Williams v. Rodriguez, 06-4126.

• Decision Date: 06 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-4126.,06-4126.
• Citation: 509 F.3d 392
• Parties: Mario WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Chicago Police Officer Marcelo RODRIGUEZ, Unknown and Unnamed Chicago Police Officer, and City of Chicago, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

509 F.3d 392

Mario WILLIAMS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Chicago Police Officer Marcelo RODRIGUEZ, Unknown and Unnamed Chicago Police Officer, and City of Chicago, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 06-4126.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued September 28, 2007.

Decided December 6, 2007.

Edward M. Fox (argued), Fox & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Nadine J. Wichern (argued), Office of the Corporation Counsel, Appeals Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before POSNER, FLAUM, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

On February 15, 2005, Plaintiff Mario Williams was driving on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois when his asthma allegedly flared up, causing him to pull his vehicle over. Defendant Police Officer Marcelo Rodriguez pulled up to Williams's vehicle, suspected Rodriguez had been drinking, and after administering field sobriety tests, arrested Williams for driving under the influence. When Williams was taken to the police station and asked to take a breathalyzer test, he informed Rodriguez that he had asthma, could not breathe, and needed his medication. While in lockup, Williams repeatedly requested his inhaler for four to five hours before receiving it, and his requests for additional medication went unanswered. Charges were brought against Williams for driving under the influence and obstructing traffic, and Williams was found not guilty on all counts. Williams subsequently filed the current lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois, which included false arrest and deliberate indifference to medical needs claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as Illinois state claims for denial of medical treatment and malicious prosecution. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment which the district court granted for defendants on all grounds. This appeal followed. For the following reasons, we partially modify the district court's grant of summary judgment to an order to dismiss, and as so modified, affirm.

I. Background

The facts in this section are presented in the light most favorable to Plaintiff Mario Williams, the nonmoving party on appeal, as is required for purposes of summary judgment.

Early in the morning on February 15, 2005, Plaintiff Mario Williams and his brother Mark were driving southbound on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois after giving a ride home to one of Mario's friends. Mario Williams, who was about to turn fifty, had been diagnosed in 1995 with chronic asthma, which had flared up while at work on February 14 before improving when he returned home. While driving home with his brother however, Williams did not feel well and the two decided to switch drivers.

At approximately 1:30 a.m., Williams pulled his vehicle over and put his hazards on so he and his brother could switch places. Williams stopped his vehicle in the far right southbound driving lane on Lake Shore Drive between Monroe Street and Jackson Boulevard, adjacent to Grant Park in downtown Chicago. Traffic was light on the road at that time. Defendant Marcelo Rodriguez, an on-duty City of Chicago police officer, noticed Williams's vehicle at the traffic light at the intersection of Monroe Street and Lake Shore Drive and then saw Williams stop the vehicle in the far right lane. Shortly after Williams stopped his vehicle, Rodriguez pulled behind Williams's truck. When Officer Rodriguez approached the vehicle, the driver's side window was already rolled down. According to Rodriguez, he observed an odor of alcohol from Williams's breath and noticed that Williams's eyes were bloodshot.¹ Rodriguez asked Williams if he had been drinking, to which Williams responded "no." Williams then informed Rodriguez that he intended to switch seats with his brother because he "wasn't feeling well."

Officer Rodriguez then asked Williams to perform field sobriety tests. On the finger-to-nose test, Williams successfully completed the task, but swayed while doing so. With respect to the one-leg stand test, Williams swayed while balancing himself on one foot and did not maintain his balance for the full thirty seconds the test contemplates. Finally, Williams took the walk-and-turn test, in which he failed to touch his heel to his toe several times and stepped off the line on a few occasions. After administering the field sobriety tests, Officer Rodriguez placed Williams under arrest for driving under the influence.

Officer Rodriguez took Williams to the police station for processing. Williams's property was inventoried, and although another officer performed this task, Officer Rodriguez saw Williams's albuterol inhaler when Williams emptied his pockets. After Williams had been at the station over an hour and after Williams's twenty minute observation period, Rodriguez asked Williams to blow into a breathalyzer. Williams then told Rodriguez that he had asthma, needed his medication, and could not breathe. The breathalyzer test was not administered.

Williams did not mention his medical condition at any other time during processing to Officer Rodriguez or any of the other four or five officers nearby. Additionally, Williams did not at any point request that he see a doctor. Instead, Williams was trying to control his breathing by minimizing the amount he was talking.

While Williams was being processed, his brother, Mark, and wife, Shirley Ramsey Williams, came to the station and met briefly with Officer Rodriguez. Williams's wife asked Officer Rodriguez if Williams had his asthma inhaler, to which Rodriguez replied "yes." Then, just to be sure, Williams's wife gave Officer Rodriguez an extra albuterol inhaler and asked that it be given to Williams. Officer Rodriguez responded that he would do so. This however, did not occur. Officer Rodriguez did not give Williams his inhaler and also ignored Williams when he asked Rodriguez if his wife had brought his medicine.

After Officer Rodriguez completed his paperwork, he took Williams to the lockup area, where he left Williams with the lockup keeper, along with Williams's paperwork and property bag. This marked the end of Williams's contact with Officer Rodriguez during his detention.

While in lockup, Williams hollered for hours that he needed his inhaler and knocked on the window and walls of his cell. After approximately four to five hours, Williams was told he would be given his inhaler. When the lockup keeper gave the inhaler to Williams, he only let Williams take a couple of puffs before placing the inhaler back in the property bag. Williams then asked the lockup keeper if he could call his wife so she could bring his other asthma medication. Williams told him that if he did not receive the proper medication for his asthma he could die, and asked for his help. The lockup keeper ignored Williams and did not respond to his requests.

During this period of time, Williams's wife called the police station at least eight times to check in on her husband, and specifically asked about Williams's medical condition on the first two occasions. The woman Williams's wife spoke with replied that if Williams was having any medical difficulties, he would let the lockup keeper know.

On February 16, 2005, Williams's wife picked Williams up after his release from the station. Williams did not immediately seek medical treatment upon his release, but did go to the hospital for his asthma on February 17 or 18.²

The incident on February 15, 2005 resulted in three charges being brought against Williams: 1) driving under the influence in violation of 625 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/11-501(a) (2004); 2) obstruction of traffic in violation of 625 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/11-1416 (2004); and 3) obstruction of traffic in violation of the Municipal Code of Chicago § 9-40-130 (1999). Following a bench trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Williams was found not guilty on all three counts on February 22, 2006.

On January 11, 2006, Williams brought this action against Officer Rodriguez, an unknown and unnamed Chicago police officer, and the City of Chicago. The complaint included two federal claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983: a false arrest claim against Officer Rodriguez and a deliberate indifference to medical needs claim against Officer Rodriguez and the unknown and unnamed officer. Williams also brought two supplemental Illinois state claims: a denial of medical treatment claim against all defendants and a malicious prosecution claim against Officer Rodriguez and the City of Chicago. Both parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, which the district court granted for defendants in its entirety and denied for Williams in its entirety. Williams appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment on all counts.

II. Analysis

On appeal, we review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Whitman v. Nesic, 368 F.3d 931, 933 (7th Cir.2004). In doing so, we "must construe all facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable and justifiable inferences in favor of that party." Conley v. Village of Bedford Park, 215 F.3d 703, 708 (7th Cir. 2000) (quoting Bellaver v. Quanex Corp., 200 F.3d 485, 491-92 (7th Cir.2000)). Summary judgment is appropriate when the evidence "show[s] that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). With respect to Williams's claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, we will only address whether defendants are protected by qualified immunity if, as a threshold matter, we find that the facts, when viewed in the light most favorable to Williams, establish that Williams's constitutional rights were violated. Russell v. Harms, 397 F.3d 458, 462-63 (7th Cir.2005) (citing Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001)).

A. False Arrest

In order for Williams to prevail on his § 1983 false arrest claim, he must show that probable cause for his arrest was lacking. See Kelley...