, and spent shell casings from the area around the doorway and windows of the residence. Officers Wright and Stevenson also retrieved all of the clothing, weapons and other equipment from the officers involved in the shooting. The forensic team completed their initial investigation of the scene some time after sunrise on Sunday morning, April 5, 1992.5

The autopsy of John Paiva was performed by Dr. Frederick Laubscher of the Washoe County Coroner's office beginning at around half past nine o'clock the same morning. The body was very bloody, and there appeared several gunshot wounds. Dr. Laubscher noted the presence of an empty black gun holster at the right shoulder, and a wristwatch in working order on the right wrist.6

Defendants' Motion (Doc. # 77) seeks summary judgment on Plaintiffs' federal causes of action other than those dismissed by the earlier Order of this court filed August 14, 1995 (Doc. # 71). Defendants now seek summary judgment on Plaintiffs' federal causes of action for (1) unlawful search and seizure, (2) the use of excessive force, (3) violation of due process, and (4) the failure of the defendant police department to train the individual defendant officers. Appended to these federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are claims sounding in Nevada tort law for wrongful death and trespass, which claims are not addressed in the defense summary judgment motion.

II. Officers Quam, Chittenden, and Alexander
A. Unreasonable Search

That the defendant police officers had no legal authority upon which to arrest plaintiffs' decedent is not reasonably capable of question. John Paiva had committed no crime, and was at the moment the police arrived minding his own business inside the walls of his own house. He was under no obligation whatever to grant the police entry to his home or to exit his house to allow the police to question him. Indeed, John Paiva was under no legal obligation to engage in any conversation with the four uniformed officers who darkened his door. See, e.g., Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 434, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2386, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991) (recognizing, in situation where police have no probable cause to arrest, a citizen's right to disregard police and go about her business); United States v. Gonzales, 79 F.3d 413, 421 (5th Cir.) (numbering among factors relevant to determination of consent to search a citizen's awareness of her right to withhold such consent), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 183, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (1996); United States v. Little, 60 F.3d 708, 711 (10th Cir.1995) (noting right of citizens not under arrest to refuse to answer police questions).

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees citizens' freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. That right operates against agents of both the state and federal governments. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). Ordinarily, no one may be arrested or searched in one's own home, and no one's property may there be seized, without judicial authorization in the form of a warrant, supported by probable cause. U.S. Const. amend. IV. There are, however, numerous exceptions to the general rule. For example, police officers need no warrant to arrest a felon fleeing into a private residence, United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 49 L.Ed.2d 300 (1976), to search a person incident to a lawful arrest, Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925), to search a person or premises under her control where the subject freely consents to the search, Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973), or to seize from a citizen's residence contraband items or evidence or fruits of crime which are plainly visible from a vantage point lawfully occupied by police officers, Washington v. Chrisman, 455 U.S. 1, 102 S.Ct. 812, 70 L.Ed.2d 778 (1982).

None of these common exceptions appears even arguably available to the defendant police officers. Defendants maintain, however, that they never conducted any "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The court lacks defendants' confidence on this point. The defendant officers argue that Officer Chittenden's forcible opening of the screen door to Paiva's residence was not a "search." But the door was closed, and may have been locked. Officer Quam testified as his deposition that he warned Officer Alexander not to force open the screen door; he realized that such an act would constitute an unlawful entry. Officer Chittenden displayed no such solicitude. He "pulled on the screen door, a little harder than anyone else, because he popped it off its hinge and the door opened up."7 The forcible opening of the door was both a trespass and a warrantless nonconsensual entry into a citizen's home. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d...

To continue reading

Request your trial
8 cases
  • Perrin v. Gentner
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nevada
    • 13 Diciembre 2001
    ...court must consider the circumstances from the perspective of a reasonable officer at the scene of the incident. Paiva v. City of Reno, 939 F.Supp. 1474, 1483-84 (D.Nev.1996). "Law enforcement officers may not to kill unless, at a minimum, the suspect presents an immediate threat to the off......
  • Calhoon v. City of S. Lake Tahoe Police Dep't
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
    • 7 Febrero 2023
    ......at 77:21-25, 78:1-5. Calhoon has not provided any evidence Cabral ordered officers. to search Calhoon's belongings. Paiva v. City of. Reno , 939 F.Supp. 1474, 1489-90 (D. Nev. 1996) (denying. supervisory liability when plaintiffs “presented no. ......
  • Kiessling v. Det. Rader P#6099, Case No.: 2:16-cv-0690-GMN-NJK
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nevada
    • 26 Marzo 2018
    ...determination in a Fourth Amendment excessive force cause of action is generally reserved to the jury. Paiva v. City of Reno, 939 F.Supp. 1474, 1485 (D. Nev. 1996). The Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiff and cannot grant summary judgment if such evidence c......
  • Rodriguez v. Las Vegas Metropolitian Police Dep't
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nevada
    • 13 Diciembre 2018
    ...determination in a Fourth Amendment excessive force cause of action is generally reserved to the jury. Paiva v. City of Reno, 939 F. Supp. 1474, 1485 (D. Nev. 1996). The Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiff and cannot grant summary judgment if such evidence ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT