Yount v. City of Sacramento
| Decision Date | 19 May 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. S139762.,S139762. |
| Citation | 76 Cal.Rptr.3d 787,183 P.3d 471,43 Cal.4th 885 |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
| Parties | Steven YOUNT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF SACRAMENTO et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
The Cochran Firm and Brian T. Dunn, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Samuel L. Jackson and Eileen M. Teichert, City Attorneys, and Matthew D. Ruyak, Deputy City Attorney, for Defendants and Respondents.
Mastagni, Holstedt, Amick, Miller, Johnsen & Uhrhammer and Christopher W. Miller, Sacramento, for The Peace Officers Research Association of California Legal Defense Fund as Amicus Curie on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.
Meyers, Nave, Riback, Silver & Wilson and Alan M. Cohen, Oakland, for League of California Cities as Amicus Curie on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.
Plaintiff Steven Yount suffered injuries when Sacramento Police Officer Thomas Shrum shot him in the left buttock as Shrum and three other officers were trying to transport him to jail following his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Just prior to the shooting, Yount, despite being in handcuffs and leg restraints, was struggling and threatening the officers. Officer Shrum, intending to draw and fire his Taser gun in order to subdue Yount, mistakenly pulled out and discharged his pistol instead.
As a result of this incident, Yount pleaded no contest to violating Penal Code section 148, subdivision (a)(1) (). He then brought this action against the City of Sacramento and Officer Shrum for damages arising from the violation of his civil rights under title 42 United States Code section 1983 (section 1983) and asserted a common law claim of battery as well.
Defendants argued that the section 1983 claim must be dismissed as an improper collateral attack on Yount's criminal conviction under Heck v. Humphrey (1994) 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (Heck), which bars a plaintiff from prosecuting a section 1983 action that necessarily implies the invalidity of his or her criminal conviction or sentence until that conviction or sentence has first been invalidated, and that the battery claim must be dismissed under analogous state authority (see Susag v. City of Lake Forest (2002) 94 Cal.App.4th 1401, 1410-1413, 115 Cal.Rptr.2d 269). By stipulation of the parties, a bifurcated court hearing was had on the issue of whether Yount's civil claims were barred under Heck and Susag by his criminal conviction. The trial court, after hearing from seven eyewitnesses, ruled that the claims were barred and entered judgment for defendants. The Court of Appeal reversed, finding the possibility that Officer Shrum's alleged use of excessive force may have been temporally distinct from the acts that formed the basis of Yount's no contest plea to resisting the officers sufficient to avoid the Heck bar. In so doing, the Court of Appeal disagreed with Susag, which had, on somewhat similar facts, viewed the plaintiff's criminal conviction as encompassing all of the acts of resistance supported by the evidence.
We granted review to resolve the conflict. For the reasons set forth below, we find that Yount's claims are barred to the extent they allege that Officer Shrum was not entitled to use force at all in this incident. Yount's resistance justified the officers' use of reasonable force in response. (Pen.Code, § 835a.) However, as defendants concede, the use of deadly force was not reasonable in this instance. Yount's conviction for violating Penal Code section 148, subdivision (a)(1) did not in itself justify the use of deadly force, either. Accordingly, Yount's civil claims are not barred to the extent they challenge Officer Shrum's use of deadly force. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
When plaintiff Steven Yount left his home in the early morning hours of March 10, 2001, he was very drunk. He had consumed more than a six-pack of beer and an unknown amount of rum. He drove out in search of more beer, but had no recollection of arriving at the 7-Eleven store on La Riviera Drive in East Sacramento, no recollection of being told that he could not purchase beer after 2:00 a.m., no recollection of staggering and swaying out of the store and getting back into his car, and no recollection of his struggle with the police attempting to effect his arrest that resulted in his being shot, accidentally, in the left buttock.
Daniel Powell, a private security guard, saw Yount in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven prior to the shooting. Yount was visibly drunk and heading towards his car, so Powell placed a call to the police. Around that same time, Officer Samuel Davis of the Sacramento Police Department drove into the parking lot. Powell directed Officer Davis to Yount's car, which was starting to back out, and warned him that Yount was drunk. Officer Davis pulled his patrol vehicle behind Yount's car to block its exit and got out of his car to talk to Yount.
Yount's eyes were glassy and red. When asked whether he had ever been arrested before for driving under the influence, Yount responded, "Which date?" Officer Davis asked Yount to step out of the car. Yount did so but lost his balance and "kind of fell into" the officer. Yount came willingly part of the way to the patrol vehicle, but then became apprehensive and refused to get inside. Officer Davis was eventually able to maneuver him into the back seat. As Officer Davis continued his investigation, Yount yelled, and shouted other obscenities and racial slurs. Yount also banged his head and kicked against the side and window of the patrol vehicle. Concerned that Yount was going to injure himself, Officer Davis asked him to stop. Yount replied, "Fuck you."
With the assistance of two private security guards at the scene, Officer Davis managed to pull Yount out of the patrol vehicle and handcuff him. The three of them then placed Yount, whose resistance was undiminished, back in the patrol vehicle. As Officer Davis tried again to resume his investigation, Yount continued to bang his head and feet against the doors and to make as much noise as he could, further indicating that he was at risk of hurting himself.
When Officer Debra Hatfield of the California State University Police Department, Sacramento, and Officers Daniel Swafford and Thomas Shrum of the Sacramento Police Department arrived to assist minutes later, Officer Davis explained that he needed their help in completing the written DUI report, as he was supposed to be taking over as acting sergeant for the entire downtown area. As part of that assistance, Officer Shrum opened the door to ask Yount for identification, but Yount "just popped out" of the vehicle and tried to "move right in [Shrum's] face" and continued yelling and cursing. Officer Shrum retrieved Yount's wallet himself and had to force Yount back into the patrol vehicle.
Unfortunately, once back in the patrol vehicle, Yount resumed banging and shaking it, as well as yelling and cursing. Officers Hatfield, Swafford, and Shrum attempted to calm him down, to no avail. They warned him they would use a Taser if he did not cooperate, but Yount taunted them, "Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me" and kicked his legs at Officer Shrum. Officer Swafford went to the other side of the vehicle and Tasered Yount in the back, which caused him to interrupt his resistance for a few minutes, but Yount then became more violent. He called Officer Davis a "nigger" and Officer Hatfield a "whore" and expressed his hope that they all would die that night. He also started kicking at the car window with both feet. Officer Shrum saw the window start to flex and, as Officer Davis started walking towards it, "the thing just explode[d] in his face."
Because of Yount's resistance, Officer Davis decided that Yount's legs needed to be immobilized before they could transfer him to another patrol vehicle. Yount, however, continued to be uncooperative and fought to stay in the car. The officers eventually succeeded in pulling Yount out of the damaged vehicle, but the effort caused Officer Davis to stumble backwards and hit his elbow on the ground. Yount fell on top of Officer Davis, kicked Officer Davis close to his groin, and spat on him. Officer Davis then got on top of Yount, who continued to struggle and shout, and placed his knee on Yount's upper back to keep him on the ground. Officer Hatfield grabbed his left leg; Officer Shrum grabbed his right. The officers succeeded in securing Yount's ankles together, but they were not able to connect the ankle restraint to his wrists.
Despite the restraints on his wrists and ankles, Yount still continued to resist. He tried to bite and spit at the officers near his head. He tucked his body in to kick more forcefully at the officers near his feet. Officer Shrum was having trouble holding onto Yount's knees and, believing Yount posed a risk of injury to himself and the other officers, decided to use his Taser. Officer Shrum pulled what he thought was his Taser and fired it at the back of Yount's upper thigh. It was only then that he looked down at the weapon in his hand and saw he had mistakenly grabbed his pistol. Once the officers ascertained that Yount had indeed suffered a gunshot wound, they called for medical assistance.
Two independent eyewitnesses, Daniel Powell and Robert Corke, confirmed that Yount had been resisting the officers up until the time he was shot. There is no evidence in the record that Yount committed any act of resistance after he was shot.
Yount's blood-alcohol level following his arrest was determined to be 0.296 percent.
An amended criminal complaint charged Yount with violently resisting all four officers in the performance of their duties (Pen.Code, §...
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