Pinkney v. Meadville

• Decision Date: 28 December 2020
• Docket Number: Case No. 1:19-cv-00167 (Erie)
• Parties: KOBE PINKNEY, Plaintiff v. MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, et al, Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

KOBE PINKNEY, Plaintiff v. MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, et al, Defendants

Case No. 1:19-cv-00167 (Erie)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

December 28, 2020

RICHARD A. LANZILLO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

OPINION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS THE CITY OF MEADVILLE AND JARED FRUM'S MOTION TO DISMISS (ECF NO. 86)

Defendants The City of Meadville, Pennsylvania (Meadville) and Meadville Police Officer Jared Frum (Frum) have moved to dismiss Plaintiff Kobe Pinkney's Second Amended Complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6). ECF No. 86. For the reasons discussed below, the motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

I. Procedural History

The pending motion follows a somewhat complicated procedural history. Pinkney commenced this action against Meadville, Frum, Meadville Police Chief Michael J. Tautin, Allegheny, Allegheny Police Sergeant William Merchbaker, Crawford County First Assistant District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo, the Meadville Tribune, Community Newspaper Holding, Inc., and Meadville Tribune reporter Keith Gushard. Pinkney's original Complaint and First Amended Complaint asserted federal constitutional claims and state law claims based upon allegations that Frum filed criminal assault and other charges against him without probable cause and that the other Defendants either had some role in his arrest or defamed him in their statements or reporting regarding the charges against him. See ECF Nos. 1, 49, 50.

By prior Opinion and Order, the Court dismissed Pinkney's federal law claims against all Defendants and declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over his state law claims. Pinkney v. Meadville, Pennsylvania, 2020 WL 1667241, at *15 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 3, 2020). Thereafter, Pinkney requested reconsideration of the Court's dismissal order on various grounds, including newly discovered evidence that contradicted his prior pleading admission that a witness had definitively identified him as the perpetrator of the assault upon which Frum based the charges against him. Based upon the newly discovered evidence, the Court granted reconsideration and vacated the order, but only to the extent it dismissed claims against Frum. In all other respects the Court reaffirmed its dismissal of Pinkney's federal law claims against the Defendants. Pinkney v. Meadville, Pennsylvania, 2020 WL 1984721 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 27, 2020). The Court granted Pinkney leave to file a Second Amended Complaint based upon his newly discovered evidence.¹ Id.

Pinkney filed his Second Amended Complaint (ECF No. 83) on May 6, 2020.² Pinkney characterizes this pleading as "a two tiered civil rights complaint brought under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and Title VI, 42 U.S.C, Section 2000 et seq.," against Frum and Meadville. ECF No. 83, p.1. Meadville and Frum moved to dismiss all claims against them pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 12(b)(6) on May 20, 2020. ECF No. 86. The motion has been fully briefed and is ready for disposition.

II. Material Facts

The following facts derive from Pinkney's Second Amended Complaint and the exhibits thereto and are considered as true for purposes of the pending motions.

On April 7, 2019, at approximately 1:30 am, Frum, while on routine patrol in the area of the Meadville Academy Theatre, observed four males walking near an establishment known as Julian's Bar. ECF No. 83, ¶24. Two of the men were carrying a third male, later identified as Rhett Happel. Frum observed that the left side of Happel's face was severely swollen and that he had sustained serious injuries to his face. Id., ¶¶25, 28. Frum summoned an ambulance to the scene. While the group waited for the ambulance to arrive, one of the men volunteered that he believed that Happel had been assaulted and speculated that the attack had been motivated by a report that Happel had drugged a female who the police had found unconscious in the bathroom of Julian's Bar the previous night. Id., ¶¶26-27.

Three days later, on April 10, 2019, Frum interviewed Defendant Duncan Freeland, a Residential Advisor and student at Allegheny. Id., ¶29. Frum conducted the interview at Allegheny's Public Safety Building with the assistance of Sergeant Merchbaker, Allegheny's Interim Director of Public Safety, and in the presence of Defendant Joe Hall, Allegheny's Director of Student Conduct. Id. Freeland told Frum and Sergeant Merchbaker that the assailant was an African American male, approximately six feet tall, with braided hair, who walked up to Happel when he was in the bathroom of Julian's Bar, tapped Happel's shoulder from behind and then punched Happel on the left side of his face as Happel turned around. Id., ¶30. According to Freeland, the assailant walked to another area of Julian's Bar and eventually exited the establishment. Id., ¶31. After the assault, Freeland was contacted by Happel's friend, Evan Haines, who sent Freeland a Facebook photo of Jared Shaw, a white male who had been observed at Julian's Bar with the assailant on the evening of the assault, and an African-American male, later identified as Pinkney. Id., ¶32. Both Shaw and Pinkney are football players at Allegheny. Id., ¶35. Freeland told Frum that the black male (Pinkney) depicted in the photograph "looked a lot like the person that punched Happel." Id., ¶33. Haines showed Freeland two additional photographs of Shaw and Pinkney together, and "both times the witness described the Pinkey (sic) as having shorter hair than the assailant." Id., ¶34. In contrast to the description provided by Freeland, Pinkney has never worn his hair in braids and is not six feet tall.³ Id., ¶¶ 54, 64, 92.

Frum also "interviewed the victim, Rhett Happel, who told him that on the evening he was assaulted, he did not recall being struck, but did remember that he had been threatened by both Jared Shaw and Joe Hayes, with Shaw threatening to hit him, and that Shaw had to be pushed away from him." Id., ¶36. Frum's incident report also included a statement from Kristen Ferguson, a bartender employed by Julian's, who initially reported that she was working in the bar when she thought she observed a female punch Rhett Happel. Ferguson later equivocated and stated that she could not be sure that the assailant was a female but did recall Happel being pointed out and accused by a female. Id., ¶37. Happel later recalled "that, moments prior to the assault, Jared Shaw and his girlfriend, who has a first name of 'Chloe,' confronted him inside the bar, accusing him of drugging Chloe the night before, causing her to fall unconscious." Id., ¶38. Shaw and Chloe followed Happel to the men's bathroom where Happel was attacked. Id., ¶39. Based upon this information, the Meadville Police deemed Shaw "a person of interest, for possibly conspiring with the assailant out of retaliation for Shaw drugging Chloe."⁴ Id., ¶40. "Consequently, the police offered Shaw immunity from prosecution, in exchange for Happel identifying the assailant." Id., ¶41.⁵ Shaw declined this offer of immunity and instead hired a local attorney. Id., ¶42.

On April 11, 2019, Frum filed a criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause against Pinkney charging him with aggravated assault in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2702(a)(1), simple assault in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2701 (a)(1), harassment in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2709(a)(1), and disorderly conduct in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5503(a)(1). Frum's affidavit of probable cause stated that a witness had described Happel's attacker as "an African American male approximately six feet tall with braided hair" and that an eyewitness had specifically identified Pinkney as the assailant:

On April 10, 2019, at approximately 16:30 hours, I interviewed a witness [now known to be Freeland] at the Allegheny College Public Safety building. The witness provided an audio recorded statement and stated that they were standing in line for the bathroom. They stated that an African American male approximately six feet tall with braided hair walked up to Happel. They stated that he then tapped Happel on the shoulder and when Happel looked around the male punched him once in the left side of the face. They stated that the male then walked to the town tavern side of the establishment. They stated a short time later they walked into that area and did not see the male anymore.

The witness stated that they were contacted by Happle's (sic) friend, Evan Haines, and was sent picture of a white male and a black male. they recognized the white male as Jared Shaw and the black male as Kobe Pinkney. they recognized Pinkney as the black male that punched Happel. They stated that Haines sent two more pictures and they were both pictures of Pinkney.

ECF No. 55-1, p. 6 (emphasis added).⁶

Pursuant to the criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause, a warrant for Pinkney's arrest was issued on April 11, 2019. That same day, Sergeant Merchbaker removed Pinkney from a philosophy lecture at Allegheny, and Frum placed him under arrest. Id., ¶44. Pinkney was taken before Crawford County Magisterial District Judge Samuel V. Pendolino and arraigned on the charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct. Id., ¶46. Judge Pendolino set bail at $5,000.00. Id., ¶47. Pinkney's preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 25, 2019 and then continued to May 22, 2019. Id., ¶48.

Immediately after Pinkney's arrest, several witnesses came forward proclaiming his innocence and non-involvement in the assault upon Happel. Id., ¶¶45, 49-56. At least one such witness stated that he was present in Julian's Bar on the night of the assault and that he did not observe Pinkney in the bar. This witness went on to identify another individual, Josiah Williams, as the likely assailant. Id., ¶50. Williams is a black male who, unlike Pinkney, wore his hair in braids. Id. This information and other exculpatory evidence were relayed to Michael Stefanucci, Meadville Assistant Chief of Police. Id., ¶¶51-56.

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