Thompson v. Boggs
| Decision Date | 08 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | 93-2892,Nos. 93-2891,s. 93-2891 |
| Citation | 33 F.3d 847 |
| Parties | Robert THOMPSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Rod BOGGS, Police Officer of the City of Havana, Illinois, Kevin W. Noble, Police Officer of the City of Havana, Illinois, Tom Hardesty, Chief of Police of the City of Havana, Illinois, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Robert THOMPSON, Plaintiff, and Brad Bailey, Appellant, v. Rod BOGGS, Police Officer of the City of Havana, Illinois, Kevin W. Noble, Police Officer of the City of Havana, Illinois, Tom Hardesty, Chief of Police of the City of Havana, Illinois, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Richard L. Steagall (argued), John P. Nicoara, Nicoara & Steagall, Peoria, IL, for Robert C. Thompson.
William A. Allison, Allison & Kelly, Bloomington, IL (argued), for Rod Boggs, Kevin W. Noble, Tom Hardesty and City of Havana, Ill.
Before CUDAHY and COFFEY, Circuit Judges, and NORGLE, District Judge. *
Robert Thompson filed this Sec. 1983 suit alleging a number of claims against the defendants arising from his July 29, 1989 arrest by Havana, Illinois, Police Officer Rodney Boggs. Thompson was arrested following a high speed chase during which, according to Officer Boggs' Offense Report, Thompson was observed and believed to be "DUI, [driving with a] revoked [license], reckless [driving], fleeing [an officer, and] speeding." Prior to trial, the court granted summary judgment on several of the claims and during the trial, the court granted judgment as a matter of law on the claim against Officer Kevin Noble (for failing to prevent Boggs' alleged use of excessive force). Thus, only one claim, Boggs' alleged use of excessive force against Thompson, was presented to the jury which returned a verdict in favor of the defendant, Officer Boggs. We affirm.
The evidence at trial disclosed the following information. Officer Boggs testified that on July 29, 1989, he observed Thompson driving a motorcycle with a female passenger. Having prior knowledge of Thompson's driving record, Boggs suspected that Thompson was operating the motorcycle without a valid operator's license. Boggs stated that he followed Thompson in his squad car, radioed his dispatcher and received confirmation that Thompson's Illinois driver's privileges had been revoked. Upon receipt of this information Boggs activated his squad car's lights and siren in an attempt to apprehend and interview Thompson. Rather than pulling to the side of the road as required by Illinois statute, Thompson accelerated and sped away. Officer Noble, also on duty that evening, testified that he heard the dispatcher's radio report over the air of Thompson fleeing, and joined in the pursuit of Thompson. In separate police cars, with sirens and multi-colored lights activated, Officers Boggs and Noble pursued Thompson through the outskirts of the City of Havana, Illinois, and toward the Mason District Hospital. During the chase, Thompson sped through at least three stop signs and reached speeds in excess of sixty miles per hour along the city's streets. Believing that Thompson's motorcycle was heading for the hospital's parking lot, Officer Noble stated that he drove his vehicle to the rear exit of the hospital lot and positioned his vehicle sideways, blocking a portion of the exit. As he did this, Thompson, still being pursued by Boggs, rounded the corner of the hospital, nearly striking people leaving the facility. Seeing Officer Noble's squad car ahead, Thompson braked, skidded, and collided with the left front fender of Officer Noble's squad car. Thompson's passenger was catapulted over the hood of the squad car and on to the pavement while Thompson was thrown to the roadway.
Officer Boggs testified that following the collision, he immediately stopped his squad car, exited, and ran towards Thompson. According to Boggs, it appeared to him that Thompson was getting up and preparing to flee on foot (Boggs described Thompson's position as "a sprinter's starter's position"), so Boggs "tackled" Thompson by "kind of thr[owing] my body into his, and when we ended up, he was on his back and I was sort of laying on top of him." Boggs testified that he then straddled Thompson, rolled him onto his stomach, and placed the lower part of his leg across Thompson's lower back to restrain the suspect because Thompson was struggling in an attempt to escape. Boggs claimed that after handcuffing Thompson, he yelled to spectators to get medical help. Officer Noble testified that after Boggs arrested Thompson, he (Noble) left his squad car and assisted the young woman who had been thrown from the motorcycle when it came in contact with Noble's police car. A subsequent medical examination of Thompson revealed that he had suffered a compression fracture of a vertebrae in his lower back.
At trial, Thompson testified that as he rounded the hospital and approached the rear exit of the parking lot, Officer Noble's squad car Thompson asserted that his back was injured when, following the collision, Boggs lifted him off the ground, threw him back down, and jammed his knee into Thompson's back. Thompson further recounted that he drifted in and out of consciousness (he testified that after colliding with Officer Noble's squad car he "noticed" that he "was out"), that he "don't [sic] remember no [sic] pain in my back until someone come [sic] down on my back," and claimed that he did not struggle with Officer Boggs nor ever attempt to flee on foot.
Thompson sued Officer Rodney Boggs and fellow Officer Kevin Noble in their individual capacities, claiming that Boggs used excessive force when effecting an arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and that Officer Noble intentionally failed to prevent Boggs from using the alleged excessive force. In addition, Thompson maintained that both officers denied him his first amendment right of access to the courts because the officers in their police reports failed to set forth that Officer Boggs had used excessive force during the arrest. Finally, Thompson asserted a claim against the City of Havana, Illinois, and Thomas Hardesty, its police chief, asserting that Hardesty and the City had a custom or policy condoning Boggs' use of excessive force. Plaintiff's cause of action was based upon his allegation that "Officer Boggs has exhibited his tendency to use excessive force on [four occasions subsequent to] the July 29, 1989 occurrence involving Plaintiff[,]" as well as on one occasion prior to Thompson's arrest, and that neither Police Chief Hardesty nor the City authorities had ever investigated allegations of Boggs' use of excessive force nor disciplined him for his allegedly illegal behavior. 1
Arguing that Thompson had failed to state claims upon which relief could be granted, Officers Boggs and Noble moved to dismiss the claim that Boggs had used excessive force, that Noble had failed to prevent Boggs' use of excessive force, and that Thompson had been denied access to the courts. The judge denied the defendants' motions to dismiss with respect to Thompson's assertion 1) that Boggs used excessive force and 2) that Noble failed to prevent the use of excessive force, finding that Thompson's claims were cognizable and sufficiently supported by factual allegations. The district court dismissed Thompson's cause of action asserting a denial of access to the courts, stating that
Thompson then moved the court for a grant of summary judgment on his allegation that Noble illegally used his squad car as a roadblock. Noble responded that Thompson had not previously asserted this particular cause of action in either his original complaint, amended complaint, or second amended complaint, to which Thompson replied that he had just learned of the existence of the illegal seizure claim during discovery. Thompson moved to amend his complaint for a third time to specifically include the illegal seizure claim. The district judge denied Thompson's motion to amend his second amended complaint because Thompson, who was involved in the incident, had knowledge for almost four years that Noble used his car as a roadblock and that the case upon which plaintiff based his illegal seizure claim, Brower v. County of Inyo, 489 U.S. 593, 109 S.Ct. 1378, 103 L.Ed.2d 628 (1989), had been decided prior to the time Thompson filed suit.
Subsequently, the City of Havana, Illinois, and Police Chief Hardesty moved for summary judgment on plaintiff's contention that there existed a municipal policy of condoning Officer Boggs' use of excessive force by failing to discipline Boggs. After examining the affidavits of the alleged victims, the court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment, finding that the four allegations of Boggs' excessive use of force occurring after the Thompson incident (July 29, 1989) were "not sufficiently similar in pattern or close in time to the incident involving Plaintiff to be admitted against the Defendants in order to establish a custom, policy, or practice of tolerating excessive force." Thus, the single incident which occurred prior to the Thompson arrest remained for the court's consideration. With respect to that prior incident, the...
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