Salcedo v. Town of Dudley, Civil Action No. 06-40250-FDS.
| Decision Date | 20 March 2009 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 06-40250-FDS. |
| Citation | 629 F.Supp.2d 86 |
| Parties | Gloria O. SALCEDO, on her own behalf and as mother and next of friend of A.S., and as mother and next of friend of J.S., Plaintiffs, v. TOWN OF DUDLEY, Steven Wojnar, James Hutchinson, Anthony DiDonato, David Carpenter, Dean Poplawski, Paul Ceppetelli, and Other as Yet Unnamed Officers of the Dudley Police Department, individually and in their official capacities as Chief of Police and police officers of the Town of Dudley, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
This is a civil rights case arising out of a police response to a domestic dispute. Plaintiff Gloria Salcedo, a resident of Dudley, Massachusetts, called a 911 emergency line in November 2003 to report that she was suffering physical abuse at the hands of her husband. She alleges that when the police arrived, they did nothing to her husband. Instead, they arrested her for hitting him with a baby monitor (which, she contends, she did in self-defense); assisted her husband in obtaining a restraining order against her; and filed a criminal complaint against her for assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. As a result, she alleges, she lost custody of her children for three years and suffered various emotional injuries.
Salcedo has filed suit on behalf of herself and her two minor sons, contending that the police responded as they did due to gender and ethnic discrimination. She seeks damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and various other federal and state theories of recovery. Defendants have moved for summary judgment, contending that the claims are time-barred and that the evidence does not support her claims.
This matter involves allegations of serious misconduct. In essence, plaintiff contends that she was a victim of domestic abuse; that the police did not take it seriously; that they did nothing to the perpetrator; and that they acted as they did due to gender and ethnic prejudice. Unfortunately, however, plaintiff has done grave harm to her own cause. She waited nearly three years before attempting to file a complaint, and then her counsel simply placed it in the mail rather than delivering it to the courthouse—where it arrived two days after the expiration of the limitations period on most of her claims. Furthermore, her counsel did not make a serious effort to respond to defendants' motion for summary judgment, ignoring some issues entirely and taking an offhand and somewhat casual response to others.
Notwithstanding the nature of the claims, this Court cannot revive time-barred claims or simply ignore procedural defaults. Nor is it the role of the Court to sift through the evidence looking for reasons to keep claims alive when plaintiff herself has declined to do so. Accordingly, and for the reasons set forth below, defendants' motion will be granted.
The Court recites the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the non-moving party, except as noted.
As of mid-2003, Gloria Salcedo was a resident of Dudley, Massachusetts. She and Oscar Salcedo were married, but separated.1 The couple had two young sons.
The marriage included a history of physical abuse.2 While separated, the Salcedos often made custody hand-offs of their sons at the Dudley police station. As a result, several of the officers were familiar with the family.
In August 2003, Gloria, accompanied by another woman, asked the Dudley police for assistance in obtaining a restraining order against her husband. The friend gave a statement to the police about physical abuse by Oscar that she had witnessed. The order was granted.
On the morning of Saturday, November 22, 2003, Gloria called the 911 emergency line to report that Oscar was being abusive, and asked police to come to her home. Officers James Hutchinson, Anthony DiDonato, and Paul Ceppetelli responded to the call.
According to Gloria, Oscar was the aggressor.3 Oscar told the police when they arrived that she had hit him in the back with a baby monitor swung from a cord. Gloria acknowledges that she hit him with the baby monitor, but contends it was in self-defense. She told the police that he scratched her, which they apparently did not believe. Gloria also contends that Oscar cut up one of her fur coats and that he tried to destroy her phone to prevent her from calling the police.
The police initially placed Oscar in handcuffs, but then released him and arrested Gloria. She was handcuffed in front of her two young sons and led out of the house into a police cruiser in front of her neighbors.
At the police station, the police chained Gloria to a bar in the booking room. Several of the officers spoke in a friendly and laughing manner with Oscar, who had come to the station to request a restraining order against Gloria. Officer Paul Ceppetelli contacted the on-call judge at the Dudley District Court for the restraining order. The judge granted it for a two day period, until a hearing could be held Monday morning.
After several hours at the police station, Gloria was booked on charges of assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Her brother came to the police station to post her bail and she was released. She went directly to the emergency room at St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester, where she was treated for her injuries. She also met with a Department of Social Services representative, who began an investigation.
On Sunday, November 23, the DSS issued a report concluding in substance that Oscar had been the aggressor; that Gloria had been the victim; that the two children were now alone with Oscar; and that he had a history of physical abuse toward the children. That afternoon, a DSS representative "spoke with the police and determined this will be a 10-day investigation." (Ex. 21). The record does not indicate the name of the officer to whom she spoke or the details of the conversation.
At 9:00 a.m. on Monday, November 24, the Dudley District Court held a hearing on the restraining order that Oscar had requested. The judge issued the restraining order, which extended through February 5, 2004. The order required Gloria to stay away from the house. That same day, Officer David Carpenter signed a criminal complaint charging Gloria with assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (the baby monitor). The clerk-magistrate of the District Court found probable cause as to both offenses.
Gloria contends that the police failed to advise either the judge handling the request for a restraining order or the clerk-magistrate handling the criminal complaint any information concerning the results of the DSS investigation. The police thus did not tell the court that DSS had concluded that Oscar was the aggressor (with the obvious implication being that Gloria hit Oscar with the baby monitor in self-defense), and did not include an explanation of Oscar's history of physical abuse towards Gloria or the restraining orders she had previously obtained against him. Gloria contends that several of the officers knew about the couple's history due to prior encounters, and that in any event they should have looked at police records and databases to discover the history of restraining orders and abuse allegations before booking her on Saturday. She alleges that their failure to do those things, and their further failure to provide that information to the court on Monday, was due to gender and ethnic prejudice. She also alleges that the Dudley police force systematically failed to train its officers on the proper procedures for handling domestic violence cases, including how to determine which party is the aggressor and whether the victimized party needs protection.
After the events of November 22-24, 2003, Gloria and Oscar continued to have intermittent involvement with the Dudley Police. In January 2004, Gloria was permitted to go to the house where Oscar and the children were living to pick up some furniture and personal belongings. The police were summoned after she arrived, and helped to ensure that Oscar behaved properly and did not mistreat Gloria while she was moving her things.
Also in January 2004, Oscar complained to the police that the phone service in the house had been shut off in violation of the restraining order. Officer Carpenter called Verizon, the telephone service provider, and was told that the service was in Gloria's name and had been shut off for non-payment. Carpenter filed an application for a complaint against Gloria for violating the restraining order. At the hearing on February 18, 2004, the magistrate refused, due to insufficient evidence, to issue a complaint.
In February 2004, Gloria reported to Officer Carpenter that her three-year-old son, while in the custody of Oscar and while he was out of the room, had wrapped a cord from a window blind around his neck and suffered injuries. Officer Carpenter filed a "Report of Abuse or Neglect" with the DSS against Oscar.
On December 1, 2004, Gloria obtained a new restraining order against Oscar, which was served on him by Officer Poplawski.
On February 4, 2005, Gloria was arrested in the Dudley police station parking lot based on a warrant that had been issued when she failed to appear a few days earlier at a hearing concerning her November 22, 2003 arrest. She was released a short while later on $240 bail.
On December 6, 2005, in the Dudley District Court, Gloria admitted to sufficient facts to support the charge of assault and battery. That charge was continued without a...
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