White v. Tamlyn
| Decision Date | 31 March 1997 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 96-CV-40097. |
| Citation | 961 F.Supp. 1047 |
| Parties | Donna WHITE, Plaintiff v. Mark TAMLYN, Michael Harris, Richard Holme, Richard Pierce, Dwayne Crawford, Lil Jon Drew, Robert A. Ficano, The County of Wayne, and The Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
Leland T. Schmidt, Montagne, Schmidt, Southfield, for Donna White.
Margaret A. Nelson, Michigan Department of Attorney General, Tort Defense Division, Lansing, for Mark Tamlyn, Michael Harris, Dwayne Crawford, Lil Jon Drew.
Robert S. Gazall, Wayne County Corp. Counsel, Detroit, for Richard Holme, Richard Pierce, Robert A. Ficano, County of Wayne, Wayne County Sheriff's Department.
On December 21, 1995, plaintiff Donna White filed the instant case against defendants Mark Tamlyn, Michael Harris, Richard Holme, Richard Pierce, Dwayne Crawford, Lil Jon Drew, Robert A. Ficano, County of Wayne and Wayne County Sheriff's Department alleging, inter alia, violations of her civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The case was removed to this court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1331, 1441 on March 7, 1996. Presently before this court are two motions for summary judgment. The first motion was filed on January 15, 1997 by defendants Wayne County, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, Ficano, Pierce and Holme. The second was filed on January 17, 1997 by defendants Tamlyn, Harris, Crawford and Drew. For the following reasons, defendants' motions will be granted in part and denied in part.
On December 23, 1993, at approximately 3:30 p.m., undercover Wayne County Sheriff Deputies Pierce and Holme observed "Gangster," a known narcotics dealer, conducting a drug purchase on the east side of John R. Street, south of Alfred Street with two occupants of a green Mercury Cougar. Pierce and Holme pulled behind the suspect vehicle and exited their unmarked car. Pierce approached on the driver side and observed the driver and passenger smoking from a crack pipe. Pierce knocked on the driver side window and identified himself as a police officer. The driver of the vehicle placed the car in gear and sped away dragging Holme approximately 15-20 feet. Pierce picked up Holme and proceeded after the suspect vehicle.
Deputies Pierce and Holme followed the Cougar west on Alfred Street at which time the driver eluded Pierce and Holme. Shortly thereafter, the Mercury Cougar was observed turning west on Temple from northbound Cass Street. The deputies activated their blue strobe light and siren, and followed the suspect's vehicle to the Lodge Freeway. At this time, Pierce and Holme noted the license plate number and radioed their dispatcher for assistance. In their call to Wayne County Metro Dispatch for help, the Deputies gave a general description of the vehicle, stating that the vehicle was a green Mercury with two male suspects.
The Mercury Cougar proceeded north on the Lodge and exited westbound on the Ford expressway (I-94), quickly changing lanes without signaling. The vehicle then exited from I-94, crossed the street adjacent to the exit, and re-entered the expressway at Southfield Road.2
As the Cougar re-entered the expressway at Southfield,3 one police car approached on the right and another on the left side of the Cougar. The squad car to the Cougar's left gestured the suspect to pull over. Sirens were activated on both vehicles. Then, a third police car passed the police vehicle to the left of the Cougar and proceeded to pull in front of the Cougar. At this point in time, the suspect's car struck the police car on the left. The force of this collision propelled the Cougar into the police vehicle on the right.4
After the collision, Michigan State Troopers Tamlyn, Harris, Crawford and Drew, who had been riding in the scout cars involved in the collision, approached the Cougar and ordered the suspect (hereinafter "plaintiff") out of the vehicle. Crawford, Harris and Drew had their weapons drawn. Deputies Pierce and Holme, who had kept a distance during the chase, pulled up to the scene and stopped some feet behind the other police vehicles, drew their weapons and took up positions near their own car. As Drew moved around the rear of the Cougar to the passenger side, he observed the plaintiff cranking the key in the ignition attempting to start the vehicle. Crawford broke out the front of the passenger window with the butt of the rifle he was carrying, and the window shattered.
Tamlyn had by this time opened the driver's door. A dog then exited the vehicle and ran between Crawford's legs and across the freeway. Thereafter, according to the plaintiff, she was thrown out of her vehicle to the ground and hand-cuffed. She asserts that after being handcuffed, an officer sat on her back and another officer had a knee holding her face down, and that CS tear gas was then applied to her face. Plaintiff claims that, while blinded and unable to see, she received blows to her vaginal area. She asserts that, due to the prowess of the officers restraining her and as a result of the visual blinding that she suffered from the gas, she could not identify any of the officers who carried out these actions. She denies resisting arrest.5
After being handcuffed, plaintiff was escorted to a patrol vehicle and patted down. It was determined at that time that she was female. Deputy Pierce conducted an inventory search of her car and found a marijuana cigarette, a small bag of suspected crack cocaine and a home-made crack pipe.
An EMS unit was called to the scene, and upon arrival flushed plaintiff's face in order to remove the gas repellant. EMS personnel observed what they believed to be a broken nose requiring medical attention and plaintiff was transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital. In the ambulance and at Detroit Receiving Hospital, plaintiff complained of pain in her vaginal area. She was examined and injuries to her vagina and genitalia were discovered. Plaintiff was thereafter transported to Hutzel Hospital and the lesions to her vaginal area were confirmed.
At Hutzel Hospital, Deputy Holme conducted a search of plaintiff's clothes and found two small plastic bags containing cocaine and one crack pipe screen.6 Neither he nor Pierce, however, obtained a search warrant to test plaintiff's blood for drugs. Ultimately, after receiving treatment at both Detroit Receiving and Hutzel medical centers, plaintiff was transported to the Wayne County Jail.
Plaintiff was charged with possession of cocaine, a felony, and possession of marijuana, a felony. At her criminal trial, she asserted three defenses. First she argued that the police erroneously identified both her and her vehicle. Second, she introduced an alibi defense. Third, plaintiff contended that the police illegally beat her and that they fabricated and planted physical evidence on her in order to cover up their mistake in arresting her and their own illegal acts. The jury ultimately convicted plaintiff on both controlled substance counts.
On December 21, 1995, plaintiff brought a suit against Deputies Pierce and Holme, Wayne County Sheriffs Department, County of Wayne, Sheriff Robert A. Ficano, as well as Michigan State Troopers Tamlyn, Harris, Crawford and Drew, alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Specifically, she claims that her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights have been violated for the following reasons: the police used excessive force during the high speed chase and during the arrest, that she was arrested without probable cause, that she was falsely imprisoned, that the police filed false reports, and that the officers falsely testified in hearings before the court during the criminal trial.
Presently before the court are two summary judgment motions. The first motion was filed by defendants County of Wayne, Wayne County Sheriffs Department, Ficano, Holme and Pierce on January 15, 1997 ("County motion"). The second was filed by Tamlyn, Harris, Crawford and Drew on January 17, 1997 ("Michigan State Police motion"). Each motion will be addressed seriatim.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c) empowers the court to render summary judgment "forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). There is no genuine issue of material fact when the "record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The court must decide "whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law." In re Dollar Corp., 25 F.3d 1320, 1323 (6th Cir.1994) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). "The mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat the otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment; the requirement is that there be no genuine issue of material fact." Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247-48, 106 S.Ct. at 2510. In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the court must consider all evidence together with all inferences to be drawn therefrom "in light most favorable to the party opposing the motion." Watkins v. Northwestern Ohio Tractor Pullers Ass'n., Inc., 630 F.2d 1155, 1158 (6th Cir.1980).
If the movant meets the standard specified at Rule 56(c), then the opposing party must come forth with "specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial." First National Bank v. Cities...
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