Scarpa v. Murphy

• Citation: 806 F.2d 326
• Decision Date: 05 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-1564,85-1564
• Parties: John SCARPA, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. William MURPHY, et al., Defendants, Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)

Page 326

806 F.2d 326

John SCARPA, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. William MURPHY, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 85-1564.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Argued Oct. 7, 1986.

Decided Dec. 5, 1986.

Robert Christo with whom Robert Christo & Associates, West Springfield, Mass., was on brief for appellant.

John D. Lanoue with whom J. Norman O'Connor, David B. Mongue and Donovan & O'Connor, Adams, Mass., were on brief for appellees.

Before CAMPBELL, Chief Judge, BROWN, ^* Senior Circuit Judge, and BOWNES, Circuit Judge.

BOWNES, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant John Scarpa brought a section 1983 claim against two police officers, defendants-appellees Tierney and Holmes. Scarpa alleged that the two officers deprived him of his civil rights by deliberately and gratuitously striking him on the head with a nightstick, causing a

hearing loss in his left ear. Following a jury-waived trial, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered judgment for defendants. Scarpa appeals from that decision, claiming chiefly that the district court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous.

THE EVIDENCE

The events underlying this claim occurred at the Bradley Street Trailer Park in Lee, Massachusetts. On the evening of September 11, 1981, Foster Robertson, an acquaintance of Scarpa, was celebrating his eighteenth birthday in one of the mobile homes in the trailer park. Although the trailer had been repossessed, Robertson and a few of his friends spent the evening there drinking and celebrating boisterously. On several previous occasions during the summer of 1981, neighbors had called the police to complain about loud noise emanating from the Robertson trailer.

At about midnight, Scarpa, then a seventeen-year old high school student, joined the Robertson party. Several neighbors were awakened around 2:00 A.M. by loud noise, music, yelling and banging sounds coming from Robertson's trailer. The partygoers later admitted that they were destroying an interior wall of the mobile home. Two neighbors in the trailer park telephoned the Lee Police Department.

Officers Tierney and Holmes arrived on the scene shortly after 2:00 A.M. Their requests for quiet were met with loud and combative responses from the occupants of the trailer. When Officer Holmes tried to enter the mobile home, he was pushed against the outer trailer wall by Robertson and Michael Martin, another occupant of the trailer. Officer Tierney tried to pull Martin away from Officer Holmes. Failing that, he drew his nightstick and struck Martin in the head. Tierney testified that he had aimed for Martin's chest. The scuffle ended after Holmes, Robertson and Tierney fell off the trailer porch, landing on the ground.

After returning to their vehicles to radio the State Police for backup assistance, the two officers walked back to the trailer porch to apprehend Martin. Officer Holmes took hold of Martin, intending to arrest him. As he began to walk away from the trailer, Holmes was knocked down from behind by Scarpa, who had jumped off the trailer porch onto the officer's back. Scarpa claims he jumped off the porch in order to question Holmes, but miscalculated his leap and landed on the officer's back, knocking him to the ground. Judge Freedman deemed this explanation "highly incredible," finding instead that appellant sought "to batter" Holmes.

Officer Holmes and Scarpa struggled on the ground. Holmes denied intentionally punching at Scarpa's head, but acknowledged he could have struck him there during the fight. The officer eventually managed to subdue and handcuff Scarpa.

Scarpa's witness Foster Robertson testified that at this point Offficer Holmes held Scarpa on the ground while Officer Tierney struck him on the head with a nightstick. Scarpa testified that, after he was handcuffed, he saw Officer Tierney step toward him and "the next thing I know, my head was hurting and I was out." Officers Tierney and Holmes denied using a nightstick on Scarpa. Holmes testified that immediately after handcuffing Scarpa, he moved to assist Tierney, who had just been kicked in the groin by Robertson. Tierney testified that he had been surrounded by three of the youths at the party, and was kicked in the groin just as he was discharging his can of Mace to defend himself from the three youths. Other eyewitnesses corroborated Tierney's claim that he had been surrounded by three of the revelers. Robertson admitted kicking Officer Tierney, but claimed he did so to prevent Scarpa from being struck again.

Scarpa was placed in a state police cruiser and transported to the State Police Barracks, where he was held overnight. He did not complain that he had been hit with a nightstick; nor did he ask for medical treatment. While at the State Police Barracks, however, he did initiate two altercations with State Trooper Rosati in which blows were exchanged. Trooper Rosati The district court found that Scarpa had not been hit with a nightstick by either police officer. The court also found that Scarpa's unfortunate loss of hearing could have been caused by a number of factors other than a blow from a nightstick. Finally, the court held that the officers exercised reasonable force in subduing Scarpa and the other youths. Scarpa seeks to have these determinations reversed by this court.

testified that Scarpa had alluded to a fight that had occurred in the trailer before the police arrived. After Scarpa was released at 8:00 A.M. on September 12, he visited his family physician, complaining of hearing loss in his left ear. He was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Anthony Mangiapane, who concluded that Scarpa had suffered permanent deafness in his left ear.

ANALYSIS

Scarpa claims that the...