Runnels v. Parker

• Decision Date: 27 January 1967
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 66-803-F.
• Citation: 263 F. Supp. 271
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: John L. RUNNELS, Aaron Mallard, Sr. and John T. Pritchett, Plaintiffs, v. William H. PARKER, individually and as Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles, California, John Ferraro, Elbert T. Hudson, Reynaldo Carreon, Jr., Frank G. Hathaway, Michael Kohn, Nancy E. Lyman, individually and as members of the Police Commission of the City of Los Angeles, California, Herbert D. Wade, P. E. McKinley and Lewis J. Wilson, individually and as Police Officers of the City of Los Angeles, California, Defendants.

263 F. Supp. 271

John L. RUNNELS, Aaron Mallard, Sr. and John T. Pritchett, Plaintiffs, v. William H. PARKER, individually and as Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles, California, John Ferraro, Elbert T. Hudson, Reynaldo Carreon, Jr., Frank G. Hathaway, Michael Kohn, Nancy E. Lyman, individually and as members of the Police Commission of the City of Los Angeles, California, Herbert D. Wade, P. E. McKinley and Lewis J. Wilson, individually and as Police Officers of the City of Los Angeles, California, Defendants.

Civ. No. 66-803-F.

United States District Court C. D. California.

January 27, 1967.

Jerrell Babb, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiffs.

Roger Arnebergh, City Atty., John A. Daly, Asst. City Atty., Donald Batman, Deputy City Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants.

OPINION

FERGUSON, District Judge.

The motion of the defendants, William H. Parker, John Ferraro, Elbert T. Hudson, Reynaldo Carreon, Jr., Frank G. Hathaway, Michael Kohn and Nancy E. Lyman, for summary judgment, filed on January 4, 1967, heretofore argued and submitted, it is now decided as follows:

The said motion is hereby granted on the ground that it appears from the pleadings and answers to interrogatories, together with the affidavits, "* * * that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party parties is are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law". Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The Court approves the form of findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the judgment, lodged on January 4, 1967, by the moving defendants and has signed and caused the same to be filed this day.

Costs to the defendants.

Comment:

This case arises under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1983, for an alleged violation of civil rights by police officers of the City of Los Angeles, the Chief of Police and the individual members of the Los Angeles Police Commission, and the Secretary of the Commission.

The material facts pertaining to the motion stated most favorably to the plaintiffs (Burnham Chemical Co. v. Borax Consolidated, Ltd., 170 F.2d 569, 574 (9th Cir. 1948), indicate that on August 30, 1965, plaintiff John T. Pritchett was driving an automobile on Vermont Avenue near the intersection with Florence Avenue in Los Angeles. The plaintiffs Aaron Mallard, Sr., and John L. Runnels were passengers.

Plaintiff Pritchett made a turn from Vermont Avenue on to Florence Avenue, whereupon he was ordered to the curb and to stop by a police officer who had been following him. Several other police cars appeared and converged on plaintiff's automobile. Several police officers, openly armed with hand guns, dismounted from the police cars and surrounded plaintiff's automobile. Plaintiffs were ordered from their automobile, arrested on suspicion of robbery and searched.

Plaintiffs were returning to their respective homes from their employment at the Long Beach Naval Shipyards. Each of the plaintiffs had in his shirt pocket an official identity badge issued him by the shipyard on which was his picture and his name.

No contraband of any sort was found on the persons of plaintiffs or the automobile.

A period of time had elapsed while the officers continued to search the automobile, restraining the plaintiffs until one officer was heard to say, "We have had them out here long enough, let's take them in".

By this time a large crowd of onlookers had gathered, the Florence Avenue and Vermont intersection being a major intersection in Los Angeles. Plaintiffs were then handcuffed, placed in police vehicles and transported to a police station. At the police station the plaintiffs were interrogated for a period of an hour and a half, were then booked and placed in cells.

Plaintiff Runnels was jailed for a period of three days; Aaron Mallard, Sr., for two days; and John D. Pritchett for two days. Plaintiffs were released without any charge being placed against them.

Plaintiffs in this action have sued the three police officers who arrested them, the Chief of Police and the individual members of the Board of Police Commissioners, together with Nancy E. Lyman, who is the secretary to the Board. The motion for summary judgment is brought by all of the defendants, excluding the three police officers who made the arrest.

The basis for the action against the moving defendants is the allegation that there is a departmental rule of the Los Angeles Police Department, promulgated either by the Chief of Police or the members of the Board of Police Commissioners, which requires Los Angeles City Police Officers while questioning persons suspected of criminal activities on the public streets to limit that questioning to a period of time not to exceed 30 minutes, and if not concluded within that time to transport them to a police station.

The plaintiffs contend that the effect of such a rule overrides the individual police officer's discretion and arbitrarily results in the arrest of persons who though possibly being properly questioned on the street may be innocent of any criminal activity or any other reason which would provide reasonable or probable cause for their being taken into custody otherwise.

The defendants have filed affidavits which are uncontradicted to the effect that they had no knowledge whatsoever of the alleged incident which is the basis of the action prior to their becoming parties to the action; that they were not personally involved in the alleged arrests, nor were they personally involved in any other incident or happening which is alleged as a basis of the action; that they did not direct the arrests or other described happenings to the plaintiffs or ratify them in any way; and lastly that they did not prescribe any arrest procedures which eliminated the use of discretion by the individual officers.

The plaintiffs do not claim that the Chief of Police or the members of the Los Angeles Police Commission are liable to plaintiffs under the doctrine of respondeat superior. The basis for a cause of action, if any, under the Civil Rights Act against the moving defendants is, therefore, as stated in the second cause of action of the plaintiffs' complaint. There the plaintiffs allege that the Chief of Police and the individual members of the Police Commission promulgated and adopted certain procedures for the guidance and mandatory use by police officers of the City of Los Angeles relative to, among other things, procedures to be followed by police officers after having arrested persons on the public streets or elsewhere where such arrests may cause crowds to gather; and that pursuant to said prescribed procedures a police officer must either release the persons arrested or transport them to places of confinement within 30 minutes of the arrest, irrespective of the status of...