Opinion ID: 684357
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mr. Barna's Unconstitutional Arrest Claim

Text: 37 The complaint alleged that Officers Otterbine and Echevarria maliciously created the false impression with other law enforcement personnel that he was holding his children hostage in his house and ultimately caused him to be arrested without probable cause in violation of his constitutional rights. The district court concluded, and the parties before us accept, that Mr. Barna is essentially claiming his arrest was an unreasonable seizure for purposes of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. An arrest may violate the standards of the Fourth Amendment if effected with unreasonable force, Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 397, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 1872-73, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989), or if made without probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, Patzig v. O'Neil, 577 F.2d 841 (3d Cir.1978); see Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 111, 95 S.Ct. 854, 861-62, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975). The district court analyzed Mr. Barna's false arrest claim under both of these theories and correctly concluded that there was no basis in the evidence for such a claim. 38 The test for an arrest without probable cause is an objective one, based on the facts available to the officers at the moment of arrest. Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 96, 85 S.Ct. 223, 228, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964); Edwards v. City of Philadelphia, 860 F.2d 568, 571 n. 2 (3d Cir.1988). Evidence that may prove insufficient to establish guilt at trial may still be sufficient to find the arrest occurred within the bounds of the law. Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 102, 80 S.Ct. 168, 171, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959). As long as the officers had some reasonable basis to believe Mr. Barna had committed a crime, the arrest is justified as being based on probable cause. Probable cause need only exist as to any offense that could be charged under the circumstances. Edwards v. City of Philadelphia, 860 F.2d at 575-76. 39 Once Mr. Barna brandished weapons in response to the officers' conduct, the officers were justified in effecting his arrest pursuant to New Jersey's aggravated assault statute, which makes it a crime to [k]nowingly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life point[ ] a firearm ... at or in the direction of another, whether or not the actor believes it to be loaded. N.J.Stat.Ann. Sec. 2C:12-1(b)(4) (West Supp.1994). The plaintiffs' evidence would not support a determination that Officers Otterbine and Echevarria lacked probable cause to believe that Mr. Barna had violated the aggravated assault statute. 40 As we have noted, the physical altercation between Mr. Barna and Officers Otterbine and Echevarria had already concluded when Mr. Barna returned from his house with a revolver and pointed it into the cab of the truck in which the officers sat. The officers reacted by jumping out of the truck, drawing their weapons against Mr. Barna, and instructing him to drop his gun. When the revolver slipped from his hands, Mr. Barna retrieved a shotgun from the house, shuffled it while standing on his porch, and then retreated to the house. Under the objective standard for probable cause, a jury could only conclude that a reasonable officer under the circumstances would have been justified in believing Mr. Barna was brandishing his firearms with extreme indifference to human life in violation of N.J.Stat.Ann. Sec. 2C:12-1(b)(4). Under this objective standard, Mr. Barna's subjective motive in brandishing his guns is irrelevant, as is the fact that he claims the guns were unloaded. 12 41 Because the plaintiffs submitted no evidence to show that the officers' conduct in initiating an arrest under the aggravated assault statute would have been unreasonable, Mr. Barna's arrest occurred with probable cause as a matter of law, and there was no violation of his Fourth Amendment rights on this ground. 13 42 To the extent that Mr. Barna's unconstitutional arrest claim rests on the allegation that his arrest was effected with excessive force, the claim still must fail. Subsequent to the physical altercation with Mr. Barna, the officers only drew their weapons and ordered Mr. Barna to drop his revolver. The Barnas have failed to present any evidence from which a jury could conclude that such action involved the use of excessive force. Common sense dictates a finding that the officers' conduct was reasonable under the circumstances. For all of these reasons, the judgment on Mr. Barna's claim of unconstitutional arrest will be affirmed.