Thorne v. Steubenville Police Officer, No. 2:05-cv-0001.

• Citation: 463 F.Supp.2d 760
• Decision Date: 28 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2:05-cv-0001.
• Parties: Daniel THORNE, Jr., et al., Plaintiff, v. STEUBENVILLE POLICE OFFICER, John Lelles, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

463 F.Supp.2d 760

Daniel THORNE, Jr., et al., Plaintiff, v. STEUBENVILLE POLICE OFFICER, John Lelles, et al., Defendants.

No. 2:05-cv-0001.

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division.

November 28, 2006.

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Richard A. Olivito, Boardman, OH, James Donald McNamara, Columbus, OH, William C. Hinnant, Jr., Anderson, SC, for Plaintiffs.

Michael S. Loughry, Mazanec Raskin & Ryder Co. LPA, Columbus, OH, Paul J. Cristallo, Robert Henry Stoffers, Mazanec Raskin & Ryder Co. LPA, Cleveland, OH, for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER

MARBLEY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter comes before the Court on the following motions: (1) Motion for Summary Judgment by the City of Steubenville, Ohio ("Steubenville" or "City"), Officer John Lelles ("Officer Lelles"), Officer Edward Karovic ("Officer Karovic"), Mayor Domineck Mucci, ("Mayor Mucci"), City Manager Bruce Williams ("City Manager Williams"), and Police Chief William McCafferty ("Chief McCafferty") (collectively, "Defendants"); and (2) Defendants' Motion to Strike Exhibits Submitted in Support of Plaintiffs' Responsive Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. For the reasons set forth herein, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and GRANTS Defendants' Motion to Strike.

II. STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. Background

In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, Plaintiffs, Daniel "Danny" Thorne, Jr., and his parents, Mr. Daniel Thorne, Sr. and Mrs. Sharon Thorne (collectively, "Plaintiffs"), allege that Officers Lelles and Karovic, Steubenville police officers, violated Danny's Fourth Amendment rights when they seized him in his family's backyard, allegedly beat him with a Maglite flashlight, and arrested him for underage drinking. The Plaintiffs' Complaint alleges the following facts.

1. The Arrest

On June 6, 2004, between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., Officers Karovic and Lelles responded to a reported fight occurring at a party in the 300 block of Buena Vista in Steubenville. Other officers were already on the scene, and Officer Pete Basil ("Officer Basil") directed Officers Karovic and Lelles to search for four male suspects who had fled on foot. Officer Basil described one of the suspects as a white male wearing a red shirt.

After determining that the other officers did not need assistance at the scene of the party, Officers Karovic and Lelles began to search between the surrounding houses for the suspects. Officer Lelles observed evidence of footprints in the dew on the grass, and Officer Karovic heard voices coming from a nearby yard, which was blocked by an approximately six-foot-high wooden fence. Officer Karovic then looked over the fence where he observed a white male in a red t-shirt talking on a mobile phone.¹ The white male was Plaintiff, Daniel "Danny" Thorne, Jr. ("Danny"), and he was standing in the backyard of his family's home.

Officer Karovic claims that upon viewing Danny over the fence, he called for Danny to come over, and identified Himself as a police officer. He asserts, however, that Danny responded by ducking behind the deck of the Thornes' above-ground pool. Further, Officer Karovic testified that, though he repeatedly asked Danny to come out of hiding, Danny would not reveal himself and failed to respond to any of his repeated commands. Danny admits that he hid from Officer Karovic, but he denies that he heard either Officer Karovic or Officer Lelles identify themselves as police officers until after he hid under the deck.² Further, Danny claims that he hid underneath the deck because he did not know the two men who were in his backyard, and he was scared.

At that point, Officer Karovic circled around the pool and observed Danny "crawling underneath' the deck to the other side, close to the rear of the fence. Officer Karovic then circled the pool a second time, and Danny started to crawl back toward the house. Officer Karovic testified that he tried to grab Danny to stop him, but Danny evaded him. Officer Karovic claimed his "danger cues were up" because he did not know who Danny was, and did not know why he was avoiding the officers.

Danny then called his father, Daniel Thorne, Sr. ("Thorne, Sr.") on his mobile phone requesting help. Thorne, Sr. subsequently yelled out of the window of his house for Danny to get to the side door. Officer Karovic testified that at that time, he was able to grab Danny with a firm grip and take him to the side door of the Thorne house. Officer Karovic testified that it was his intent to seize Danny in furtherance of the investigation of the nearby disturbance. Danny testified that Officer Karovic did not make contact with him until they both reached the side door of the house. Further, Danny testified that when he was running from under the deck to the side door of the house, he observed for the first time that Officer Karovic was in uniform. He claims, however, that he does not recall either Officer Karovic or Officer Lelles saying anything to him while he was running toward the house.

Danny asserts that while they waited for Thorne, Sr. to open the side door to the house, Officer Karovic hit Danny three times above his right eye with an approximately eighteen or twenty-inch Maglite flashlight.³ Officer Karovic denies hitting Danny and states that he had a firm grip on Danny's arm. Thorne, Sr. did not witness Officer Karovic's alleged striking of Danny, but he testified that before opening the door, he heard his son say "quit hitting me," and that upon opening the door, he saw Officer Karovic's Maglite near or laying on Danny's face. On the other hand, Officer Lelles testified that he did not see Officer Karovic hit Danny, and noted that he never heard Danny say, "quit hitting me." Further, the Thorne family's neighbor, Penny Keeder testified that she witnessed the events that occurred between Danny and Officer Karovic and did not see Officer Karovic hit Danny.⁴

At that point, Thorne, Sr. let Danny into the house. Thorne, Sr. had a brief conversation with Officer Lelles, which led Thorne, Sr. to invite both Officer Lelles and Officer Karovic into the house through the front door. Once inside the Thornes' house, Officer Lelles asked to see Danny, explaining to Thorne, Sr. that Danny had run from the police. Upon hearing this, Thorne, Sr. began yelling at Danny.

Officer Lelles testified that at that time, he noticed that Danny's eyes were "dilated" and "bloodshot," and that Danny smelled of alcohol. Officer Lelles testified that he asked Danny if he had been drinking, and Danny responded in the affirmative. Danny, however, does not remember this discussion and denies that it occurred. Moreover, Thorne, Sr. testified that when Officer Lelles asked Danny if he had been drinking, Danny did not respond.

Thorne, Sr. then stated that he and his wife had provided Danny wine with dinner when they had eaten together at around 7:00 p.m. that evening.⁵ Officer Lelles then announced his intent to arrest Danny for underage consumption of alcohol, and subsequently arrested Danny for a violation of both Ohio law and Section 529.021 of Steubenville's Codified Ordinances.⁶ The officers drove Danny to the county jail where he was booked, The charges against Danny, however, were ultimately dismissed.⁷

Plaintiffs claim that due to the alleged beating Danny suffered at the hands of Officer Karovic, Danny suffered a concussion, which was diagnosed on June 6, 2004. Danny also underwent six months of treatment for a scratched cornea in his right eye, an injury that he did not have before June 6, 2004. Further, Plaintiffs assert that Danny now requires medication to control his continuous and chronic headaches, suffers sever mood swings, and is unable to concentrate in school or at his job.

2. The Internal Investigation

Plaintiffs requested that the Steubenville Police Department perform an internal investigation into the events transpiring at the Thorne residence on the morning of June 6, 2004. Sergeant John C. Sullivan ("Sergeant Sullivan"), internal affairs officer for the Steubenville Police Department, investigated the incident as prompted by Plaintiffs' complaints. Sergeant Sullivan interviewed a number of individuals including Plaintiffs, Officers Basil, Lelles and Karovic, and Penny Keeder. Further, Officer Karovic submitted to a polygraph examination, the results of which confirmed that the he was telling the truth.⁸ Danny did not submit to a polygraph examination.⁹ On September 20, 2004, after reviewing all the evidence, Sergeant Sullivan issued a report concluding that Plaintiffs' complaints regarding Officer Karovic's alleged use of excessive force and alleged false arrest of Danny were "unfounded." Captain Sloane and Chief McCafferty subsequently reviewed and approved Sergeant Sullivan's findings on September 27, 2004 and October 4, 2004, respectively.

3. The Steubenville Consent Decree

At the time of the incident, Steubenville was operating under a Consent Decree, which it had entered into on September 4, 1997, pursuant to the settlement of a case brought against them by the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"). According to the terms of the Consent Decree, Steubenville was required to develop and implement an extensive training policy for all of its police officers as well as an internal affairs policy. The internal affairs officer had no discretion to decide whether to investigate a citizen complaint; Internal Affairs is required to investigate all citizen complaints. Steubenville was also required to track all uses of force and all warrantless searches and seizures.

Moreover, the government and Steubenville jointly selected an independent auditor, Charles D. Reynolds ("Reynolds"), to monitor Steubenville's compliance with the terms of the Consent Decree. Reynolds was required to review and to evaluate all of the City's internal affairs reports, use of force reports, and warrantless...