Williams v. Weber

• Decision Date: 02 November 1995
• Docket Number: No. 95-2045-KHV.,95-2045-KHV.
• Citation: 905 F. Supp. 1502
• Parties: Marc WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. David A. WEBER, James M. Stover, and City of Olathe, Kansas, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

905 F. Supp. 1502

Marc WILLIAMS, Plaintiff, v. David A. WEBER, James M. Stover, and City of Olathe, Kansas, Defendants.

No. 95-2045-KHV.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

October 26, 1995.

Order Overruling Motion for Reconsideration November 2, 1995.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John W. Kurtz, The Popham Law Firm, Kansas City, MO, Bobbie R. Bailey, Kansas City, MO, for Marc Williams.

Lawrence L. Ferree, III, Ferree, Bunn & O'Grady, Chtd., Overland Park, KS, Catherine J. Watson, Kansas City, MO, for David A. Weber, James M. Stover and City of Olathe, Kansas.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

VRATIL, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Defendants Weber and Stover's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 34), filed August 4, 1995. Plaintiff initiated this six-count action, alleging that defendants violated his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985. Specifically, plaintiff contends that (1) defendant Weber subjected him to false arrest and wrongful detention in violation of the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments; (2) defendants Weber and Stover maliciously, unlawfully and unconstitutionally initiated a criminal prosecution against him; and (3) defendant Weber assaulted, battered and unlawfully and unconstitutionally used force against him. Plaintiff also alleges that defendants conspired to commit such civil rights violations.¹ In this motion, defendants assert that their actions with respect to plaintiff were proper and lawful, and thus plaintiff has failed to establish any cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or § 1985. Defendants further contend that they are entitled to qualified immunity, and that they therefore may not be held liable for the actions which plaintiff alleges.

Summary judgment is warranted where "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 a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The Court considers all evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587-88, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356-57, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). The non-moving party, however, "may not rest on its pleadings but must set forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial as to those dispositive matters for which it carries the burden of proof." Applied Genetics Int'l, Inc. v. First Affiliated Sec., Inc., 912 F.2d 1238, 1241 (10th Cir.1990). Thus, summary judgment may be entered "against a party who fails to make a sufficient showing to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

Factual disputes about immaterial matters are irrelevant to a summary judgment determination. Frank v. U.S. West, Inc., 3 F.3d 1357, 1361 (10th Cir.1993) (citing Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). While it is not the trial judge's function to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter at the summary judgment stage, summary judgment in favor of the moving party is nonetheless proper if the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the nonmoving party. Concrete Works of Colorado, Inc. v. City and County of Denver, 36 F.3d 1513, 1518 (10th Cir.1994), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 115 S.Ct. 1315, 131 L.Ed.2d 196 (1995).

Factual Background²

Not surprisingly in this type of action — where a citizen alleges police misconduct — plaintiff's account of the relevant events differs dramatically from that of defendants. Because this matter is before the Court on defendants' motion for summary judgment, the Court must accept as true all of plaintiff's factual allegations which are properly supported by the record and afford plaintiff all reasonable inferences therefrom. With that preface, the Court finds the following facts pertinent to this motion for summary judgment.

On the evening of January 30, 1993, around 7:00 p.m., Officer David Weber was patrolling the vicinity of 1500 East Spruce in Olathe, Kansas. A nearby service station had been robbed the previous night, and the robber reportedly fled in the general direction of that neighborhood. Officer Weber was therefore looking for suspicious activity.

Weber saw a gray Chevrolet Cavalier parked on the wrong side of the street with its lights out and the engine running. After some time, he saw the car's headlights illuminate and the car move about 25 yards to the east. The car then pulled into a parking lot and parked between the painted lines of a parking space.³ Weber approached the vehicle and asked the occupants for identification. The driver, Colleen Egidy, gave Weber her driver's license; plaintiff, who was a passenger in the car, did not have any identification, but gave Weber his correct name, address and date of birth. The parties agree that plaintiff cooperated fully with Weber to this point.

Weber testified that his suspicions were raised because of the car's unusual position (on the wrong side of the street), because of the robbery that had taken place the night before and because the car was parked in the business district of Olathe at a time when most of the businesses were closed. When asked what they were doing in that location, plaintiff and Egidy responded that they were just talking. Weber testified that he was suspicious that plaintiff and Egidy had been arguing; his suspicions were heightened, he claims, when they did not disclose to him the nature of their suspected disagreement. Plaintiff and Egidy both explained in their depositions that they had not seen each other for a week, that they were talking and catching up on the week's events together and that they were trying to decide where to go out to dinner.

Weber stated that he suspected at this point that plaintiff had committed "a potential criminal act":

I noted Mr. Williams had a black cap on and a dark-colored coat, and that fit the general descriptors of the clothing that the guy was wearing the night previous. He was a medium build and all that that sic I had stated previously the location, the time of day, the awkward angle of the car, the suspected argument heightened my suspicions of a potential criminal act.

Weber Deposition, pp. 95-96. The suspect from the alleged robbery the night before had been described as a 50-60 year-old black male, with salt and pepper colored hair, approximately 5' 6" or 5' 7", around 150-155 pounds, and wearing a dark colored baseball cap and a waist-length, zippered jacket. At the time of his arrest, plaintiff was 21 years old. He was described as 5' 10" to 5' 11", and he weighed between 220 and 230 pounds. He had short black hair, and he wore a baseball cap and a knee length, multi-colored coat. Therefore, the only objective similarity between the two men was that each was a black male wearing a baseball cap.

Weber returned to his car with the information Egidy and plaintiff had given him and called his dispatcher to verify the information and to report an "occupied vehicle check." The dispatcher verified plaintiff's name, address, Social Security number, height, weight and other general descriptors. The dispatcher also told Weber that plaintiff had had prior contact with the police and that he was "J-10." "J-10" is a code for "armed and dangerous."⁴

Defendants contend that at this point, Officer Stover was dispatched to the scene. Weber returned to Egidy's car and informed plaintiff that the dispatcher had identified him as armed and dangerous. Plaintiff, in order to cooperate with Weber and in hopes of being allowed to leave, volunteered to let Weber search him for weapons.⁵ Weber accepted and asked plaintiff to step out of the car and assume the "search position."

Plaintiff complied with Weber's request, and Weber commenced a "pat-down" search for weapons.⁶ In the process, Weber found a twelve-gauge shotgun shell and a wallet and removed them from plaintiff's pocket. Weber began looking through plaintiff's wallet, dropping some of the contents on the ground. Defendants assert that Weber was justified in searching the contents of the wallet because a razor blade or a very small derringer might have been concealed there. Plaintiff believes that Weber's search of his wallet exceeded the scope of the voluntary search for weapons. As some of the paper items from the wallet began to blow away, plaintiff turned around and took the wallet from Weber. Plaintiff put the wallet under his left hand and returned his hands to the hood of the patrol car. Weber asked plaintiff to return the wallet, and plaintiff did so. Weber contends that plaintiff struck the top of Weber's hand in retrieving the wallet from him; plaintiff denies that he touched Weber.

Weber placed plaintiff under arrest for obstructing legal process and battery on a law enforcement officer. Plaintiff maintains that Weber did not tell him why he was being arrested or handcuffed at that time. Plaintiff complied, however, as Weber handcuffed his hands behind his back.

Weber then walked plaintiff to the rear door of the patrol car. Weber claims that plaintiff voluntarily sat down on the back seat and that Weber did not touch, strike, hit or push him. Plaintiff alleges that Weber grabbed plaintiff's face with the palm of his hand and forcefully pushed plaintiff backward toward the open police car door. Plaintiff claims his neck and head area struck the door frame, causing an extremely painful neck strain and creating a bruise on the back of his head.

The police tracking system indicates that plaintiff was arrested at 7:10 p.m. Weber took plaintiff to the Olathe Police Department, where he was processed. Plaintiff was transported to the Johnson County Adult Detention Center at...