Smith v. The Vill. of Brockport

• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York
• Writing for the Court: CHARLES J. SIRAGUSA UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
• Decision Date: 28 February 2022
• Docket Number: 19-CV-6404 CJS
• Citation: Smith v. The Vill. of Brockport, 19-CV-6404 CJS (W.D. N.Y. Feb 28, 2022)
• Parties: JEREMY J. SMITH, Plaintiff v. THE VILLAGE OF BROCKPORT, ZACHARY WAKEFIELD, CHRISTOPHER CLAWSON and KELLY McCRACKEN, each in his or her official and individual capacity, Defendants

JEREMY J. SMITH, Plaintiff v. THE VILLAGE OF BROCKPORT, ZACHARY WAKEFIELD, CHRISTOPHER CLAWSON and KELLY McCRACKEN, each in his or her official and individual capacity, Defendants

No. 19-CV-6404 CJS

United States District Court, W.D. New York

February 28, 2022

DECISION AND ORDER

CHARLES J. SIRAGUSA UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

INTRODUCTION

In this action the Plaintiff asserts state-law claims for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault, battery, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hiring, retention and supervision, as well as a federal claim for constitutional violations of Plaintiff's rights under the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S Constitution pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The claims arise from what Plaintiff maintains was an illegal seizure and search of his person during a narcotics investigation following a traffic stop of a vehicle in which he was a passenger. Now before the Court is Defendants' motion for summary judgment, ECF No. 23. The application is granted in part and denied in part, as follows: The application is denied insofar as it is directed at those portions of the First, Second, Third and Seventh Causes of Action that are based on the seizure of Plaintiff prior to the search otherwise, the application is granted.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from several sources including Defendants' Statement of Facts (ECF No. 23-1) and supporting exhibits, including the examination of Plaintiff pursuant to New York General Municipal Law § 50-h (“50-h hearing”); the depositions of defendant Brockport Police Officer Christopher Clawson (“Clawson”) and defendant Brockport Police Officer Kelly McCracken (“McCracken”); the Defendants' body-worn camera footage; and the relevant police reports. In that regard, when Defendants filed the subject motion, they submitted a statement of facts, to which Plaintiff did not submit a counter-statement of facts. Accordingly, pursuant to the Local Rules of Civil Procedure Defendants' statement of facts is deemed admitted insofar as the facts set forth therein are truly undisputed.^[1] However, the Court does not accept as true any statements contained therein that are disputed by other evidence of record. See, e.g., Fed. Trade Comm'n v. Vantage Point Servs., LLC, 266 F.Supp.3d 648, 656 (W.D.N.Y. 2017) (“This Court will deem the Plaintiffs' Statement of Facts admitted to the extent that it is supported by admissible evidence and to the extent that it is not contradicted by the admissible evidence of which this Court has notice through Defendants' motion papers.”) (citations omitted); see also, Holtz v. Rockefeller & Co., 258 F.3d 62, 73 (2d Cir. 2001) (“[W]e have previously indicated, and now hold, that while a court is not required to consider what the parties fail to point out in their Local Rule 56.1 statements, it may in its discretion opt to conduct an assiduous review of the record even where one of the parties has failed to file such a statement.”). With this understanding, the following are the facts of the case viewed in the light most-favorable to Plaintiff.

This action arises from a traffic stop which took place on December 29, 2017, at 10:40 p.m., near the State University of New York at Brockport (“SUNY”). At that time, non-defendant SUNY Police Officer Petritz (“Petritz”) stopped a Mercedes sedan for speeding, after it was caught on radar traveling 55 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone.^[2] The traffic stop took place near the intersection of Redman Road and New Campus Drive, which is on the edge of the SUNY campus and remote from any campus buildings or residences.^[3]

The Mercedes sedan had four occupants: The driver, Dyshieka McFadden (“Dyshieka”); the front seat passenger, Dyshieka's brother, Nazier McFadden (“Nazier”); and the two backseat passengers, Jordan Holland (“Holland”) and Plaintiff, Jeremy Smith (“Plaintiff” or “Smith”). Plaintiff alleges that he had gotten into the car at Dyshieka's residence in Rochester at approximately 9:45 p.m. after finishing his work shift at a restaurant, ^[4] and that the four men had then driven toward the Village of Brockport with no particular plans, except that he intended to meet a girl in Brockport with whom he had been communicating on social media.^[5]

Officer Petritz, upon walking up to the stopped Mercedes, observed that the four men were moving around inside the vehicle.^[6] Additionally, while speaking to Dyshieka, Petritz observed, and remarked upon the fact, that “the car smelled like weed.”^[7] Dyshieka was unable to produce for Petritz a driver's license, other identification or vehicle registration.^[8] Petritz requested additional police assistance, and three officers from the Village of Brockport, namely, Clawson, McCracken and Officer Zach Wakefield (“Wakefield”), arrived at the scene in separate patrol cars.

Petritz informed Clawson, McCracken and Wakefield that he had stopped the vehicle for speeding, that the vehicle also had improperly tinted windows, and that the interior of the car smelled strongly of burnt marijuana.^[9]

Beginning with Dyshieka, the officers then removed the four men from the vehicle and patted them down. As Petritz patted down Dyshieka, he again commented that the car smelled of marijuana, and asked Dyshieka why he and his passengers had been reaching around in the vehicle after it was stopped. Dyshieka responded that they had been looking for his “vehicle registration book” which was “in the back seat somewhere, ”^[10] though neither the registration nor such a book was ever found. Petritz then indicated that he had seen marijuana blunts in the vehicle's ashtray and asked if the men had been smoking marijuana, to which Dyshieka responded in the affirmative, though he indicated that it had been “way earlier” in the day. Dyshieka also admitted that he was on probation. Petritz then insisted that Dyshieka smelled very strongly of marijuana, as if he had “just smoked” a few minutes earlier, and Dyshieka admitted that he had “just smoked.” The pat-down discovered a large amount of cash ($6, 300) in small bills in Dyshieka's pocket. When Petritz asked Dyshieka why he was carrying that much money, Dyshieka asserted that he worked delivering newspapers and had just received his Christmas bonus. Petritz then handcuffed Dyshieka and placed him in a patrol car.^[11] Wakefield then removed Holland from the car and patted him down. When Holland asked why he was being detained, Wakefield stated it was because “there was weed in the car.”^[12]Wakefield asked Holland what he and the others were doing and where they were headed, and Holland vaguely responded that they were dropping someone off, although he did not know where. In response to Wakefield's questions about marijuana in the car, Holland indicated that he did not know anything about any marijuana. Wakefield asked Holland to admit at least that the car smelled strongly of marijuana, but Holland responded that he did not think so, to which Wakefield scoffed that the odor of marijuana had “hit him right in the mouth” when he opened Holland's car door. After Wakefield did not find any contraband on Holland, he placed Holland in a patrol car.

The officers then patted down Plaintiff and Nazier, more or less simultaneously. Petritz performed the pat-down of Plaintiff but found no contraband. Petritz then handcuffed Plaintiff and placed him in a patrol car. At this same time, Wakefield searched inside the Mercedes but did not find any contraband.

Meanwhile, Clawson patted down Nazier and found approximately $800 in small bills in Nazier's pocket. Clawson then told Nazier, “You reek of weed, ” and Nazier agreed and admitted that he had marijuana on him. Nazier stated that he had a “dime” in his coat pocket, and that he had been preparing a blunt to smoke prior to the traffic stop. As Clawson searched Nazier's coat pockets, McCracken, who was holding Nazier's arm, commented that Nazier was squirming “a bit too much” and trying to pull away from her, which made her think he had more contraband on him than he was admitting. No. marijuana was found in Nazier's coat pocket, contrary to what he had told Clawson. Clawson then announced that he was going to conduct a full search of Nazier's person, at which point Nazier admitted that he had marijuana hidden in his crotch. Clawson then retrieved 21.5 grams of marijuana, wrapped in thirteen separate plastic bags, from inside Nazier's underpants. Clawson remarked that Nazier must be selling marijuana, based on the amount of cash and marijuana he was carrying, but Nazier denied it and claimed that he smoked a lot of marijuana and had just purchased his supplier's entire stock. When asked who his supplier was, Nazier stated that he bought the marijuana from “a white kid named Sam.” When asked where the purchase took place, Nazier indicated that he would not say unless his handcuffs were removed.

After finding the marijuana in Nazier's crotch, the officers decided to re-search the other three occupants in a more-thorough fashion. In that regard, after the discovery of the cash on both Dyshieka and Nazier, and the marijuana on Nazier, McCracken commented that the officers should re-search the other three occupants, since based on the amount of marijuana and cash involved, she doubted that Nazier was the only one possessing narcotics. Thereafter, the officers re-searched Dyshieka, Holland and Plaintiff, starting with Dyshieka.

Clawson first asked Dyshieka if he had drugs concealed on him, and Dyshieka denied having any. Dyshieka further indicated that he would not possess drugs since he was on probation, and that he had been unaware that his brother possessed marijuana. Clawson told Dyshieka that despite what Dyshieka was...