Summerville v. Gregory
| Decision Date | 29 August 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-cv-7653 (KM)(MAH),14-cv-7653 (KM)(MAH) |
| Parties | STANLEY SUMMERVILLE, FOMBAH SIRLEAF, Plaintiffs, v. DETECTIVE SERGEANT M. GREGORY, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
:
This constitutional tort action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 arises from an allegedly unconstitutional detention of the plaintiffs, Stanley Summerville and Fombah Sirleaf, by several New Jersey State Troopers. Plaintiffs allege that the officers confronted and detained them without reasonable suspicion, in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights, and on the basis of racial profiling. As a result of apt concessions by the plaintiffs, I focus here on the claims against Detective Michael Gregory, the officer in command of the operation, and to some extent Det. Sgt. P. Ciano.1
The police have a difficult job. When they make on-the-spot decisions they do not, like a judge reviewing the matter, have the benefit of leisure, legal research, and hindsight. The reasonable-suspicion standard and qualified immunity thus give the police a certain amount of leeway to investigate facts, falling short of probable cause to arrest, that may (as here) turn out to be wholly innocuous. Anyone who has ever surfed the internet can understand how a simple search for information, initially intended to be brief, can stretch into 30, 60, or 90 minutes. Still, I must conclude that the detention here, even assuming it was based on reasonable suspicion (which remains a contested factual issue), was too long and severe an intrusion on the privacy and dignity of these two innocent persons.
Now before the Court are the defendants' motion for summary judgment (DE 114) and plaintiffs' cross motion for summary judgment (DE 117). For the reasons described below, I will grant in part and deny in part both sides' motions.2
Plaintiffs filed their initial complaint on December 9, 2014, naming the New Jersey State Police, New Jersey State Trooper John Does 1-10, UniversalProtection Service, and JG Elizabeth LLC. (DE 1). On February 18, 2015, plaintiffs filed their first amended complaint, adding the (now former) Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, Col. Joseph R. Fuentes, and removing as defendants the New Jersey State Police, Universal Protection Service, and JG Elizabeth LLC. (DE 11). After exchange of certain discovery, plaintiffs filed their second amended complaint on May 14, 2015, which replaced the John Doe State Troopers with Lieutenant J. Harrison and Detectives M. Gregory, J. Gauthier, P. Ciano, E. Bobal, T. Kelshaw, R. Joaquin, and P. Chariamonte. (DE 17).
On August 10, 2015, plaintiffs filed their third amended complaint (for purposes of this Opinion, the "Complaint," cited as "Comp. ¶ ___"). (DE 33). The current Complaint asserts two § 1983 causes of action: (1) false imprisonment and false arrest (Comp. ¶¶ 84-97); and (2) racial profiling and selective enforcement. (Id. ¶¶ 130-135). Both are asserted against the individual defendant police officers only.
On January 4, 2019, all remaining defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. (DE 114). On March 1, 2019, plaintiffs filed an opposition and cross motion for summary judgment. (DE 117).
Defendant Michael Gregory is a detective sergeant of the New Jersey State Police Organized Crime and Gangs Unit. Gregory oversaw the investigation of Richard Parker ("Parker"), a black male (race is relevant to the allegations), who was suspected of trafficking heroin. (DE 117-2 ¶ 6; DE 120-2 ¶ 6; DE 117-5 at 32, 37). Det. Gregory is a white male. (DE 117-2 ¶ 8; DE 120-2 ¶ 8). Det. Gregory supervised the October 8, 2014 surveillance operation of Parker and made all the pertinent decisions, including the decision to detain the plaintiffs. (DE 117-2 ¶ 12; DE 120-2 ¶ 12; DE 114-2 ¶ 31; DE 117-1 ¶ 31). The following officers assisted Det. Gregory in his surveillance of Parker:J. Harrison, P. Ciano, E. Bobal, T. Kelshaw, J. Gauthier, R. Joaquin, and P. Chariamonte.3 (DE 117-2 ¶ 7; DE 120-2 ¶ 7; DE 117-5 at 32).
In September 2014, Det. Gregory received information from a confidential source ("CS") that Parker was a black male in his mid-thirties who lived in Newark and was engaged in the distribution of heroin in New Jersey. (DE 117-5 at 3-9; DE 117-2 ¶ 5; DE 120-2 ¶ 5; DE 117-5 at 37). The CS also told Det. Gregory that Parker had served several years in state prison for a homicide, was on parole, frequently drove a white Lexus with a specific registration number during narcotics transactions, and often carried a handgun during those transactions. (DE 117-5 at 3, 4).
To corroborate the CS's information, Det. Gregory searched Parker's name and registration number in law enforcement databases. (DE 117-5 at 4). These corroborated that the Lexus was registered in Parker's name, that he lived in Newark, that he was in his mid-thirties, and that he was on parole from a murder sentence. (Id.). Det. Gregory showed the CS a photograph of Parker from the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles, which the CS identified as the person the CS had been referring to. (Id.).
Subsequently, in October 2014, Det. Gregory met with the CS to monitor a telephone conversation between the CS and Parker. During the call, the CS held the phone so that Det. Gregory could listen to the conversation. (DE 117-5 at 4). Det. Gregory heard the CS and Parker discuss the sale of heroin. (Id.). Det. Gregory certified in an affidavit that he learned from the CS that on October 8, 2014, Parker would be transporting 200 bricks of heroin to a location in Ocean County, New Jersey, for sale. (DE 114-6 at 60).4
Det. Gregory then used a law enforcement database to find Parker's place of employment in Elizabeth, New Jersey. (DE 117-5 at 4). On October 7, 2014, Det. Gregory and Det. Joaquin established surveillance of Parker's vehicle at that location. (Id.; DE 117-2 ¶ 17; DE 120-2 ¶ 17). Parker eventually got in his car and drove off, but the detectives were unable to follow him on the highway because of the traffic conditions and Parker's high rate of speed. (Id.).
The next day, October 8, 2014, Det. Gregory continued his surveillance of Parker with a team of seven other officers, as well as members of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, starting at Parker's place of employment. (DE 117-5 at 4-5, 33; DE 122-1 ¶ 5). As part of their tactical plan to follow Parker, the officers continued their surveillance of him when he left his place of employment around 3:00 P.M. and drove to his Newark apartment. (Id.). Around a half hour later, Parker left his apartment and drove to the Jersey Gardens shopping mall5 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, while under constant surveillance. (Id.). Det. Gregory did not know in advance that Parker was heading to Jersey Gardens but followed him there with the surveillance team. (Id. at 33, 39).
Fombah Sirleaf is related to Liberia's then-president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Fombah Sirleaf was the head of Liberia's national law enforcement organization. (Id. at 39; DE 117-2 ¶ 3; DE 120-2 ¶ 3). Around 2010, Sirleaf worked undercover for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as part of a successful law enforcement initiative to dismantle an international drug trafficking organization that sought to route drugs through, among other countries, Liberia and the United States. (See DE 117-8 at 49-54). There is no indication, however, that the officers who detained him knew these background facts, which do not figure in the Fourth Amendment analysis.
Plaintiffs Stanley Summerville and Fombah Sirleaf, both adult males, are lawful green-card residents of the United States. (DE 117-8 at 38, 44, 45). In October 2014, Sirleaf came to the United States from Liberia to purchase military equipment in his official capacity as a member of the Liberian government. (DE 117-8 at 39; DE 117-2 ¶ 3; DE 120-2 ¶ 3). On October 8, 2014, Sirleaf and Summerville, who are friends, were shopping together at the Jersey Gardens shopping mall. (DE 117-2 ¶¶ 2, 40-41; DE 120-2 ¶¶ 2, 40-41; DE 117-8 at 39, 44, 45). Prior to visiting the mall, Sirleaf purchased around $1,000 worth of various over-the-counter pharmaceutical items that he intended to bring back to Liberia to assist with the Ebola epidemic. (Id.; DE 114-6 at 62, 77).
At about 3:31 p.m., Sirleaf and Summerville purchased two suitcases from Marshalls, a store inside the mall. They then exited from the mall and walked to their car, a black Mercedes SUV, in the mall parking lot. (DE 117-8 at 39, 40, 44; DE 117-2 ¶¶ 1-4; DE 120-2 ¶¶ 1-4). There, they spent about 10 minutes rearranging their things, including the pharmaceutical items, and placing them in the two new suitcases that they had just purchased. (DE 117-8 at 40, 44). They placed the suitcases in the trunk of the car and walked back and forth between the seating areas of the car and the trunk as they rearranged the items. (See Video).
As plaintiffs were reorganizing the items in their luggage, Parker pulled his car into a parking spot. Parker's spot was located across a driving lane and about 30 feet down from the plaintiffs' spot. (DE 117-2 ¶¶ 46, 92; DE 120-2 ¶¶ 46, 92; Video).
Parker parked his car next to another car, a grey Mountaineer, that was already parked. (DE 117-5 at 44-45). The occupant of the Mountaineer got out and got inside Parker's car. (Id. at 45). That person did not communicate or make any contact with the plaintiffs. (Id. at 45). After entering Parker's car and remaining there for around 20 seconds, that person got out of Parker's car, got back into the Mountaineer, and drove out of the parking lot, never to be seen again. The Mountaineer driver was not detained or arrested, and the officersdid not even record the license plate number of the Mountaineer. (Id. at 45, 49, 52; Video at 1:45-2:45; DE 117-2 ¶ 73; DE 120-2 ¶ 73). About a minute later, Parker was arrested in the Jersey Gardens parking lot by Det. Kelshaw. (DE 117-5 at 45, 47). The officers...
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