Sylvester v. City of New York

• Decision Date: 06 September 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03 Civ. 8760(JGK).,03 Civ. 8760(JGK).
• Citation: 385 F.Supp.2d 431
• Parties: Deborah SYLVESTER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

385 F.Supp.2d 431

Deborah SYLVESTER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. The CITY OF NEW YORK, et al., Defendants.

No. 03 Civ. 8760(JGK).

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

September 6, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Edward Sivin, Sivin & Miller, L.L.P., New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Jennifer Amy Rossan, NYC Law Dept. off. of the Corporation Counsel, Brooklyn, NY, for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER

KOELTL, District Judge.

This action arises out of the fatal shooting of Melvin Sylvester by defendant Detective Terrence Donnelly. The deceased's wife, Deborah Sylvester, on behalf of herself and the estate of Melvin Sylvester, together with two of Melvin Sylvester's children, William and Kimberly Sylvester, brought this action against the City of New York (the "City") and seven police officers and officials, asserting claims of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment, among others. The defendants have now moved for partial summary judgment.

I.

A.

The standard for granting summary judgment is well established. Summary judgment may not be granted unless "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Gallo v. Prudential Residential Servs. Ltd. P'ship, 22 F.3d 1219, 1223 (2d Cir.1994). "[T]he trial court's task at the summary judgment motion stage of the litigation is carefully limited to discerning whether there are genuine issues of material fact to be tried, not to deciding them. Its duty, in short, is confined at this point to issue-finding; it does not extend to issue-resolution." Gallo, 22 F.3d at 1224. The moving party bears the initial burden of informing the district court of the basis for its motion and identifying the matter that it believes demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex, 477 U.S. at 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The substantive law governing the case will identify those facts that are material, and "only disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); see also Consol. Edison, Inc. v. Northeast Utilities, 332 F.Supp.2d 639, 642 (S.D.N.Y.2004).

Summary judgment is appropriate if it appears that the non-moving party cannot prove an element that is essential to the non-moving party's case and on which it will bear the burden of proof at trial. See Cleveland v. Policy Mgt. Sys. Corp., 526 U.S. 795, 805-06, 119 S.Ct. 1597, 143 L.Ed.2d 966 (1999); Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548; Powell v. Nat. Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, 364 F.3d 79, 84 (2d Cir.2004). In determining whether summary judgment is appropriate, a court must resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences against the moving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citing United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962)); Gallo, 22 F.3d at 1223. Summary judgment is improper if there is any evidence in the record from any source from which a reasonable inference could be drawn in favor of the nonmoving party. See Chambers v. T.R.M. Copy Ctrs. Corp., 43 F.3d 29, 37 (2d Cir.1994). If the moving party meets its initial burden of showing a lack of a material issue of fact, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to come forward with "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The nonmoving party must produce evidence in the record and "may not rely simply on conclusory statements or on contentions that the affidavits supporting the motion are not credible." Ying Jing Gan v. City of New York, 996 F.2d 522, 532 (2d Cir.1993); see also Scotto v. Almenas, 143 F.3d 105, 114-15 (2d Cir.1998); Singh v. New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., No. 03 Civ. 5238, 2005 WL 1354038, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. June 8, 2005) (slip opinion); Consol. Edison, 332 F.Supp.2d at 643.

B.

Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are not disputed. On August 8, 2003, after midnight, defendant Detective Terrence Donnelly, a New York City Police Department ("NYPD") detective dressed in plain clothes, approached a crowd that had gathered outside the entrance of 200 West 131st Street in Manhattan. (Defs.' Local Rule 56.1 Stmt. ("Defs.' Stmt."), ¶ 7; Pls.' Resp. to Defs.' Local Rule 56.1 Stmt. ("Pls.' Stmt."), ¶¶ 7, 48; Deposition of Detective Terrence Donnelly, dated July 22, 2004 ("Donnelly Dep."), at 45, attached as Ex. F to Rossan Decl.) At the time, Donnelly was not wearing corrective lenses prescribed to him to correct astigmatism in one eye. (Donnelly Dep. at 11-12, 45.) Donnelly testifies that he heard people say "They are fighting, they have guns across the street." (Id. at 69-70.) After reaching the crowd, Donnelly allegedly raised his gun and pointed it at William Sylvester, who placed his hands in the air over his head. (Id. at 129-30.) Donnelly testified that he feared William Sylvester was going to shoot a woman (id. at 127), but the plaintiffs counter that Donnelly never observed a weapon in William's hands or on his person (Pls.' Stmt. at 53; Donnelly Dep. at 136, 266). A few moments later, Melvin Sylvester, William's father, approached the area where Donnelly and William were. (Police Report, attached as Ex. 6 to Aff. of Edward Sivin, dated Feb. 22, 2005 ("Sivin Aff.").)

The parties differ with respect to the circumstances of Donnelly's shooting of Melvin Sylvester. The plaintiffs allege that Donnelly shot Melvin even though Melvin did not advance toward Donnelly and Donnelly did not observe an open knife in Melvin's hands. (Pls.' Stmt. at 56-57; Donnelly Dep. at 157; Deposition of Kimberly Sylvester, dated Sept. 20, 2004 ("Kimberly Dep."), at 122, 129-30, attached as Ex. 2 to Sivin Aff.) They also allege that after the shooting, Donnelly never observed an open knife either on Melvin's person or near his body (Pls.' Stmt. at 58; but see Donnelly Dep. at 169-73).

The defendants allege that while Donnelly was pointing his gun at William, Melvin came at Donnelly from behind wielding a knife. (See, e.g., Donnelly Dep. at 136.) Hearing a noise behind him, Donnelly spun around, shouted warnings that he was a police officer and that Melvin should stop, observed a knife in Melvin's hand, and then shot Melvin in the chest after Melvin failed to stop. (Id. at 146-74.) The defendants also deny plaintiffs' allegations that Donnelly ever pointed his gun at Kimberly. (Kimberly Dep. at 293.)

Although no weapon was found on William, he was handcuffed and taken by defendants officers James Quilty and Matthew Campbell to the 32nd police precinct. (Donnelly Dep. at 266-67; Deposition of James Quilty, dated Aug. 9, 2004 ("Quilty Dep."), at 78-85, attached as Ex. N to Rossan Decl.; Deposition of Matthew Campbell, dated Aug. 10, 2004 ("Campbell Dep."), at 70-73.) William's sister Kimberly was taken to the 32nd police precinct by defendant Thaddeus Hall. (Deposition of Thaddeus Hall, dated Aug. 11, 2004 ("Hall Dep."), at 23, attached as Ex. M to Rossan Decl.) Deborah Sylvester, Melvin's wife was also taken to the 32nd police precinct, although she had buckled at the scene after learning that her husband had been shot. (Deposition of Deborah Sylvester, dated Sept. 14, 2004 ("Deborah Dep."), at 156-61, attached as Ex. 1 to Sivin Aff. and Ex. K to Rossan Decl.) Neither of the three were ever charged with any crime, violation, or other offense in connection with the shooting and other events of August 8, 2003. (Id. at 177; Kimberly Dep. at 293, 299; Deposition of William Sylvester, dated Sept. 15, 2004 ("William Dep."), at 216, attached as Ex. 3 to Sivin Aff.)

William was questioned by Detective Chavers at the 32nd police precinct and Chavers wrote out a statement purporting to contain William's observations of the shooting; this statement includes the sentence: "My father had a little knife pocket knife in his hand." (Deposition of Detective Byron Chavers, dated Aug. 21, 2004 ("Chavers Dep."), at 69, attached as Ex. L to Rossan Decl.; Bates Nos. 379-81, attached as Ex. 6 to Sivin Aff.; but see William Dep. at 118.) Kimberly was questioned at the 32nd police precinct by Hall, who also wrote out a statement purporting to contain her observations; that statement includes the following sentence: "My father not knowing that they [were] cops pulled a pocketknife and the cop shot him." (Bates No. 638, attached as Ex. 6 to Sivin Aff.) In the recorded interview of Kimberly taken on the night of the incident, Kimberly said, "[My father] kind of came at him [Donnelly] to like stop him from shooting my brother, but I think he came at him, maybe with a pocket knife." (Ex. E to Rossan Decl. at 5.)

The parties disagree about the circumstances surrounding these questionings and the resulting statements. The plaintiffs contend that Kimberly's and William's statements were only given after officers told them that they could not go to the hospital until they gave and agreed to the statements. (Pls.' Stmt. at 12; Kimberly Dep. at 267, 276-81; William Dep. 170-71, 184, 207, 210-12.) The plaintiffs also allege that Deborah was questioned at the 32nd police precinct by a detective, allegedly Chavers, even though she requested approximately six times that the questioning be stopped so that she could go to the hospital to be with her husband. (Deborah Dep. at 170; Chavers Dep. at 117; but see id. at 62-64.)

On the other hand, the defendants stress that Kimberly, in tape recorded statements from the night of the shooting, said...