Tamez v. Manthey

• Citation: 589 F.3d 764
• Decision Date: 02 December 2009
• Docket Number: No. 09-40310 Summary Calendar.,09-40310 Summary Calendar.
• Parties: Heriberto TAMEZ, Individually and On behalf of the Estate of Daniel Tamez; Maria Trinidad Tamez, Individually; April Garza, as Next Friend of E.E.T., a Minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Gerald MANTHEY, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Pedro H. Ibarra, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Police Chief Daniel Castillo, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Miguel Bernal, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Jaime Rodriguez, Individually and in his Official Capacity; The City of Harlingen; Rick Elizondo, Individually and in his Official Capacity, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

589 F.3d 764

Heriberto TAMEZ, Individually and On behalf of the Estate of Daniel Tamez; Maria Trinidad Tamez, Individually; April Garza, as Next Friend of E.E.T., a Minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Gerald MANTHEY, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Pedro H. Ibarra, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Police Chief Daniel Castillo, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Miguel Bernal, Individually and in his Official Capacity; Jaime Rodriguez, Individually and in his Official Capacity; The City of Harlingen; Rick Elizondo, Individually and in his Official Capacity, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 09-40310 Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

December 2, 2009.

Larry L. Warner, Law Offices of Larry Warner, Harlingen, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Roger Wade Hughes, Adams & Graham, L.L.P., Harlingen, TX, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Before KING, STEWART and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Daniel Tamez was a pretrial detainee of the City of Harlingen. He died while in the custody of the city from acute cocaine intoxication when a bag of cocaine that he swallowed before his arrest burst in his intestines. The Tamez Family then brought this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on Tamez's behalf, alleging that various police officers and prison officials were deliberately indifferent to Tamez's need for medical care. Appellees' moved for summary judgment on the Tamez Family's claim, and the district court granted their motion for summary judgment. The Tamez Family then appealed the district court's judgment. We AFFIRM.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 18, 2006, at approximately 1:30 a.m., an officer from the Harlingen Police Department attempted to pull Daniel Tamez over after he disregarded a stop sign at high speed. Although Tamez initially pulled over, he decided to run from the police, causing multiple officers to pursue him for approximately two and a half miles. The officers eventually caught Tamez and arrested him.

After Tamez was arrested, he was transported to the Harlingen City Jail ("City Jail"). Tamez was aggressive and combative during the trip to the City Jail, and the transporting officers had to carry him into the jail. Once inside, Tamez was searched, and the officers discovered a short straw commonly used for cocaine in Tamez's pants but no drugs. The police then filled out an intake form for Tamez and asked him several health questions. In response to the officers' questions, Tamez told the officers that he was not on drugs, that he was diabetic, and that he was currently under the care of a physician. Later that same morning, during his appearance before a magistrate, Tamez appeared to be aware of what was occurring, and he immediately answered all the questions asked by the judge. After his appearance before the judge, Tamez was returned to the City Jail. During this time, Tamez never advised any of his jailers that he felt ill, that he needed any medical treatment, or that he was injured.

That afternoon, defendants Jaime Rodriguez ("Detective Rodriguez") and Pedro Ibarra ("Detective Ibarra") transported Tamez to the Cameron County Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center ("County Jail"). While waiting to be booked, Tamez complained to one of the county jailers that he wanted to see a doctor because he felt tired. The jailer then summoned the county nurse on duty, who came and examined Tamez. While waiting for the nurse to arrive, Tamez informed the jailer and Detective Rodriguez that he might have a sexually transmitted disease ("STD").

Felipe Esquivel ("Nurse Esquivel") was the county intake nurse on duty on January 18, 2006, and he was the nurse that examined Tamez. County intake nurses are tasked with screening detainees brought to the County Jail to determine whether the detainees need a "medical clearance" before they can be incarcerated in the jail. The term "medical clearance" is an administrative term meaning that a detainee is medically cleared for incarceration. Nurse Esquivel testified that if a nurse finds anything abnormal with a detainee they reject the detainee pending medical clearance. Several officers and jailers testified that a medical clearance can be requested for many reasons, including a cold, a cough, cuts, or a hurt ankle or wrist; no evidence to the contrary was offered. Harlingen Police Chief Daniel Castillo ("Chief Castillo") testified that a rejection pending medical clearance does not by itself tell officers that a detainee is in need of immediate medical care. Nurse Esquivel also stated that, in addition to rejecting a person pending medical clearance, a nurse may call 911 or summon a County Jail physician if a detainee is in need of urgent or emergency medical care.

Nurse Esquivel did not find that Tamez was in need of either urgent or emergency medical care. He did, however, find that Tamez's pupils were maximally dilated, which was sufficient to reject him pending medical clearance. Nurse Esquivel then informed Detectives Ibarra and Rodriguez of Tamez's rejection. Nurse Esquivel told the detectives that Tamez had dilated pupils and needed to be medically cleared before the County Jail would incarcerate him. The nurse suggested that the detectives take Tamez to the Valley Regional Medical Center ("VRMC"), because it was the closest 24-hour facility with a physician on-call and an emergency room where Tamez could receive any necessary medical treatment before returning to the County Jail. Nurse Esquivel routinely referred every detainee pending medical clearance to VRMC.

During Nurse Esquivel's examination of Tamez, he asked Tamez whether he had taken drugs or was under the influence of drugs. Tamez denied taking drugs. If he had admitted that he was under the influence of drugs, Nurse Esquivel stated that he would not have rejected Tamez pending medical clearance; instead, he would have placed Tamez in isolation and treated him according to the county's drug and alcohol protocol.

Nurse Esquivel testified that he expected the detectives to take Tamez to the hospital immediately. However, he never testified that he told the detectives to take him to the hospital immediately or that there was any urgency to his instructions to take Tamez to the hospital.

The detective returned Tamez to the City Jail. The trip to jail was unremarkable. The detectives turned Tamez over to the custody of Harlingen jailers Rick Elizondo ("Jailer Elizondo") and Miguel Bernal ("Jailer Bernal"), who are both defendants in this action after informing the jailers that Tamez had been rejected pending medical clearance. After they turned Tamez over, the detectives no longer had any responsibility for Tamez.

Jailer Elizondo did not notice anything wrong with Tamez when he was returned to the City Jail, so he placed Tamez in his cell. Both Jailers Elizondo and Bernal checked on Tamez every twenty minutes. During their rounds, both jailers observed Tamez talking on the phone, which was a normal activity. Tamez did not sleep during their shift, and the jailers did not observe anything wrong with Tamez. Tamez never told either jailer that he was ill or that he needed to see a doctor. The only thing he requested was water, which was given to him. On Jailer Elizondo's final round, he again observed nothing out of the ordinary, and he told the jailers on the next shift that Tamez needed a medical clearance.

After an uneventful night, Jailer Estela Lozano ("Jailer Lozano") was on duty during which she checked on Tamez every twenty minutes. Tamez was asleep the first four times Jailer Lozano checked on him, and his clothes were not wet at the time. During a later round, Jailer Lozano noticed that Tamez's clothes were wet and that he was awake. When Jailer Lozano asked Tamez why his clothes were wet, he replied that he was hot. The wet clothes were the only "strange" thing that Jailer Lozano noticed about Tamez.

Jailer Lozano then asked Tamez why he had been sent back from the County Jail. Tamez responded that someone at the County Jail told him that he needed some blood work done before they would admit him. Jailer Lozano then asked one of her supervisors about obtaining a medical clearance for Tamez. Her supervisor called Harlingen police officer Arturo Gonzalez ("Officer Gonzalez") to take Tamez to the hospital. Tamez was able to exit his cell without any problem, and his trip to the hospital was without incident.

Officer Gonzalez drove Tamez to the Harlingen Medical Center ("HMC") to receive treatment. Nurse Marina Garza ("Nurse Garza") triaged Tamez at 9:42 a.m. on January 19, 2006. Tamez was restless during Nurse Garza's examination, and he told her that he had chest pains from working out and that the pain was a one on a scale of one to ten. He also denied using drugs. Tamez was then examined by an emergency room doctor. Tamez was also sent to radiology for x-rays, and he returned from radiology at approximately 10:35 a.m.

Around 11:00 a.m., Tamez began suffering seizures. Medical personnel attempted to treat him and gave him medication. At 11:48 a.m. Tamez stopped breathing. Doctors and nurses attempted to revive Tamez for approximately fifty minutes, but he died at 12:29 p.m. After his death, an autopsy was performed. The autopsy found that Tamez died of acute cocaine intoxication. A clear, open baggy was found in Tamez's intestine, and the baggy tested positive for cocaine.

After Tamez's death, the Tamez Family brought this suit on Tamez's behalf under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the Appellees were liable for Tamez's death. Appellees moved for summary judgment on the Tamez Family's § 1983 claim, and the district court granted their motion. This appeal followed.

II. DISCUSSION

The Tamez Family contends that material fact issues concerning the various defendants' conduct require reversal of the summary judgment. In addition to defending the...