Thompson v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 19 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-3177.,04-3177.
• Citation: Thompson v. City of Chicago, 472 F.3d 444 (7th Cir. 2006)
• Parties: Lee THOMPSON, Administrator of the Estate of James Thompson and Paulette White-Thompson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF CHICAGO and Officer Bradley Hespe, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

472 F.3d 444

Lee THOMPSON, Administrator of the Estate of James Thompson and Paulette White-Thompson, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CITY OF CHICAGO and Officer Bradley Hespe, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-3177.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued September 21, 2005.

Decided December 19, 2006.

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Randall W. Schwartz (argued), Parente & Norem, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Mara S. Georges, Emily K. Paster (argued), Office of the Corporation Counsel Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before COFFEY, EVANS, and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

On December 5, 2000, James Thompson died following a struggle with police officers who were trying to handcuff him while taking him into custody after he led them on a high-speed automobile chase in an attempt to evade apprehension on the west side of Chicago, Illinois. The Cook County Medical Examiner later ruled Thompson's death a homicide, concluding that he died as a result of asphyxia, resulting at least in part from a "choke hold" applied to his neck while officers were attempting to restrain him. Armed with this information, Lee Thompson and Paulette WhiteThompson¹ (collectively "the Thompsons"), filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the City of Chicago ("City") and the eleven Chicago Police Department ("CPD") officers who were at the scene. In their complaint, Thompson's relatives alleged inter alia that the officers violated Thompson's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by using excessive force while attempting to place him under arrest, see 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and argued that the City and the individual officers should be held liable under the state common-law theory of wrongful death. Following discovery, the City of Chicago and the police officers submitted a motion for summary judgment, which was granted in part, dismissing the suit against four of the officers. Subsequently, six other named officers were voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiffs, leaving only Officer Bradley Hespe (the officer who allegedly placed a choke hold on the arrestee) and the City as defendants.

Prior to trial, the remaining defendants filed a number of motions in limine. Two of which were companion motions seeking to bar the plaintiffs from introducing: (1) the opinion testimony of officers from the CPD's Office of Professional Standards concerning their investigation into Thompson's death; and (2) the CPD's General Orders, practices and policies (or the officer's failure to act in accordance with those orders, practices and policies). The district judge granted the motions, and the trial began on July 12, 2004.

After a week long trial, and a day of deliberations, the jury found in favor of the defendants, and judgment was entered on July 21, 2004. The Thompsons filed a motion for a new trial pursuant to Rule 59 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on August 4, 2004, arguing that the district judge erred when she granted the defendants' motions in limine, see supra at p ___. The motion was denied; the Thompsons appealed. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On the evening of December 5, 2000, CPD Officers Jose Cardo and Nicholas Spanos were on routine patrol on the west side of Chicago, near the intersection of St. Louis Avenue and Franklin Boulevard, when they noticed a black Ford Mustang, parked with the engine running on the eastbound side of the street. It was not apparent at that time whether there was anyone in the driver's seat. The officers proceeded westbound past the idling car, but slowed down to assess the situation, and shortly thereafter they observed an unknown male. The subject emerged from the courtyard of an adjacent apartment building, approached the Mustang, reached into the passenger side of the car, appeared to extract something, and ran back into the building. After this observation, and based on the neighborhood's reputation as a high drug trafficking area,² as well as the fact that the unknown male seemed to look toward the police officers as he was running back into the building, Cardo and Spanos were of the belief that they had just witnessed a narcotics buy.

The officers immediately made a u-turn, only to see the Mustang pulling away from them and heading eastbound on Franklin towards the St. Louis Avenue intersection. Without activating their emergency lights, Officers Spanos and Cardo followed the car for a few blocks to observe, and, after the driver ran a stop sign, a traffic stop was initiated after activating the flashing blue lights and sirens. The driver of the Mustang yielded and pulled to the side of the road; however, after both of the officers exited their vehicle and began to approach the Mustang, the car took off at a high rate of speed. The officers jumped into their squad car and gave chase and alerted their dispatcher, requesting backup support as they continued in pursuit.

During the next few minutes the chase covered two to three miles. Officers Spanos and Cardo were joined by other CPD officers who had responded to the call for assistance. The officers involved in the pursuit tried to barricade the Mustang in (per their training), but the driver was able to evade their efforts to stop him by driving up onto lawns and over sidewalks. Considering the escalating danger to the officers, the public at large, and the suspect, the officers realized the need to seize immediate control of the situation. Shortly thereafter, they were aided by a blunder on the part of the suspect driver. While attempting to negotiate a right hand turn from Maypole Street onto Kenton Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and traveling at a speed of approximately 40-50 miles per hour, the driver lost control and skidded over the curb and crashed into a viaduct on the northwest corner of the intersection.

One of the first officers at the crash scene, Officer Dougherty, observed the suspect's badly damaged vehicle and believing that the driver would be seriously injured, called the dispatcher and requested ambulance assistance. Joined by Officer Reyes, Officer Dougherty approached the Mustang and observed the driver having a hard time attempting to exit the severely damaged vehicle. Officer Reyes assisted in opening the driver's side door and allowed the driver to exit. The driver, later identified as James Thompson, while attempting to gain his balance, was observed by Officer Dougherty, who, in turn, yelled at him, and instructed him to "[g]et down on the ground." Rather than obeying the officer's command, Thompson—who stood six-foot-one and weighed approximately 330 pounds—took one step forward while swinging his fist at Officer Reyes, who was unable to dodge the blow and was struck on the shoulder. Officer Dougherty, rushing the suspect and trying to seize his left arm and handcuff him, was rebuffed when Thompson, still standing, pushed him in the chest. Officer Dougherty re-engaged Thompson as Officer Reyes feverishly attempted to restrain his right hand and all three fell to the ground.

While on the ground with Thompson, Officers Reyes and Dougherty were joined in the struggle by Officers Cygnar, Rellinger, and Hespe, who had also taken part in the chase. The officers who had just arrived observed Thompson flailing his arms, while Officers Reyes and Dougherty were trying to cuff him.³ In an effort to keep Thompson on the ground, Officer Hespe jumped on his back and placed his arm around Thompson's neck, until the other officers had completed the cuffing of his arms behind him.⁴ At that point, Officer Hespe released Thompson, who continued to struggle even after he had been handcuffed.⁵

Once subdued, Thompson began complaining that he was having trouble breathing. The officers rolled him over onto his side so that they could make it easier for him to get some air, while Officer Dougherty made a second call for an ambulance. Thompson continued to complain that he was having trouble breathing, prompting Officer Cygnar to release his handcuffs.

The ambulance arrived about five minutes later, and during that period of time Thompson stopped breathing and became unresponsive. When paramedics arrived, they encountered an unconscious Thompson. Two of the paramedics testified at the trial that, when they examined Thompson at the crash scene, they believed that he had stopped breathing⁶ due to a large amount of blood blocking his airway.⁷ Thompson was transported via ambulance to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced D.O.A. (dead on arrival).

A. Thompson's Family Files Suit

Following Thompson's death, an autopsy was conducted. In a report issued on April 12, 2001, from the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, a Dr. Lifschultz, concluded that "James Thompson died as a result of asphyxia due to a choke hold," but also determined that Thompson was suffering from "[h]ypertensive cardiovascular disease and opiate intoxication," which in turn were found to be contributory causes of his death.

On November 16, 2001, Thompson's wife, Paulette White-Thompson, and his mother, Lee Thompson,⁸ filed suit against the City and eleven officers in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The original complaint was followed by two amended complaints⁹ seeking damages arising from Thompson's death under both state and federal law. The second amended complaint alleged that the City and the officers, in both their individual and official capacities, had violated Thompson's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution when denying him equal protection and due process with the use of excessive force while taking him into custody. See 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In addition, the complaint averred common law causes of action for wrongful death and civil conspiracy under Illinois state law. Following discovery, the defendants moved for summary judgment on all claims.

The trial judge...