Thomas v. City of Chattanooga
| Decision Date | 09 February 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-6308.,03-6308. |
| Parties | John Eric THOMAS, and wife, Heather Thomas, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Robert J. Shockey, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Phillip A. Noblett, Office of the City Attorney, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Phillip A. Noblett, Michael A. McMahan, Jennifer T. Flowers, Office of the City Attorney, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellee.
Before: COLE and ROGERS, Circuit Judges; COHN, District Judge.*
Plaintiffs-Appellants, Eric and Heather Thomas, bring this appeal following the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City of Chattanooga's Police Department in a municipal liability action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The appellants claim that the Chattanooga Police Department had a policy, custom, or practice of condoning the use of excessive force against suspects. For the reasons discussed below, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court.
On May 28, 2002, at approximately 6:45 p.m., one of Eric Thomas's neighbors called the police to report a disorder at Thomas's home, because Thomas and his father had been loudly arguing. When the police arrived, however, the dispute had been resolved. Later that night, at around 11:30 p.m., Thomas was driving home from a friend's house when the muffler and exhaust pipe fell off his truck. Thomas became upset and continued to drive home, dragging the muffler and exhaust pipe on the street and squealing his tires as he entered his driveway. Thomas entered his house, and he noticed that some of the firearms from his gun collection had been moved from where he left them earlier that day. He went out his side kitchen door, yelling to his wife, Heather, who was next door at her parent's house, "[w]here's all the guns?" She yelled back that his mother had moved them. Heather then returned home, found the guns, and placed them on the kitchen table.
Meanwhile, a neighbor called the police to report a domestic disorder and told the dispatcher that a man and woman were screaming at each other. Officer Abernathy (who knew nothing of the earlier domestic disorder call) was first to respond, and was told by the dispatcher that there was "a guy riding up and down the street in a truck hollering and screaming, burning rubber in the street," and that the man had a baseball bat. Upon arriving at the neighborhood, Officer Abernathy was told by an elderly man in the street that Thomas's house was the scene of the domestic disorder. The officer walked toward Thomas's house and heard two people screaming at each other from inside the house. He radioed for backup and then continued to walk toward the porch. Dogs were barking in the backyard as he entered the porch and he could see into the kitchen through a window in the top half portion of the door.
Officer Abernathy saw a man and woman (Thomas and his wife) facing each other, but he could not hear what they were saying. According to the officer, the man was facing a hallway and the woman was next to the kitchen cabinets. He observed two rifles on the kitchen countertop and saw that the man had a handgun in each hand. The officer saw the man "take a staggered step with his left foot" towards the hallway, and the woman reach for the kitchen door, presumably to unlock it. Officer Abernathy then saw the man begin to turn towards the woman. At this point the officer's vision was partially obstructed. In his deposition, officer Abernathy stated that "[w]hen Mr. Thomas [was] turning to his right, I lost sight of the gun in his left hand which I felt traveled up to a point at her." Officer Abernathy believed that the man and woman had some sort of exchange, and then he saw "Mrs. Thomas start to back up and it looked like she had her hands down to her side." Officer Abernathy claims that the man swayed in the direction of the woman and he saw "an almost surprised expression on her face." At that point, officer Abernathy claims that "there was no doubt in [his] mind, based on her expression and her body language, that she was in imminent danger," and that he was in secondary danger if the man saw him through the window, or knew of his presence because of the loud barking by the dogs. Based on his belief that Eric Thomas was an immediate threat, the officer fired seven continuous rounds through the glass in the kitchen door at Thomas's left arm. Thomas and his wife both claim that they were merely putting away the guns and that Thomas had started to walk away from his wife when he was shot.
Officer Abernathy does not believe that he announced himself as a police officer before the shooting because he did not think there was enough time. It is unclear whether either Thomas or his wife saw the officer on their porch. Officer Abernathy also stated that he did not stop to reevaluate the scene after firing one or two shots because he did not see Thomas drop the guns and thus he believed that the threat had not been subdued. Thomas was hit with seven bullets in his back and in his left arm. Thomas survived the injuries, but is now partially disabled.
The Internal Affairs Division of the Chattanooga Police Department, headed by Captain Janet Crumley, conducted an investigation of the shooting. Based upon her review of Sergeant Russell's investigative report, Crumley determined that the shooting was justified. At the time of the report, Thomas and his wife were unwilling to give Crumley their statements. Crumley noted the relevant facts in the report, but included that officer Abernathy had issued a verbal warning through the closed door. Crumley concluded that "Officer Abernathy fired his weapon to protect Heather Thomas from what he reasonably believed to be an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death," and that "[h]is actions were in compliance with Department Policy." Crumley's determination was reviewed and approved by the Chief of Police. Upon later questioning, Crumley was told that officer Abernathy might not have announced himself or issued a warning prior to shooting Thomas. Crumley maintained that the shooting was justified because the facts still indicated that officer Abernathy perceived Thomas as an immediate threat to his wife. In her deposition, Crumley was asked how she would decide, hypothetically, ten separate cases that were each identical to Thomas's situation, and Crumley responded that she would decide each case the same way she decided this case.
Eric and Heather Thomas did not sue officer Abernathy in any capacity; rather, they chose to sue the Chattanooga Police Department under a municipal liability theory. The City of Chattanooga moved for summary judgment against the Thomases. In response, the Thomases relied on affidavits from their expert witness, Phillip Davidson, who had experience with police operations. The City supported its motion with three affidavits from police officials familiar with the Department's policies and practices. All of these officials denied the existence of any policy in the Department condoning the use of unlawful excessive force. The district court determined that the plaintiffs had not presented a genuine issue of any material fact and granted the City's motion for summary judgment.
A. Municipal Liability Under § 1983
We apply a de novo standard in reviewing the district court's grant of summary judgment. McLean v. 988011 Ontario, Ltd., 224 F.3d 797, 800 (6th Cir.2000). Summary judgment is proper where the movant shows through "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits ... 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). The nonmovant must rebut such a showing by presenting sufficient evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for him; "[a] mere scintilla of evidence is insufficient" to meet this burden. McLean, 224 F.3d at 800. "In deciding a motion for summary judgment, this court views the factual evidence and draws all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party." Id.
Section 1983 creates a federal cause of action against state or local officials who deprive a person of a federal right while acting under the color of state law. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. To prevail in a § 1983 suit against a municipality, a plaintiff must show that the alleged federal right violation occurred because of a municipal policy or custom. Monell v. Dep't of Social Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). A municipality "may not be sued under § 1983 for an injury inflicted solely by its employees or agents." Id.
There are at least four avenues a plaintiff may take to prove the existence of a municipality's illegal policy or custom. The plaintiff can look to (1) the municipality's legislative enactments or official agency policies; (2) actions taken by officials with final decision-making authority; (3) a policy of inadequate training or supervision; or (4) a custom of tolerance or acquiescence of federal rights violations. Id.; Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 480, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986); Stemler v. City of Florence, 126 F.3d 856, 865 (6th Cir.1997); Doe v. Claiborne County, 103 F.3d 495, 507 (6th Cir.1996).
In the present case, the Thomases alleged that the City of Chattanooga had an unwritten policy, practice, or custom of condoning the use of excessive force against potential suspects. In Doe, this Court articulated the requirements for a municipal liability claim made on the basis of an "inaction theory," where a policy of tolerating federal rights violations is unwritten but nevertheless entrenched. We stated that, under such a theory, the plaintiff must...
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