Williams v. City of Boston, No. 85-1016

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (1st Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before COFFIN and BREYER; WISDOM
• Citation: 784 F.2d 430
• Parties: 30 Ed. Law Rep. 1053 Darryl WILLIAMS, et al., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. The CITY OF BOSTON, et al., Defendants, Appellees.
• Docket Number: No. 85-1016
• Decision Date: 25 February 1986

Page 430

784 F.2d 430 30 Ed. Law Rep. 1053 Darryl WILLIAMS, et al., Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
The CITY OF BOSTON, et al., Defendants, Appellees. No. 85-1016. United States Court of Appeals,
First Circuit. Argued Sept. 9, 1985.
Decided Feb. 25, 1986.

Page 431

Edward J. Barshak with whom Natasha C. Lisman and Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak & Cohen, P.C., Boston, Mass., were on brief for plaintiffs, appellants.

Steven P. Perlmutter, Asst. Corp. Counsel, Boston, Mass., for City of Boston, and White, Jordan, O'Bryant, Alioto, Finnigan, McDonough, Tierney, Wood, Spratting, Murphy, Kelly, and Ridlon.

Roberta Thomas Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom Francis X. Bellotti, Atty. Gen., and Barbara A.H. Smith, Asst. Atty. Gen., Boston, Mass., were on brief for Daniel C. Mullane and Newman Flanagan.

Marjorie Heins, Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Jeffrey Feuer, Boston, Mass., on brief for The Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and Aviam Soifer and Jack Beerman, Boston University School of Law, amicus curiae.

Mark A. Michelson, Jonathan Chiel, W. Brewster Lee, III, and Choate, Hall & Stewart, Boston, Mass., on brief for Citywide Parent Council, amicus curiae.

Before COFFIN and BREYER, Circuit Judges, WISDOM, ^* Senior Circuit Judge.

WISDOM, Senior Circuit Judge.

In this case we determine whether the City of Boston and some of its highest officials are liable under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 ¹

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for the tragic shooting of a young black student while he participated in an interscholastic football game at Charlestown High School in 1979. Darryl Williams was shot, allegedly by "unknown white persons," and paralyzed for life. He and his family ² filed suit alleging that the defendants negligently failed to protect Williams from racial violence at the game when they "knew or should have known that holding an interracial athletic event in Charlestown would pose a grave peril to the safety of black persons in attendance, including the peril of violent attacks such as that committed on Darryl Williams." They then covered up the fact that the shooting was racially motivated. Williams contends that the City's negligence amounted to a deprivation of liberty without due process of law. His family asserts that the City negligently deprived them of a right to familial association protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiffs also maintain that the alleged cover-up by the defendants violated their due process rights. The district court, 599 F.Supp. 363, dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

We sympathize with Darryl Williams and his family. Unfortunately for them, the Constitution and concerns of federalism compel our decision that the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim for relief. See Daniels v. Williams, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986); Davidson v. Cannon, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 668, 88 L.Ed.2d 677 (1986). The order of the district court dismissing their complaint is affirmed.

I.

In September 1979, Darryl Williams was a student at Jamaica Plain High School in Boston and a member of the school's football team. On September 28th, he participated in a game against Charlestown High School at that school's athletic field. During the game he was shot in the neck and permanently paralyzed. The plaintiffs filed this suit three years later.

The plaintiffs' complaint, which has been amended twice, states that Williams was shot by "certain white persons acting pursuant to a prior agreement to commit armed assault on the Black players participating in the game." The complaint further alleges that the area surrounding the Charlestown High School athletic field "was an all-white neighborhood characterized by frequent acts of racial hostility and violence against Blacks."

The plaintiffs make two basic contentions. The first is that the City of Boston, through its officers, failed to establish effective security procedures for the protection of black students at "interracial school events in racially hostile and violent white neighborhoods." This failure is alleged to have been a "custom and practice" of the City. The named defendants are the City, the Mayor, the Police Commissioner, the School Committee, the Superintendent of Schools, the Director of School Safety, and the Principals of Jamaica Plain and Charlestown High Schools. Two unnamed persons who allegedly organized the game at which Williams was shot are also defendants. The essence of the claim against the defendants is that they acted negligently. The plaintiffs use terms traditionally associated in tort law with negligence. They state in the complaint that the defendants "knew or should have known" that holding an interracial football game at Charlestown High School "posed a grave peril to the safety of the Black participants." Furthermore, the plaintiffs, in their brief submitted to this Court, characterized the defendants' actions as "a negligent failure to discharge a duty to protect a student from a foreseeable peril to his safety." There is no allegation in the complaint

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that the defendants acted intentionally or with gross negligence amounting to callous indifference or reckless disregard of their duties. Indeed, the plaintiffs fail to point out what measures the defendants should have taken to render adequate security to prevent a black football player from being shot by a spectator.

Darryl Williams contends that the defendants' negligence deprived him of liberty without due process of law. His family maintains that the defendants negligently deprived them of their right to associate with Williams in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Neither Williams nor his family alleges an equal protection violation.

The plaintiffs' second claim for relief is based on the allegation that the defendants covered up the fact that the shooting was racially motivated. The named defendants are the City, the Mayor, the Police Commissioner, the Suffolk County District Attorney, an assistant district attorney, and a Boston Police Department detective. Darryl Williams asserts that the defendants' cover-up deprived him of liberty without due process of law and that the defendants are also liable to him for intentionally inflicting emotional distress. His family seeks recovery from the defendants for their emotional distress. They further allege that the cover-up deprived them of the...