Savarese v. City of N.Y.

• Decision Date: 02 July 2021
• Docket Number: 18-cv-5956 (LJL)
• Citation: 547 F.Supp.3d 305
• Parties: James SAVARESE, Plaintiff, v. CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

547 F.Supp.3d 305

James SAVARESE, Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.

18-cv-5956 (LJL)

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

Signed July 2, 2021

Jeffrey Adam Rothman, Jeffrey A. Rothman, Attorney at Law, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Jorge Manuel Marquez, New York City Law Department, New York, NY, for Defendants City of New York, Mohammed Islam, NYPD Police Officer William Grieshaber, NYPD Sergeant Keith Burkitt, NYPD Captain Daniel Mahoney, NYPD Police Officer Michael Fransson, Deborah Youmans.

Deborah Youmans, Pro Se.

OPINION AND ORDER

LEWIS J. LIMAN, United States District Judge:

Defendants move for summary judgment pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. For the following reasons, the motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

The case grows out of an incident on July 1, 2015, which resulted in the arrest of Plaintiff James Savarese ("Savarese" or "Plaintiff") and of one other person. Traffic Agent ("T.A.") Mohammad Islam ("T.A. Islam") was on duty, wearing his uniform and patrolling the 100th precinct in the Rockaways area of Queens, New York. Dkt. No. 102 ¶¶ 1-3, 5. He was assigned a New York City Police Department ("NYPD") vehicle, and his job as a T.A. involved issuing summons for traffic violations. Id. ¶¶ 4-5. At the time, T.A. Islam was patrolling and issuing summons for traffic violations. Id. ¶ 6.

At approximately 3:15 p.m. that day, he had a confrontation at Beach 129th Street and Cronston Avenue with a retired New York City Fire Department ("NYFD") firefighter named Shaun Reen ("Reen"), who is not a party to this case. Dkt. No. 90 ¶ 9. Reen, who had a bicycle with him and was emerging from a pharmacy, noticed T.A. Islam's NYPD traffic vehicle parked in the vicinity of a fire hydrant, approached T.A. Islam, and asked him why he was parked on a hydrant. Id. ¶¶ 8, 10-11; Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 9.¹ Reen also asked T.A. Islam to have T.A. Islam's supervisor respond to the scene. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 26. T.A. Islam claims that during the confrontation he attempted to get in his car but that Reen grabbed his wrist or arm and told him he could not go. Id. ¶ 23. Reen claims that T.A. Islam shouted either "you're assaulting me" or "assault." Id. ¶ 25. T.A. Islam then went inside his traffic vehicle. Id. ¶ 28.

Plaintiff is an acquaintance of Reen and, at the time, was an active duty firefighter with the NYFD. Id. ¶¶ 33-34. He arrived at the scene by car coincidentally as Reen was confronting T.A. Islam and asked Reen what was occurring between him and T.A. Islam. Id. ¶ 33. Reen asked Plaintiff to pull over and said something to Plaintiff about T.A. Islam being parked on the hydrant and having accused Reen of assault. Id. ¶ 38. Plaintiff parked his vehicle and walked over to Reen and T.A. Islam. Id. ¶ 39. Reen told Plaintiff that T.A. Islam was on the hydrant and they had been arguing over it, and Plaintiff responded that Reen should not "waste his time, and that traffic agents often park on the hydrant." Id. ¶ 43. Reen also informed Plaintiff that he had wanted a supervisor at the scene and that his sister had also called the police to respond to the scene. Id. ¶¶ 48-49.

At the time Plaintiff arrived at the scene, Lieutenant Ryan McNamara ("McNamara") of the FDNY also appeared; Plaintiff told McNamara that T.A. Islam was parked on a hydrant, McNamara told T.A. Islam that he could not park on a hydrant, T.A. Islam responded that he did not have to listen to McNamara, and Reen asked McNamara to summon the police by calling 911. Id. ¶¶ 52, 54, 58-59, 60.

Plaintiff then told T.A. Islam directly that he could not park on a hydrant. Id. ¶ 50. At one point, he also went behind T.A. Islam's vehicle to take approximately two or three pictures of T.A. Islam's car parked in front of the hydrant. Id. ¶¶ 64-65.

The confrontation that is at the center of this lawsuit then ensued. In brief, T.A. Islam claims that Plaintiff and Reen obstructed him from driving his vehicle. Plaintiff denies obstructing T.A. Islam. Both T.A. Islam and Plaintiff took photographs. T.A. Islam took a photograph of Plaintiff and Reen that he claims show them obstructing him. The photograph taken by T.A. Islam shows Reen leaning on his bike directly in front of T.A. Islam's vehicle while Plaintiff is around 2-3 feet away from the rear of the traffic vehicle. Dkt. No. 92-5. Plaintiff took a photograph of T.A. Islam to document T.A. Islam's violation of rules regarding parking next to a hydrant. Plaintiff claims that T.A. Islam backed his car up toward Plaintiff in retaliation.

It is undisputed, however, that after T.A. Islam took his photograph, T.A. Islam contacted the "Citywide system" and his supervisor to indicate that he was being obstructed from continuing to perform his job. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 80; Dkt. No. 100-11.

At some point thereafter, Officers and Defendants William Grieshaber ("Officer Grieshaber") and Michael Fransson ("Officer Fransson") of the NYPD arrived at the scene. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 86. Officer Grieshaber testified that when he arrived on the scene, he observed Reen in front of the traffic vehicle, Savarese behind the traffic vehicle, and T.A. Islam inside the traffic vehicle.² The officers spoke to Reen, T.A. Islam, and Plaintiff separately, each of whom told their side of the story to the officers. Id. ¶ 91. Reen explained his version of events to the police officers, including that he wanted a supervisor at the scene to report the traffic vehicle on the hydrant. Id. ¶ 95. T.A. Islam told the officers that Reen had blocked his vehicle by standing in front of it and that Plaintiff had blocked his vehicle by standing behind it and that Reen had grabbed him. Id. ¶¶ 99-100, 102-03. T.A. Islam also told the officers that he had asked Plaintiff and Reen to move and that Reen and Plaintiff refused to move and refused to let him leave. Id. ¶¶ 104-05. Plaintiff told the officers that he had been behind the vehicle only briefly, to take two or three pictures or so, and denied that he blocked Islam from leaving. Dkt. No. 90 ¶¶ 37-38. Plaintiff told the officers what he saw, which included seeing the traffic vehicle on the fire hydrant and that Reen and T.A. Islam were in a discussion about the alleged assault, and about an allegation by T.A. Islam that Reen had scratched T.A. Islam's vehicle with the handlebars of Reen's bicycle. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 107. The officers told Reen that they were not going to arrest Reen and Plaintiff until they were directed to do so by a superior officer. Id. ¶ 110.

After the police officers had spoken to Plaintiff and T.A. Islam, Sergeant Keith Burkitt ("Sgt. Burkitt") of the NYPD, who was the officers’ supervisor, arrived at the scene. Id. ¶ 112.

Sgt. Burkitt testified that when he arrived at the scene, he observed Reen in the front left driving side part of the traffic vehicle, either on his bicycle or standing beside his bicycle. Dkt. No. 92-7 at 36:22-37:14. Sgt. Burkitt also testified that he observed Plaintiff in the rear of the traffic vehicle, id. at 39:7-12, but that testimony is disputed by Plaintiff in a declaration opposing summary judgment, which states that Plaintiff was standing on the sidewalk and was not at the time positioned in a manner where he was impeding the movement of T.A. Islam's car. Dkt. No. 101 ¶ 36.

Sometime after Sgt. Burkitt, Officer Grieshaber, and Officer Fransson arrived on the scene, Plaintiff's supervisor Debra Youmans ("Youmans") also arrived. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 129. Youmans spoke with T.A. Islam and with the officers on the scene. Id. ¶¶ 130-133. Reen testified that the police officers told him that Youmans wanted the officers to arrest Plaintiff and Reen, but that the officers told Reen that they would not arrest Plaintiff and Reen unless and until they were instructed to do so by their own supervisor. Dkt. No. 92 at 71:19-24.³

Sgt. Burkitt conferred with the police officers who informed him what they had been told by T.A. Islam, Plaintiff, and Reen. Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 116. Plaintiff, Reen, and T.A. Islam relayed their respective version of events to Sgt. Burkitt. Dkt. No. 90 ¶¶ 41, 44; Dkt. No. 102 ¶117. T.A. Islam told Sgt. Burkitt the same story about what had happened and that he had been issuing summons on the street when Reen confronted him about being parked next to a fire hydrant and giving out summons while blocking the hydrant. Dkt. No. 102 ¶¶118-19. He also told Sgt. Burkitt that Reen had grabbed him and that Reen and Plaintiff blocked T.A. Islam's vehicle and prevented it from leaving. Dkt. No. 102 ¶¶ 120-21, 123. Reen told Sgt. Burkitt that T.A. Islam had parked either on or in the immediate vicinity of a fire hydrant and that he wanted a supervisor to observe T.A. Islam's vehicle in the act. Dkt. No. 90 ¶ 45. Plaintiff told his version of the story and also informed Sgt. Burkitt that he was an active duty NYFD firefighter. Id. ¶ 46.

After Sgt. Burkitt's conversations with Reen, Plaintiff, and T.A. Islam, Reen and Plaintiff were informed that they were going to be placed under arrest. Id. ¶ 54. Plaintiff was told he could call his job to tell them that he was not coming to work that night but that he was not free to leave. He and Reen were placed in a police vehicle and taken to the 100th precinct by Officers Grieshaber and Fransson. Id. ¶¶ 56-60; Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 144. Neither Plaintiff nor Reen were handcuffed at that point. Dkt. No. 90 ¶ 55; Dkt. No. 102 ¶ 145.

At the precinct, T.A. Islam spoke to Captain Mahoney of the NYPD (also a defendant) and told him that Reen and Plaintiff had obstructed him in front of and from behind his car respectively, that Plaintiff refused to let him leave, and that Reen had refused to let him leave and had grabbed him. Dkt. No. 90 ¶¶ 62-65. T.A. Islam also told Captain Mahoney that he had asked Reen and Plaintiff to move and that they had refused to do so. Id. ¶ 66.

Plaintiff and Reen also spoke to Captain Mahoney. Reen gave his version of events to Captain Mahoney. Id. ¶ 72. Captain Mahoney asked Plaintiff what had happened, and Plaintiff responded that all that Pl...