NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MICHAEL MUTHEE MUNYWE, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

 v. 

JULIE DIER, Detective, Tacoma Police 

Department; JEFFREY THIRY, Police 

Officer; BRIAN SHE, Police Officer; 

WILLIAM MUSE, Detective, Tacoma Police 

Department, 

Defendants-Appellees.

No. 22-35511 

D.C. No. 3:21-cv-05218-BJR 

MEMORANDUM*

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Western District of Washington

Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted June 7, 2023**

Before: WALLACE, O’SCANNLAIN, and SILVERMAN, Circuit Judges.

Michael Muthee Munywe appeals pro se from the district court’s summary 

judgment for defendants in Munywe’s action alleging constitutional violations in 

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent 

except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision 

without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

FILED

JUN 9 2023

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
2

his pretrial detention. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de 

novo, see Mendiola-Martinez v. Arpaio, 836 F.3d 1239, 1247 (9th Cir. 2016), and 

we affirm.

The district court properly dismissed Munywe’s Eighth Amendment claims. 

Munywe alleged mistreatment as a pretrial detainee, and his claims accordingly 

arose under the Fourteenth Amendment. See id. at 1246 n.5 (“[P]retrial detainees 

are entitled to the potentially more expansive protections of the Due Process 

Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”).

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Munywe’s 

Fourteenth Amendment claims that he was handcuffed too tightly for over seven

hours; held in a room with toxic fumes; and denied water and an opportunity to use 

the bathroom. Munywe failed to produce any objective medical evidence in 

support of his injury claims. See Arpin v. Santa Clara Valley Transp. Agency, 261 

F.3d 912, 922 (9th Cir. 2001). Munywe also failed to raise a triable issue about 

whether the defendants had an objectively reasonable basis for confining Munywe 

as he claims. See Gordon v. Cnty. of Orange, 888 F.3d 1118, 1125 (9th Cir. 2018); 

see also Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389, 398 (2015) (“A pretrial detainee 

can prevail by providing only objective evidence that the challenged governmental 

action is not rationally related to a legitimate governmental objective or that it is 

excessive in relation to that purpose.”).
3

The district court properly granted summary judgment on Munywe’s equal 

protection claims. Munywe alleged that defendants questioned him about his 

accent, but the officers had a legitimate law enforcement purpose for doing so: The 

alleged assailant was reported to have spoken with an accent; and the detectives 

were attempting to verify that Munywe was capable of being interviewed without 

an interpreter. See, e.g., Furnace v. Sullivan, 705 F.3d 1021, 1030 (9th Cir. 2013)

(“[A] plaintiff must show that the defendants acted with an intent or purpose to 

discriminate against the plaintiff based upon membership in a protected class.”), 

quoting Barren v. Harrington, 152 F.3d 1193, 1194 (9th Cir. 1998). Munywe’s 

claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 also fail, because Munywe did not allege any 

impairment protected by the statute. 

Lastly, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Munywe’s 

discovery motion because Munywe failed to comply with meet and confer 

requirements under local rules. See, e.g., Tri-Valley CAREs v. U.S. Dep’t of 

Energy, 671 F.3d 1113, 1131 (9th Cir. 2012) (denial of motion for failure to 

comply with local rules is well within a district court’s discretion).

AFFIRMED.