Perez v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 14 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20-cv-1359 (LJL) |
| Parties | NOHEME PEREZ, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, individually and in their official capacities as police officers, YVONNE EDWARDS, GEOFFREY WYRICK and JOHN or JANE DOE 1-10 Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Plaintiff Noheme Perez (“Plaintiff” or “Perez”) brings this action, alleging that she was the victim of various constitutional violations committed by members of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) in connection with her May 15, 2017 arrest for resisting arrest N.Y. Penal L. § 205.30, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, N.Y. Vehicle and Traffic Law (“VTL”) § 511(1)(a), driving while ability impaired, id. § 1192(1), and refusal to take a breath test, id. § 1194(1)(b). Dkt. No. 1. On April 3, 2018, Perez was permitted to agree to an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal (“ACD”) in satisfaction of those criminal charges. Dkt. No. 44-12. The charges against her were ultimately dismissed. Id.
Defendants Yvonne Edwards (“Edwards”),[1] Geoffrey Wyrick (“Wyrick”) (collectively, “Individual Defendants”) and the City of New York (,” now move for summary judgment dismissing all claims. Dkt. No. 40. For the following reasons, the motion is granted in part and denied in part. The Court denies summary judgment as to Perez's federal claim of malicious prosecution. The Court grants summary judgment on the remaining claims.
The following facts are drawn from the parties' statements submitted pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 56.1 of the Local Rules of the Southern District of New York and the evidence submitted in connection with the summary judgment motion.[2]Such facts are undisputed unless otherwise indicated, and the Court draws all reasonable inferences in favor of Perez.
On May 15, 2017, Perez doubled parked her vehicle near the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 122nd Street in Manhattan. Dkt. No 53 ¶ 1. While doing so, her vehicle “came into contact with” the adjacent parked vehicle, which caused “movement” in the adjacent vehicle's sideview mirror.[3] Id. ¶ 3. At the time, a “Ms. King” was in the driver's seat of the impacted vehicle. The owner of the vehicle, identified as a “Mr. Riley,” observed the incident from outside the vehicle. Id. ¶ 4. Riley accused Perez of hitting his vehicle, and two then engaged in an “intense verbal disagreement.” Id. ¶¶ 5-6. Police officers arrived at the scene “as a result of the commotion” and Riley and King informed a police officer (not named as a defendant here) that Perez had “sideswiped their vehicle, and that it caused damage to the driver's side front door and mirror.” Id. ¶¶ 7-8. Officer Edwards, who is a Defendant herein, observed the damage to the vehicle. Id. ¶ 9.
Edwards also observed “several bottles of wine, some of which were opened, in the backseat of Noheme Perez's vehicle.” Id. ¶ 10. Defendants state that Edwards observed Perez to have watery and glossy bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcohol on her breath, id. ¶ 11, but those facts are disputed by Perez, Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 11. Defendants cite to the complaint report, motor vehicle collision worksheet, and criminal complaint, which all describe, using substantially the same language, that “it was determined that [Perez] was intoxicated by the smell of her breath along with blood shot glossy eyes.”[4] Dkt. Nos. 44-5, 44-7, 44-11. Edwards was the reporting officer who prepared all three documents, id., and signed the criminal complaint, Dkt. No. 44-11 at 2. Perez cites to her deposition testimony that she had not had anything to drink that day and did not recall the last time she had drunken an alcoholic beverage prior to her arrest. Dkt. No. 44-2 at 93.[5]
Perez was handcuffed by a dark-skinned male officer and then was escorted to the police precinct by two non-Caucasian male police officers. Dkt. No. 53 ¶¶ 12-13.
Edwards is an African American female police officer. Id. ¶ 16. Defendant Wyrick is a Highway Patrol Officer who started his tour of duty at 11:15 p.m., after Perez was already in police custody.[6] Id. ¶ 19. He is a Caucasian male. Id. ¶ 18.
At the precinct, Edwards conducted a pat-down search of Perez without removing any clothing. Id. ¶ 15. After Perez was arrested but before she was charged, Edwards ran a computer check of Perez's driver's license and discovered that her license was suspended for failure to answer a New York summons. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 14; see also Dkt. Nos. 44-3 ¶ 9 (); 44-11 ).
Perez was taken to Harlem Hospital because she claimed that she needed medical treatment.[7] Dkt. No. 44-10. At the hospital, Wyrick was directed to perform a blood alcohol test on Perez. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 20. Defendants claim that Perez refused to authorize the blood alcohol test at the Hospital, id. ¶ 21, but that fact is disputed. Defendants rely on the declaration of Wyrick that he advised Perez of her rights regarding the taking of a test and that Perez refused to permit him to perform a blood alcohol test, Dkt. No. 44-4 ¶ 7. An NYPD Patrol Services Bureau Report dated January 3, 2018 states that Perez was asked at the precinct whether she would agree to a blood test for alcohol and she agreed. It also states that Edwards noted on Perez's paperwork that she had refused a blood test. Dkt. No. 44-10 at 4. It is undisputed that Wyrick prepared an “Intoxicated Driver Examination - Blood Form,” on which he noted Perez's alleged refusal of the blood test. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 22; see also Dkt. No. 44-8 (Intoxicated Driver Examination Form). Perez testified at her deposition that she “was given an option and . . . was told that it would be okay if [she] can do blood.” Dkt. No. 44-2 at 106. She also recalled that the officer “conducting the sobriety test said that . . . we can do th[e blood test] at the hospital,” and that “he required [her] to go to the hospital for the blood testing.” Id. at 107. She also “offer[ed] to do the blood test . . . at the precinct.” Id. She further testified that when they arrived at the hospital, they “stood waiting and nothing ever happened and then from the hospital I was transported over to the precinct.” Id. She stated that by then, she “had no sobriety test, . . . other than what the doctor stated . . . [that] he does not find the patient to be intoxicated.” Id. The hospital report dated May 15, 2017 states that the “patient is not intoxicated.” Dkt. No. 52-1. Afterwards, Wyrick resumed patrol. Dkt. No. 52 ¶ 22.
Perez was booked at the precinct on charges of resisting arrest, N.Y. Penal L. § 205.30, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, N.Y. VTL § 511(1)(a), driving while her ability was impaired, id. § 1192(1), and refusal to take a breath test, id. § 1194(1)(b). Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 25; see also Dkt. No. 44-6 (). Edwards signed a criminal complaint dated May 16, 2017 that similarly charged her with resisting arrest, N.Y. Penal Law § 205.30, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, N.Y. VTL § 511(1)(a), driving while ability impaired, id. § 1192(1), operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, id. § 1192(3), and unlicensed driving, id. § 509(1), but not with refusal to perform a breath test. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 26.
Defendants state that Edwards did not use excessive force against Perez and did not observe any officer use excessive force against her. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 17. Defendants rely on Edwards' declaration which states the same. Dkt. No. 44-3 ¶ 11. Perez disputes that fact in her Response to Defendants' Rule 56.1 Statement. Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 17A. Perez relies on three videos produced by the City, but she submitted only two of the cited videos to the Court.[8] See Dkt. No. 52-5a; Dkt. No. 52-6a. Neither video is of the arrest scene or depicts Edwards or Wyrick. The first video is of Perez being removed from her holding cell to the “highway room” at the precinct and, according to Perez, shows her arm being “twisted behind her back and wrenched over her head.” Dkt. No. 53 ¶ 17A.[9] That video shows five officers arriving at her holding cell, three handcuffing her behind her back while the other two stand outside, and all officers then escorting Perez from her cell. Dkt. No. 52-5a. A Caucasian male officer holds her shoulder under her handcuffed wrists as he guides her, hunched over, out of the cell. Id. The second video is of Perez in the highway room. Five officers enter with Perez, and the same Caucasian officer presses her body against the wall, with her face forward, while another officer helps him remove her handcuffs. The officers then bring Perez over to a chair. Perez appears to rock back slightly (although the cause is unclear), and Perez yells at the officers as they make her sit down and handcuff her to the chair. Dkt. No. 52-6a.
Perez does not submit a Rule 56.1 Counterstatement but her deposition is before the Court. With respect to the incident in the holding cell, Perez testified to the following:
. . . I was...
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