ROBERTS BY ROBERTS v. City of New York

• Citation: 753 F. Supp. 480
• Decision Date: 18 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89 CIV. 2849.,89 CIV. 2849.
• Parties: Stacey ROBERTS, Kenneth Roberts, Infants by their mother and natural guardian Frances ROBERTS, and Frances Roberts, individually, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, New York City Police Department, and Guy Brunelle, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

753 F. Supp. 480

Stacey ROBERTS, Kenneth Roberts, Infants by their mother and natural guardian Frances ROBERTS, and Frances Roberts, individually, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, New York City Police Department, and Guy Brunelle, Defendants.

No. 89 CIV. 2849.

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

December 18, 1990.

George Nager, Law Firm of George Nager, Mineola, N.Y., for plaintiffs.

Jordan Sklar, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Office of Corporation Counsel, New York City, for defendants.

OPINION

MOTLEY, District Judge.

Plaintiffs Stacey and Kenneth Roberts and their mother Frances Roberts brought suit against the City of New York, its Police Department and Officer Guy Brunelle alleging that Officer Brunelle, and the municipal defendants, deprived them of their civil rights under color of state law when Officer Brunelle arrested Stacey and Kenneth on April 25, 1988 without probable cause. Plaintiffs bring their action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988, also alleging violations of the United States and New York State Constitutions.¹ They further allege violation of state law and seek redress for damages suffered for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Frances Roberts sues for loss of services, society and comfort of her children, loss of wages, and expenses incurred in caring for her children as a result of the incident alleged. Plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, reasonable attorneys fees and costs.

This matter is now before the court on Defendants' motion for summary judgment. In order to grant Defendants' motion, this court must find that Plaintiffs have not alleged specific material facts sufficient to prevail in their claim were they proved at trial, as a matter of law.

This court disagrees with Defendants that a determination of probable cause may be made from the undisputed facts surrounding Officer Brunelle's arrest of Stacey and Kenneth Roberts on this summary judgment motion, and therefore denies summary judgment on this ground. However, this court grants summary judgment to Defendant Brunelle on the grounds of qualified immunity and to the municipal defendants on the grounds that Plaintiffs have failed to sufficiently show custom, pattern, or policy of the City of New York and the Police Department which caused the deprivation of their rights.

Further, this court refuses jurisdiction over Plaintiff's state law claims and dismisses them without prejudice.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Taking the facts as presented with all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, the court finds as follows.

1. On April 25, 1988 Officer Guy Brunelle, of the 115th precinct, arrested Stacey and Kenneth Roberts.

2. Officer Brunelle initiated the arrest after he was approached by Iris Rojas, a taxi driver, who identified Plaintiffs as the man and woman who had robbed her at knife point several weeks earlier on April 1, 1988 and then drove away in her taxi-cab. Ms. Rojas showed the police officer the memorandum of a complaint with the complaint number on it which she had filed the day of the robbery in the 110th precinct.

3. Ms. Rojas spoke Spanish and perhaps no English. Officer Brunelle is unable to speak Spanish.

4. Ms. Rojas was with another person, a child, who performed some translation of her complaint to the officer in English and identified the Roberts' as the assailants as they shopped in a nearby candy store.

5. Kenneth and Stacey Roberts were, respectively, 16 and 17 years old at the time of the arrest. Plaintiffs asked why they were being arrested but were not given an answer. They allege the officer could not understand enough of what Ms. Rojas was saying to him to know specifically why he was arresting them. (Plaintiff's Trial Memorandum, at 2).

6. Officer Brunelle did not attempt to verify any of the information given to him by Ms. Rojas or her translator but proceeded to apprehend the Plaintiffs in the candy store and arrest them. This arrest was made without a warrant.

7. Subsequent to the arrest, Plaintiffs were booked in the 115th precinct. When told the particulars of the charge levied against them, Plaintiffs told Officer Brunelle they were working at the time of the robbery and assault of Ms. Rojas and gave him their employers' information to confirm their whereabouts. Officer Brunelle called and did confirm the information they gave him but retained them in the precinct and under arrest. The official report from the 110th precinct showed "gross" disparities in the physical descriptions of the perpetrators and Plaintiffs.

8. Plaintiffs were arraigned the next day and released in the custody of their mother, Frances Roberts.

9. On June 1, 1988, the case against them was dismissed after being presented to a grand jury.

10. Kenneth Roberts worked at a candy store in the community in which Officer Brunelle patrolled and had sold merchandise to him at the store. Plaintiffs were not armed nor committing any crime at the time of arrest. They possess no distinguishing physical characteristics such as a scar or limp. (Plaintiff's Trial Memorandum, at 4).

DISCUSSION

On a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-10, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Where the facts leading up to the arrest are undisputed, the issue of probable cause to arrest may properly be decided by a court as a matter of law. Broadway v. City of New York, 601 F.Supp. 624, 626 (S.D.N.Y.1985); Veras v. Truth Verification Corp., 87 A.D.2d 381, 451 N.Y.S.2d 761 (App.Div. 1st Dept.1982).

However, "when the defense of probable cause is based upon conflicting evidence ... from which reasonable persons might draw different inferences, the question is for the jury or trier of fact." Tepperman v. N.Y. City Transit Authority, 133 Misc.2d 788, 508 N.Y.S.2d 142, 146 (1986) (citing Smith v. County of Nassau, 34 N.Y.2d 18, 355 N.Y.S.2d 349, 311 N.E.2d 489 (1974)); see also Nix v. Sweeney, 573 F.2d 998, 1001 (8th Cir.1978). "Where the facts leading up to the arrest are undisputed, the existence of probable or reasonable cause to make the arrest is determined by the Court, as a matter of law." Tepperman, 508 N.Y.S.2d at 146; Toenis v. Hommel, 59 A.D.2d 1000, 399 N.Y.S.2d 723 (3rd Dept.1977); see also Broadaway v. City of New York, 601 F.Supp. 624 (S.D.N.Y.1985). In this case, while the material facts appear to be uncontroverted, the inferences to be drawn from them could reasonably differ.

I. Probable Cause.

Probable cause exists "where `the facts and circumstances within the officers' knowledge and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that' an offense has been or is being committed by the person to be arrested." Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175-76, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1311, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949), quoting Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). See also Dunaway v. City of New York, 442 U.S. 200, 208, n. 9, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 2254, n. 9, 60 L.Ed.2d 824, 833, n. 9 (1979); Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91, 85 S.Ct. 223, 225-26, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964); United States v. Ceballos, 812 F.2d 42, 50 (2d Cir.1987); United States v. Fisher, 702 F.2d 372, 375 (2d Cir.1983). The evidence to support probable cause need not be enough to support conviction but "must constitute more than rumor, suspicion, or even a `strong reason to suspect'." United States v. Fisher, 702 F.2d 372, 375 (2d Cir.1985) (quoting Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 101, 80 S.Ct. 168, 170, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959)). Facts relied upon must not be susceptible to innocent or ambiguous explanation. Fisher, 702 F.2d at 378.

According to New York law, an officer "may arrest a person for ... a crime when he has reasonable cause to believe that such person has committed such crime, whether in his presence or otherwise." N.Y.Crim.Proc.Law § 140.10(1)(b) (McKinney 1981) (quoted in Camarano v. City of New York, 646 F.Supp. 246, 250 (S.D.N.Y. 1986). "Reasonable cause to believe that a person has committed an offense" exists upon "reliable" information which, collectively, "convinces a person of ordinary intelligence, judgment and experience that it is reasonably likely that such offense was committed and that such person committed it." N.Y.Crim.Proc.Law § 70.10 (McKinney 1981) (quoted in Camarano, 646 F.Supp. at 250, n. 3.). The New York standard of reasonable cause is substantially the same as the federal Fourth Amendment standard of "probable cause." Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 478 n. 6, 83 S.Ct. 407, 412 n. 6, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 449 (1963); United States ex rel. Gonzales v. Follette, 397 F.2d 232, 234 (2d Cir.1968).

The question before this court is whether, on the undisputed facts before us, Officer Brunelle had reasonable cause to believe a crime had been committed and that Stacey and Kenneth Roberts committed it. This court finds that reasonable men could differ as to this issue.

A warrantless arrest is presumptively invalid, Tepperman v. N.Y. City Transit Authority, 133 Misc.2d 788, 508 N.Y.S.2d 142, 145 (1986); Ryan v. N.Y.Tel. Co., 62 N.Y.2d 494, 478 N.Y.S.2d 823, 467 N.E.2d 487 (1984), and the burden of proving "reasonable cause" is on the police officer. Broadaway v. City of New York, 601 F.Supp. 624 (S.D.N.Y.1985); Smith v. County of Nassau, 34 N.Y.2d 18, 355 N.Y. S.2d 349, 311 N.E.2d 489 (1974). Several factors have been cited by courts as significant to the probable cause determination.

In this case, the alleged victim identified Plaintiffs several weeks after her attack, Tepperman, 508 N.Y.S.2d at 143 (defendant's motion for summary judgment denied because a...