Pride v. Kansas Highway Patrol

• Decision Date: 01 May 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 89-1342-T.
• Citation: 793 F. Supp. 279
• Parties: Shawn C. PRIDE, Plaintiff, v. KANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL, Trooper Jan Lamb, and Various John Does, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

793 F. Supp. 279

Shawn C. PRIDE, Plaintiff, v. KANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL, Trooper Jan Lamb, and Various John Does, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 89-1342-T.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

May 1, 1992.

John Thomas Marten, Bremyer & Wise, P.A., McPherson, Kan., for plaintiff.

Carl A. Gallagher, Nancy L. Ulrich, Office of the Atty. Gen., Topeka, Kan., for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

THEIS, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiff Shawn Pride brings this § 1983 action, alleging the use of excessive force by Defendant Jan Lamb. Plaintiff also brings a state battery claim against Officer Lamb. Officer Lamb presents before the court a motion for summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity from the § 1983 suit.

STATEMENT OF UNCONTROVERTED FACTS

On the evening of September 9, 1988, Plaintiff and his companions visited the state fair in Hutchinson, Kansas. They patronized a drinking establishment, at which Plaintiff bought a beer. After wandering about the fairgrounds, the plaintiff went to the Deli, an establishment that served beer, and purchased another beer. Plaintiff then engaged in a loud, spirited conversation about bass fishing with a man standing in line behind him. For unknown reasons, Stuart Whiteneck, the plaintiff's companion, was struck by an unidentified individual while he was standing beside the plaintiff. Plaintiff then found himself shoved out of the establishment.

Defendant Jan Lamb, who was on duty as the plainclothes trooper at the fair, received a report of an altercation at the Deli. Upon arrival, Lamb saw Troopers Mayfield and Hanlon with the plaintiff and Whiteneck. Defendant Lamb, as the officer on duty, proceeded to interview the patrons and the troopers at the establishment concerning the altercation. From the interviews, Lamb learned that either the plaintiff or his companion Whiteneck had slapped a barmaid on her arm, and that an unidentified individual in the Deli then pinned the plaintiff against the wall and struck Whiteneck. Plaintiff, however, denies slapping the barmaid or that anyone had pinned him against the wall. Officer Lamb returned to the highway patrol office to make out a report.

After the incident subsided, Plaintiff and his companions again visited another drinking establishment. Plaintiff was ordered to leave the establishment by someone working at the establishment who perhaps observed the earlier altercation. Plaintiff elected to remain on the premises. Shortly thereafter, troopers arrived. Plaintiff told the troopers that he intended to finish his beer. One of the troopers then grabbed the plaintiff and pushed him out of the establishment. Plaintiff was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct, handcuffed, and taken to the highway patrol office.

At the troopers' office, the plaintiff was seated with his hands handcuffed behind his back. Defendant Lamb proceeded to interview the plaintiff. Lamb claims that the plaintiff was verbally abusive and had hollered that he was going to kick her "fucking dyke ass." Plaintiff denies using any abusive language. While the plaintiff was seated with his hands cuffed, Lamb perceived certain movements by the plaintiff, which she interpreted as the plaintiff's attempt to lunge forward at her. Plaintiff denies that he started forward out of his chair. Lamb then placed her left hand around the front of the plaintiff's neck to set him back down in his chair. Plaintiff screamed that he was being choked. According to the plaintiff, Lamb applied an "unpleasant, painful pressure" to his neck and throat that "reduced, though not entirely destroyed, his ability to breathe and speak." Plaintiff also claims that Officer Lamb stated that she hated men.

After the alleged choking, Plaintiff requested medical treatment from the police officers, but his request was denied. However, although Plaintiff was released that evening and was free to obtain medical treatment, he did not do so until several days later. He never needed a neck brace or any significant medical treatment. Aside from the bruises on his neck, Plaintiff claims that he suffered "psychological distress and humiliation" as a result of Officer Lamb's action. Plaintiff never sought any psychiatric counselling.

DISCUSSION

In ruling on a § 1983 claim, the threshold inquiry is whether there was, in fact, a violation of the plaintiff's federal rights. The plaintiff in this case alleges a general claim of excessive force by a law enforcement officer, which occurred after he had been arrested and brought to the highway patrol office.

Excessive force claims are not governed by a single generic constitutional standard. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 393-94, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1869-71, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989). In Graham, the Supreme Court held that § 1983 claims based on excessive force during arrest are governed by the Fourth Amendment's "objective reasonableness" standard, and not the substantive Due Process standard. Id. Although the Supreme Court declined in Graham to pronounce the constitutional standard governing post-arrest excessive force, the Tenth Circuit has held that the Fourth Amendment's protections persist beyond the point of arrest to impose restrictions on the treatment of the arrestee detained without a warrant. Austin v. Hamilton, 945 F.2d 1155, 1160 (10th Cir. 1991). Because the offensive police conduct at issue here allegedly occurred subsequent to the initial arrest, the defendants' conduct must be assessed under the "objective reasonableness" standard of the Fourth Amendment.

The Fourth Amendment standard requires police conduct to be objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances surrounding the defendants irrespective of their underlying intent or motivation. Frohmader v. Wayne, 958 F.2d 1024, 1026 (10th Cir.1992). Reasonableness must be viewed from the vantage point of the defendants on the scene. The court cannot, in the serenity of its chambers, apply 20/20 hindsight in determining the reasonableness of the defendants' actions. See id.

In the present case, the defendant Jan Lamb claims that she placed her left hand around the plaintiff's neck to restrain him from lunging toward her. The plaintiff, on the other hand, attests that he "did not start forward out of the chair ... toward defendant Lamb or physically threaten her in any way." (Plt's affidavit). In the face of these conflicting accounts, the court must accept the plaintiff's version of the facts. The court must also, however, view the incident from the perspective of the defendant. The defendant had learned from earlier reports — however unfounded — that the plaintiff had slapped a barmaid, was intoxicated, resisted arrest and behaved in a quarrelsome manner. Even though, according to the plaintiff's version, the plaintiff did not attempt to lunge forward at the defendant, the defendant believed that he was attempting to do so, and felt threatened. In light of her perception of the present threat, reinforced by the reports of the plaintiff's earlier conduct, she sought to restrain the plaintiff by placing her hand on the part of the plaintiff's body that was most accessible at the time. The force applied by the defendant was de minimis,¹ and caused no significant injury to the plaintiff. The plaintiff himself only complained of some "unpleasantness." He required no immediate medical treatment, and did not seek medical attention until several days later. The court concludes, therefore, that although, judging from the plaintiff's account of the incident, the defendant appears to have been mistaken in believing that her safety was threatened, her actions were not unreasonable in light of her perception and the insignificant amount of force inflicted. See Austin, 945 F.2d at 1160 n. 3.

Furthermore, to successfully state an excessive force claim, the plaintiff must establish that he suffered significant injury or that the defendant's actions were sufficiently reprehensible. See Frohmader, 958 F.2d 1024, 1026, 1992 WL 44884, at *5 (court found evidence of conduct "sufficiently reprehensible to constitute a clear violation of the objective reasonableness standard"); Johnson v. Morel, 876 F.2d 477, 480 (5th Cir.1989) ("An officer's use of excessive force does not give constitutional import to ... minor harms."). The injury suffered by the plaintiff is not sufficiently significant to rise to the level of a constitutional violation. Likewise, the conduct complained of here is not "sufficiently reprehensible" to warrant constitutional redress. The court determines, therefore, that the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated.

Even if the plaintiff has stated a viable Fourth Amendment claim, the defendant is nevertheless not liable under § 1983 by virtue of qualified immunity.² In assessing the defense of qualified immunity, the court must determine whether the defendant violated clearly established law of which a reasonable officer would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982).

Although Graham and Austin apply retroactively for the purpose of determining whether a substantive constitutional violation existed, see Austin, 945 F.2d at 1161 n. 4, qualified immunity analysis requires an examination of the law that was clearly established at the time of the offensive conduct. Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3038, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). At the time the plaintiff's constitutional right was allegedly violated, this circuit generally examined claims of post-arrest, pretrial excessive force under the substantive Due Process standard. Frohmader, 958 F.2d 1024, 1027; Austin, 945 F.2d at 1162. The plaintiff, therefore, bears the burden of showing that Officer Lamb's action constituted an excessive use of force under the substantive Due Process standard, and that a reasonable officer in her position would have known that her action was unlawful.

Under the Due Process standard, the following factors...