Smith v. Sawyer

• Decision Date: 27 January 2020
• Docket Number: 1:17-cv-00077 (BKS/CFH)
• Citation: 435 F.Supp.3d 417
• Parties: Frederick SMITH and Tahmel Gordon, Plaintiffs, v. Police Officer Stephen SAWYER, Police Officer Kyle Esposito, Deputy James Riley, Investigator Timothy Jordan, and Trooper Brendan Filli, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

435 F.Supp.3d 417

Frederick SMITH and Tahmel Gordon, Plaintiffs,

v.Police Officer Stephen SAWYER, Police Officer Kyle Esposito, Deputy James Riley, Investigator Timothy Jordan, and Trooper Brendan Filli, Defendants.

1:17-cv-00077 (BKS/CFH)

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

Signed January 27, 2020

For Plaintiffs: David A. Zelman, The Law Office of David Zelman, 709 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York 11213, Roberta D. Asher, Asher & Associates, P.C., 111 John Street, 14th Floor, New York, New York 10038

For Defendants Stephen Sawyer and Kyle Esposito: Michael T. Cook, Cook, Netter, Cloonan, Kurtz & Murphy, P.C., 85 Main Street, Kingston, New York 12402

For Defendants Timothy Jordan and Brendan Filli: Letitia James, Attorney General for the State of New York, Christopher J. Hummel, The Capitol, Albany, New York 12224

For Defendant James Riley : David L. Posner, McCabe & Mack LLP, 63 Washington Street, Post Office Box 509, Poughkeepsie, New York 12602

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER

Hon. Brenda K. Sannes, United States District Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs Frederick Smith and Tahmel Gordon bring this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that their Fourth Amendment rights were violated during a January 25, 2014 traffic stop. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants, Town of Lloyd Police Department Officers Stephen Sawyer and Kyle Esposito ("Town Defendants"); New York State Police Troopers Timothy Jordan¹ and Brendan Filli ("State Defendants"); and Ulster County Sheriff's Deputy James Riley, violated their Fourth Amendment rights by subjecting Plaintiffs to excessive force (Claims 1 and 2) and failing to intervene (Claim 3). (Dkt. No. 81).²

Presently before the Court are Defendants' motions for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. (Dkt. Nos. 99, 100, 101). Plaintiffs oppose the motions. (Dkt. Nos. 105). The Court heard oral argument on January 7, 2020. For the reasons that follow, Defendant Riley's motion is granted; the State Defendants' motion is denied; and the Town Defendants' motion is granted in part and denied in part.

II. FACTS³

A. Defendants Respond to Gunshots Fired at the Home Club⁴

At approximately 4 a.m. on January 25, 2014, Defendants were advised that a shooting had occurred at the Home Club in Highland, New York. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 14; 99-5, ¶ 1; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 1; Dkt. No. 100-10, at 2; Dkt. No. 101-10, ¶ 7; Dkt. No. 107, ¶ 7). Defendants learned that the suspects fled the shooting. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 486; 99-5, ¶ 2; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 2; 101-10, ¶ 7; Dkt. No. 107, ¶ 7).

Town of Lloyd Police Officer Defendant Sawyer, accompanied by Officer Kathleen Burns, responded to the Home Club and saw Deputy Zaccheo running after a maroon Nissan Altima fleeing the parking lot. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 582, 584–85). Sawyer testified that Zaccheo "was shouting at the vehicle, giving him commands to stop, and they failed to do so." (Id. at 582–83). Sawyer was advised that the Nissan contained "suspects from a shooting." (Id. at 588). Sawyer got in his car and pursued the vehicle. (Id. at 582, 586). He had received a description of "the [license] plate and the vehicle," (id. at 617), and was informed that "a subject was shot by" the suspects. (Id. ).

Town of Lloyd Police Sergeant Kalimeras responded to the Home Club, but by the time he arrived, he was advised by Deputy Zaccheo that the "suspects left in a maroon vehicle heading south." (Id. at 743). Kalimeras then left the Home Club, with Zaccheo, heading south on Route 9W. (Id. at 744–45). After driving for a "few miles" Kalimeras and Zaccheo caught up to the vehicle which "[Zaccheo] identified ... as the car that was involved." (Id. at 746). After he caught up to the vehicle, Kalimeras estimated that he pursued it for "[b]etween one and two" miles before it stopped. (Id. at 749).

Town of Lloyd Police Officers, Defendants Esposito and Zani, were in their vehicle when they were "advised that [officers] were responding to a shooting at the Home [Club]." (Id. at 681–82). A subsequent call gave them information for the suspect vehicle and informed them that the suspects were possibly armed. (Id. at 683). "As soon as that ... transmission ended, Officer[s] Zani and [Esposito] saw the vehicle pass [them] going" the opposite direction. (Id. at 684–85). The two turned around and joined the pursuit. (Id. at 685).

New York State Police Troopers, Defendant Filli and Chris Curley, responded to a radio call, indicating that there was "a shooting at the Home [Club]" off of Route 9W as well as "a description of a vehicle." (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 289–90). Filli and Curley joined the Town of Lloyd officers in pursuit of the Nissan. (Dkt. No. 99-5; Dkt. No. 106, ¶¶ 8–9). Although the Nissan did not come to a stop initially, "despite the officers having activated their vehicles' lights," the vehicle eventually stopped "in the right-most southbound lane of Route 9W." (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶¶ 12–13; Dkt. No. 106, ¶¶ 12–13). Officers testified that the Nissan was driving "with no headlights on." (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 684; see also id. at 291, 600).

Ulster County Sheriff's Deputy Defendant Riley, who was accompanied by Deputy Matt Brophy, testified that he was advised "a red vehicle" "left the nightclub" and was "occupied by people involved in the shooting." (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 481, 486). Riley and Brophy arrived south of the Nissan's location after the car had stopped and approached the car by foot. (Id. at 488).

Plaintiff Gordon was driving the Nissan, and Plaintiff Smith was in the right backseat; Dimitri Mosley and Anthony Allen⁵ were also in the vehicle—seated in the passenger seat and rear left backseat respectively. (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶ 3; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 3).

B. Smith Throws a Gun out of the Car, and Gordon is Shot

As Riley, Sawyer, Zani, Kalimeras, and Esposito approached the car with their guns drawn, (Dkt. No. 102, 7F332 at 4:04:04), Filli and Curley remained "thirty feet behind the rear of the suspect vehicle, slightly off the driver's side." (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶ 19; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 19). Sawyer and Esposito testified that the Nissan's windows were not tinted. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 575, 692). Sawyer also testified that he recalled the area was "well lit" and that he believed the "area does have street lights." (Id. at 607). At this point, as counsel for Plaintiffs conceded at oral argument, Riley and Sawyer "had reliable information from multiple police sources that there had been a shooting at the Home Club with at least one known victim and that the suspects in that shooting were in" the Nissan. (Dkt. No. 100-23, at 10).

Defendants assert that they were giving the Nissan's occupants commands. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 496, 498–99, 604–05; 694, 759), but that the car's occupants did not comply; some defendants testified that the occupants continued talking amongst themselves. (Id. at 505, 608, 693, 759). Zani testified that it "appeared that [the car's occupants] were attempting to discard or hide items in the car."⁶ (Id. at 849). Smith testified that all he could hear was the "loud blaring of sirens" and that he did not hear any instructions or commands from the police officers. (Id. at 70). Sirens and some officer commands are audible on the dashcam videos. (Dkt. No. 102, 7F330 at 04:00:35, 7F332 at 04:03:59).

Riley, Sawyer, and Zani—positioned on the driver's side of the Nissan—testified that they tried to open the driver's side doors but that the doors were locked. (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 502, 613, 883–84; Dkt. No. 102, 7F332 at 4:04:19). The officers then tried to "break into the vehicle in order to arrest the occupants," using their batons and flashlights to break the Nissan's windows. (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶ 18; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 18; Dkt. No. 102, 7F332 at 04:04:21).

Kalimeras and Esposito were positioned "toward the right rear passenger door" of the Nissan. (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶ 20; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 20). Kalimeras approached the car with his gun out, pointed at the passengers in the backseat, "giving commands, yelling show me your hands, show me your hands." (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 758). Kalimeras stood by the door for "less than a minute" before he tried to open it and was able to do so. (Id. ). After he did, he saw Smith and "tried to pull him out of the car" to "detain" him until the officers "could determine who is in the car and determine whether they[ ] [were] involved in the shooting or not." (Id. at 761). Smith testified that Kalimeras "tried to rip" him out of the car by his shoulder. (Id. at 764). Smith further testified that "another officer," presumably Esposito, stuck a gun "into the car door" and "in [Smith's] face." (Id. at 71–72; Dkt No. 102, 7F332 at 04:04:38). Smith "had [his] hands on the front headrest while [Kalimeras] was pulling [him]." (Dkt. No. 99-1, at 73). Kalimeras testified that, at one point, he "believe[d]" he lost his grip on Smith. (Id. at 762). Around this time, Smith says that he saw a "gun in the front console area" and testified that he "was scared" that Defendants "will see the gun and they'll shoot [him]." (Id. at 74, 76). Smith picked up the gun "in a sweeping motion" with his palms facing upward to "try to surrender it to the police officer and dropped it ... at the ground by [Kalimeras's] foot." (Id. at 75, 762). Kalimeras "saw [Smith's] hand drop something, ... looked down, saw what appeared to be a handgun, ... and kicked it away." (Id. at 764).⁷

While these events unfolded, as Sawyer and Riley were positioned near the driver's door of the Nissan trying to break the window, Sawyer testified that he could "see the driver's hands" and that Gordon's hands were "[d]own by his waistband" on "his lap." (Dkt. No. 99-5, ¶ 23; Dkt. No. 106, ¶ 23; Dkt. No. 99-1. at 619). Sawyer testified that, as Riley was trying to break the driver's window, "[u]pon Deputy Riley's second to third swing," Sawyer saw Gordon pull out a gun. (Id. at 624–25). Specifically, Sawyer testified that he saw Gordon reach his arm across his body with his left hand toward the...