Opinion ID: 163905
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: 32 This Court reviews the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Mattioda v. White, 323 F.3d 1288, 1291 (10th Cir.2003). Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). We examine[ ] the record and draw[ ] reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. Mattioda, 323 F.3d at 1291 (internal quotation marks omitted). 33
34 The first issue raised in Mr. Marshall's appellate brief is the validity of the traffic stop and arrest under the Fourth Amendment. Mr. Marshall concedes that the perceived traffic violation may have provided sufficient grounds for the initial stop, but maintains that Officer Porter did not have justifiable reasons to arrest and seize the plaintiff/appellant. 35 Probable cause exists where facts and circumstances within an officer's knowledge and of which he had reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that an offense has been or is being committed. Karr v. Smith, 774 F.2d 1029, 1031 (10th Cir.1985). In granting summary judgment with respect to this claim, the district court explained: Defendants have presented evidence that Officer Porter's decision to stop Mr. Marshall was based on an observed, though unspecified, traffic violation, which provides sufficient grounds to support the initial stop. Marshall at 4, App. at 369. Moreover, the court went on, it is undisputed that after Officer Porter activated his emergency lights, Mr. Marshall continued to drive and did not pull over until he had reached his neighborhood, approximately two miles away, which provides solid grounds to cite Mr. Marshall for resisting or evading an officer. Id. at 5, App. at 370. We agree. 36 Whether or not Mr. Marshall failed to obey the stop sign, which is disputed, the actual stop did not occur until after Mr. Marshall had driven for two miles without responding to the police officer's emergency lights. This behavior violated N.M. Stat. Ann. § 30-22-1 (forbidding willfully refusing to bring a vehicle to a stop when given a visual or audible signal to stop, whether by hand, voice, emergency light, flashing light, siren, or other signal, by a uniformed officer in an appropriately marked police vehicle), and constituted probable cause to support the stop, the citation, and the arrest. See Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 532 U.S. 318, 354, 121 S.Ct. 1536, 149 L.Ed.2d 549 (2001) (holding that even a minor violation is sufficient cause to justify an arrest). 37 Mr. Marshall does not deny that he drove two miles before stopping, but he mistakenly maintains that his delay in stopping was excusable because he needed to get to a place that he felt safe before complying with the officer's order to stop. That is not the law. Drivers are required to respond promptly when a police officer signals them to stop. Neither belief in innocence nor apprehensions regarding the police justify failure to obey a lawful order. Cf. United States v. Villa-Chaparro, 115 F.3d 797, 802 (10th Cir.1997) (driver's failure to stop in response to flashing police lights contributes to a finding of reasonable suspicion).
38 That Mr. Marshall's stop and arrest were based on probable cause does not resolve his more troubling claim that he was targeted by Officer Porter on account of his race. In Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), the Supreme Court held that claims asserting selective enforcement of a law on the basis of race are properly brought under the Equal Protection Clause, and that the right to equal protection may be violated even if the actions of the police are acceptable under the Fourth Amendment. As the court noted in United States v. Avery, 137 F.3d 343, 352 (6th Cir.1997), [t]he Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides citizens a degree of protection independent of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Racially selective law enforcement violates this nation's constitutional values at the most fundamental level; indeed, unequal application of criminal law to white and black persons was one of the central evils addressed by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment. See generally William Nelson, The Fourteenth Amendment: From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine 43-48 (1988); John Frank & Robert Munro, The Original Understanding of Equal Protection of the Laws,  1972 Wash. U. L.Q. 421, 445-46. In its modern form, however, racially selective law enforcement has only recently come to public attention, and state and federal law enforcement authorities are struggling to develop practical means for distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate uses of race in the investigation and prevention of crime. See generally Samuel R. Gross & Debra Livingston, Racial Profiling Under Attack, 102 Colum. L.Rev. 1413 (2002); Albert W. Alschuler, Racial Profiling and the Constitution, 2002 U. Chi. Legal F. 163 (2002). Recently at the behest of President Bush, the Department of Justice promulgated guidelines designed to end racial profiling in federal law enforcement. See Department of Justice, Fact Sheet on Racial Profiling (June 17, 2003), available at http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/June racial_profiling_fact_sheet.pdf (last visited Aug. 12, 2003). 39 It is one thing for law enforcement administrators to identify the problem and to undertake administrative steps to eliminate the improper use of racial and ethnic stereotypes in law enforcement. It is more difficult to craft judicially manageable standards for determining liability under § 1983. Broad discretion has been vested in executive branch officials to determine when to prosecute, United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 464, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996), and by analogy, when to conduct a traffic stop or initiate an arrest. Police officers and departments should not lightly be put to the expense and risk of trial on charges of racial discrimination that may be easy to make and difficult to disprove. Not only does litigation divert prosecutorial resources and threaten an excessive judicial interference with executive discretion, but it could induce police officers to protect themselves against false accusations in ways that are counterproductive to fair and effective enforcement of the laws. For example, police may be induced to direct their law enforcement efforts in race-conscious ways by focusing law enforcement on neighborhoods with relatively few low-income, minority persons. Perhaps for these reasons, the Supreme Court has held that to dispel the presumption that a prosecutor has not violated equal protection, a criminal defendant must present `clear evidence to the contrary.' Id. at 465, 116 S.Ct. 1480 (quoting United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc., 272 U.S. 1, 14-15, 47 S.Ct. 1, 71 L.Ed. 131 (1926)). Claims of racially discriminatory traffic stops and arrests should be held to a similarly high standard. 40 Neither this Court nor the Supreme Court has set forth the standards of proof needed for a plaintiff to withstand a motion for summary judgment in a case of an alleged racially discriminatory stop and arrest by a single officer. In analogous contexts, however, the Court has taken great pains to explain that the standard is a demanding one. Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 463, 116 S.Ct. 1480. In Wade v. United States, 504 U.S. 181, 186, 112 S.Ct. 1840, 118 L.Ed.2d 524 (1992), the Court held that a defendant is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a claim of a prosecutor's racially discriminatory refusal to request a downward departure on the basis of generalized allegations of improper motive. He must make . . . a substantial threshold showing. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). In Armstrong, the Court held that a defendant is not entitled to discovery on a claim that the prosecuting attorney singled him out for prosecution on the basis of his race unless he can show that similarly situated individuals of a different race were not prosecuted. 517 U.S. at 465, 116 S.Ct. 1480. 41 The requirements for a claim of racially selective law enforcement draw on what the Supreme Court has called ordinary equal protection standards. Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 465, 116 S.Ct. 1480 (quoting Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 608, 105 S.Ct. 1524, 84 L.Ed.2d 547 (1985)). The plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's actions had a discriminatory effect and were motivated by a discriminatory purpose, Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 465, 116 S.Ct. 1480. These standards have been applied to traffic stops challenged on equal protection grounds. Chavez v. Illinois State Police, 251 F.3d 612, 635-36 (7th Cir.2001); Farm Labor Org. Comm. v. Ohio State Highway Patrol, 308 F.3d 523, 533-36 (6th Cir.2002). The discriminatory purpose need not be the only purpose, but it must be a motivating factor in the decision. Villanueva v. Carere, 85 F.3d 481, 485 (10th Cir.1996) (quoting Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265-66, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977)). To withstand a motion for summary judgment, a plaintiff in a § 1983 suit challenging alleged racial discrimination in traffic stops and arrests must present evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that the law enforcement officials involved were motivated by a discriminatory purpose and their actions had a discriminatory effect. 42 In general, the absence of an overtly discriminatory policy or of direct evidence of police motivation results in most claims being based on statistical comparisons between the number of black or other minority Americans stopped or arrested and their percentage in some measure of the relevant population. See, e.g., Chavez, 251 F.3d at 626. This requires a reliable measure of the demographics of the relevant population, id. at 640-45, a means of telling whether the data represent similarly situated individuals, id., and a point of comparison to the actual incidence of crime among different racial or ethnic segments of the population. Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 469-70, 116 S.Ct. 1480. This case, however, is different, and perhaps more susceptible to traditional modes of proof before a jury. Here, Mr. Marshall seeks to prove the racially selective nature of his stop and arrest not by means of statistical inference but by direct evidence of Officer Porter's behavior during the events in question, Officer Porter's own statements and testimony (the credibility of which can be evaluated by a jury), and Officer Porter's alleged record of racially selective stops and arrests in drug cases under similar circumstances in Midland, Texas. 43 A challenge to the specific acts of a particular police officer bears some resemblance to a claim of racial discrimination in the use of peremptory jury challenges, which also involves the acts of a single state actor (the prosecutor) in the course of a single incident (the selection of the jury). In such cases, the Supreme Court has instructed that the court should consider all relevant circumstances, including the prosecutor's `pattern' of strikes against black jurors, and the prosecutor's questions and statements, which may support or refute an inference of discriminatory purpose. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 96-97, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Similarly, a police officer's pattern of traffic stops and arrests, his questions and statements to the person involved, and other relevant circumstances may support an inference of discriminatory purpose in this context. 44 The district court held that [t]here is nothing in the record before the Court to indicate differential treatment of Mr. Marshall. Marshall at 11, App. at 376. We cannot agree. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Mr. Marshall, and drawing reasonable inferences in his favor, we conclude that the court below erred in granting summary judgment on Mr. Marshall's equal protection claim. We will analyze each fact Marshall invokes in support of his claim, starting with the events surrounding the traffic stop itself. 45 Mr. Marshall testified that he did not fail to stop at the stop sign or commit any other traffic violation in Officer Porter's presence. This testimony was not sufficient to establish lack of probable cause for the ultimate stop and arrest two miles down the road, but if accepted as true by the trier of fact, would be evidence that the officer's initial decision to pull Mr. Marshall over was pretextual. Moreover, Mr. Marshall testified — and Officer Porter did not dispute — that he was aware of the police car following him for several blocks before he came to the intersection where the alleged traffic violation occurred. 7 Since drivers aware of being observed by the police tend to be particularly cautious about traffic regulations, this lends credence to his account of the events. 46 Second, Mr. Marshall testified, and Officer Porter did not deny, that the officer made eye contact with him while stopped at the intersection prior to activating his emergency lights. From these facts it might reasonably be inferred that Officer Porter was ascertaining Mr. Marshall's race. The Hobbs Defendants have pointed to no testimony by Officer Porter or other evidence in the record that would supply a nondiscriminatory explanation for this behavior. The sequence of events is potentially significant, since this was the same intersection at which Officer Porter alleges that Mr. Marshall committed the traffic violation (presumably failure to stop at a stop sign). If, as it appears, Officer Porter took steps to determine Mr. Marshall's race after he committed the violation but before the police officer activated his emergency lights, it might reasonably be inferred that Mr. Marshall's race played a part in the decision to initiate the stop. 47 The first words out of Officer Porter's mouth when he confronted Mr. Marshall after the stop were a cryptic accusation that Mr. Marshall was on crack. (Is a few rocks worth all that?) Officer Porter reiterated this accusation during interrogation at the station house, and again at the hospital. Neither Officer Porter in his affidavit, nor the other Hobbs Defendants in their submissions to this Court or the district court deny that these exchanges took place or dispute Mr. Marshall's description of their content. Further, Defendants failed to offer any evidence explaining why Officer Porter made the accusations. 8 We refer to these exchanges as accusations rather than an interrogation because, as reported by Mr. Marshall, the tone and content was accusatory and conclusory rather than interrogative. We do not suggest that a police officer requires probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion, before asking a suspect who has been arrested for probable cause questions about possible criminal activity, but in the context of this case as a whole, a jury might reasonably infer from these exchanges that Officer Porter was acting on the basis of stereotype or prejudice rather than evidence. 48 The record also reflects that on the citation form, in the box designated for the gender of the cited driver, Officer Porter wrote B/M, making a racial designation where none was called for. Possibly, this reflects unwritten police policy or has some other nondiscriminatory explanation, but the Hobbs Defendants have not suggested one. A jury might also think it significant — at least as it bears on Officer Porter's credibility — that the officer wrote on the original criminal complaint that Mr. Marshall accelerated to 100 miles per hour, drove through a four-way stop, and weaved from lane to lane, but later made no mention of these remarkable corroborating facts in his sworn affidavit in this case about what happened that day. Cf. McGarry v. Board of County Com'rs, 175 F.3d 1193, 1200 (10th Cir.1999) (in employment discrimination context, change of story tends to show pretext); Cole v. Ruidoso Mun. Schools, 43 F.3d 1373, 1382 (10th Cir.1994) (same). 49 The record thus contains evidence — disputed, to be sure — that Mr. Marshall did not commit the traffic violation for which he was initially stopped, that Officer Porter ascertained Mr. Marshall's race before initiating the stop, that he made repeated accusations that Mr. Marshall was on crack with no apparent basis, that he made an apparently unnecessary note of Marshall's race, and that his account of the events changed dramatically between the date of the incident and the date of his affidavit. Other than to insist that Mr. Marshall committed the traffic violation and thus that there was probable cause for the stop and the arrest, the Defendants offer no nondiscriminatory explanation for these aspects of Officer Porter's conduct in this case. 50 It is a close question whether this is sufficient to require the Hobbs Defendants to go to trial on the allegations of racial discrimination. Compare Johnson v. Crooks, 326 F.3d 995, 999-1000 (8th Cir. 2003) (finding it error not to dismiss equal protection claim where police officer observed a motorist's race, followed her closely for eleven miles, stopped her for a traffic violation she denied, and later contacted her apparent employer), with id. at 1001 (Lay, J., dissenting on the same facts). But there is more. 51 Mr. Marshall presented evidence regarding extensive alleged misconduct by Officer Porter during his prior employment as a police officer in Midland, Texas. In a memo terminating Officer Porter's employment, the Midland police chief stated that Porter had failed to treat people fairly and equally under the law. Mem. from Midland Police Chief Richard Czech to Rodney Porter, dated Aug. 23, 1995, at 2, App. at 201. In his third filing in district court in response to the Defendants' motions for summary judgment, Mr. Marshall contended that an analysis of Officer Porter's arrest records obtained from the Midland investigation would establish a pattern of discrimination against blacks and Hispanics, and a modus operandi similar to that in his case. If admissible, these documents, together with the other facts of record pertaining to the events of December 26, 1996, may be sufficient to create a triable issue on Mr. Marshall's claim of racially selective law enforcement. 52 The district court made no reference to the Midland evidence in its orders granting summary judgment. Additionally, Defendants have not offered any analysis or explanation of these documents either before the district court or in their appellate briefs, nor have they briefed the admissibility of these documents to this Court. Without the benefit of the parties' views, we decline to analyze the documents and thus reach no conclusion regarding their probative value. That question must be addressed on remand. Once the documents have been analyzed, the district court will be able to determine whether they establish a pattern of traffic stops and arrests that raises an inference of racial discrimination, cf. Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712, or provide evidence that similarly situated individuals of a different race received differential treatment, cf. Armstrong, 517 U.S. at 465-66, 116 S.Ct. 1480. 53 In their Reply in Support of Hobbs Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, the Hobbs Defendants raised certain objections to the admissibility of the Midland documents. As far as the record reveals, the district court never ruled on those objections, though it evaluated the merits of Mr. Marshall's factually supported submission to which these materials were attached. We therefore reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of the Hobbs Defendants on the equal protection claims, and remand to the district court to determine the admissibility of the Midland documents and to reconsider the Hobbs Defendants' motion for summary judgment in light of this opinion. 54
55 The next issue raised by Mr. Marshall in his appellate brief is whether administration of a blood test without a warrant was in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court held that the blood test was justified under Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966). The Hobbs Defendants also contend that Mr. Marshall consented to the blood test, making it constitutional under Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). We consider each of these arguments in turn.
56 It is undisputed that, at the instruction of Officers Porter and Roye, a nurse employed by Defendant Columbia Lea Regional Hospital administered a blood test to Mr. Marshall without first obtaining a warrant from a neutral magistrate. Mr. Marshall contends that this violated [t]he right of the people, protected by the Fourth Amendment as applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amend. IV. State actors administering a blood test without warrant or consent may be subject to suit under § 1983. Dubbs v. Head Start, Inc., 336 F.3d 1194, 1207 (10th Cir.2003). 57 It is a basic principle of Fourth Amendment law that searches and seizures inside the home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable unless the police can show both probable cause and the presence of exigent circumstances. United States v. Davis, 290 F.3d 1239, 1242 & n. 3 (10th Cir.2002) (Probable cause accompanied by exigent circumstances will excuse the absence of a warrant.); see also Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 590, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) (Absent exigent circumstances, [the] threshold may not be reasonably crossed without a warrant.); Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 749, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 474-75, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). In Schmerber, the Court held that intrusions into the body deserve at least as much protection as is afforded to intrusions into the home. 384 U.S. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826 (Search warrants are ordinarily required for searches of dwellings, and absent an emergency, no less could be required where intrusions of the human body are concerned.). It follows that a warrantless blood test, performed without consent, is presumptively unreasonable unless the state actors involved had probable cause and exigent circumstances sufficient to justify it. 58 In this case, we assume, as the district court held, that Mr. Marshall's mixed performance on the field sobriety tests provided probable cause for the blood test. The harder question is whether there were exigent circumstances. This requires careful consideration of the legal and factual context, in light of the purposes of the exigent circumstances doctrine. [T]he scope of a warrantless search must be commensurate with the rationale that excepts the search from the warrant requirement. Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U.S. 291, 295, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973). Although the opinion did not use the terminology of exigent circumstances, Schmerber is the governing precedent regarding the application of the exigent circumstances doctrine to warrantless blood tests. See Illinois v. McArthur, 531 U.S. 326, 331, 121 S.Ct. 946, 148 L.Ed.2d 838 (2001) (describing Schmerber as involving exigent circumstances); Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. 753, 759, 105 S.Ct. 1611, 84 L.Ed.2d 662 (1985) (same). 59 The defendant in Schmerber was hospitalized after an automobile accident that resulted in serious injuries to himself and a passenger. Schmerber, 384 U.S. at 758, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Based on various symptoms of drunkenness, including the smell of alcohol on his breath, police arrested him for driving under the influence. Id. at 768-69, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Although ultimately prosecuted for a misdemeanor, he was subject to prosecution for a felony because of the injury to the passenger. Id. at 768 n. 12, 86 S.Ct. 1826. At the instructions of the police, but over the defendant's objection and without a warrant, medical personnel at the hospital administered a blood test, which produced evidence of his intoxication. Id. at 758-59, 86 S.Ct. 1826. 60 The Court held that the warrantless blood test did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court opened its discussion noting that bodily intrusions, such as blood tests, affect the interests in human dignity and privacy which the Fourth Amendment protects no less than searches of dwellings. Id. at 769, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Search warrants are ordinarily required for searches of dwellings, and the importance of informed, detached and deliberate determinations of the issue whether or not to invade another's body in search of evidence of guilt is indisputable and great. Id. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826. The Court noted, however, that under the special facts of the case, there was no time to seek out a magistrate and secure a warrant before the blood alcohol level had diminished. Id. at 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826. Because the police might reasonably have believed that ... the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, under the circumstances, threatened the destruction of evidence, the Court held that the warrantless search comported with the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, the Court specifically limited its holding to the facts before it: 61 [W]e reach this judgment only on the facts of the present record. The integrity of an individual's person is a cherished value of our society. That we today [h]old that the Constitution does not forbid the States minor intrusions into an individual's body under stringently limited conditions in no way indicates that it permits ... intrusions under other conditions. 62 Id. at 772, 86 S.Ct. 1826. 63 The district court upheld the warrantless blood test in this case on analogy to Schmerber. As in Schmerber, police had probable cause to suspect Mr. Marshall of the crime of driving under the influence, and as in Schmerber, the delay necessary to obtain a warrant under the circumstances threatened destruction of the evidence. Marshall at 10, App. at 375. 64 Mr. Marshall's brief can be liberally construed to argue that Schmerber is distinguishable in at least one important respect: state law does not authorize New Mexico police to compel a blood test in a misdemeanor case involving no physical injury, even with a warrant. When a crime is not important enough to justify a warranted search, it is not important enough to justify an exigent circumstances search. Under the facts of Schmerber — a serious accident with the potential of a felony prosecution — state law authorized police to procure a warrant for a blood test, and if time and circumstances had permitted, the police could have done so. It was only the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, which created the emergency, which justified the warrantless search. Schmerber, 384 U.S. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826. By contrast, in this case no warrant was available by law for a test of Mr. Marshall's blood. 65 N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-111(A) (Michie 1998) 9 provides in relevant part: 66 If a person under arrest for violation of an offense enumerated in the Motor Vehicle Code ... refuses upon request of a law enforcement officer to submit to chemical tests designated by the law enforcement agency as provided in section 66-8-107 NMSA 1978, none shall be administered except when a municipal judge, magistrate or district judge issues a search warrant authorizing chemical tests as provided in section 66-8-107 NMSA 1978 upon his finding in a law enforcement officer's written affidavit that there is probable cause to believe that the person has driven a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, thereby causing the death or great bodily injury of another person, or there is probable cause to believe that the person has committed a felony while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance and that chemical tests as provided in section 66-8-107 NMSA 1978 will produce material evidence in a felony prosecution. 67 The statute describes two scenarios under which a magistrate can issue a warrant for chemical tests, including a blood test: (i) upon probable cause to believe that a person has driven while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance and has thereby caused the death or great bodily injury of another person; and (ii) upon probable cause to believe that the person has committed a felony while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance and that chemical tests will produce material evidence in a felony prosecution. Under New Mexico law, the driver's license of a person arrested for driving under the influence may be revoked if he refuses to submit to a chemical test. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-111(B). But if the subject refuses to submit to the test, the statute expressly forbids the police from administering it without a warrant. Id. § 66-8-111(A). 68 Reading the facts in the record in the manner most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment, we infer that no search warrant could lawfully have been obtained to compel a test of Mr. Marshall's blood. Because there is no evidence that Mr. Marshall caused death or great bodily injury, or even an accident, the first scenario clearly does not apply. Nor was a warrant authorized under the second scenario. Under New Mexico law, a first conviction of driving under the influence of a controlled substance is a petty misdemeanor. See id. § 66-8-102(E) 10 (prescribing no more than 90 days' imprisonment and/or a $500 fine for first offense); id. § 31-1-2(L) (categorizing crimes with sentences of less than six months as petty misdemeanors). Nothing in the record indicates that Mr. Marshall had a prior conviction for driving under the influence. 11 Nor could Mr. Marshall's alleged drug possession justify a warrant for a blood test. New Mexico Statutes § 30-31-23(B)(2) provides that possession of less than eight ounces of marijuana is not a felony. Even assuming that Officer Porter's vague references to a green leafy substance on the front seat of Mr. Marshall's truck established probable cause for an arrest for possession of marijuana, which the district court specifically rejected, Marshall at 6, App. at 371 (citing Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983)), it certainly did not establish probable cause for arrest for the possession of the eight ounces required for a felony. 69 We can reasonably infer from the evidence, therefore, that Officer Porter would not have been able to obtain a search warrant under the circumstances of this case, even if he had time to do so. Because the exigent circumstances in Schmerber were based entirely on the emergency circumstances created by the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, it follows that Schmerber is distinguishable. It would be strange to hold that a police officer may obtain a blood sample on the basis of exigent circumstances without a warrant, when he could not have lawfully conducted the same search with a warrant. The rationale for the exigent circumstances doctrine is to avoid the loss of evidence due to the time required for obtaining a warrant — not to enable police to obtain evidence in cases of alleged violations too trivial to support a warrant. 70 This conclusion in no way conflicts with this Court's long line of cases holding that violations of state law by state officials in the course of state law enforcement activities do not create actionable Fourth Amendment claims. See, e.g., United States v. Green, 178 F.3d 1099, 1105 (10th Cir.1999) (quoting United States v. Le, 173 F.3d 1258, 1264 (10th Cir.1999) (It is, however, well established in this circuit that in federal prosecutions the test of reasonableness in relation to the Fourth Amendment protected rights must be determined by Federal law even though the police actions are those of state police officers.) (internal quotation marks omitted)); United States v. Price, 75 F.3d 1440, 1443-44 (10th Cir.1996) (same). Our point is not that the Hobbs Defendants are subject to liability under § 1983 for violation of the New Mexico statute, but rather that the New Mexico statute determines whether the exigent circumstances recognized in Schmerber are present here. 71 The Supreme Court has instructed that under the doctrine of exigent circumstances, the lawfulness of a search is determined by balancing privacy concerns against those of law enforcement. McArthur, 531 U.S. at 331, 121 S.Ct. 946. Exigent circumstances, in the context of a search by state officials for evidence of a state offense, is measured in part by the relative importance given by state law to the evidence sought through the warrantless search. See Welsh, 466 U.S. at 750-51, 754, 104 S.Ct. 2091 (finding no exigent circumstances on the basis of minimal state interest as expressed through classification of offense under state law); Howard v. Dickerson, 34 F.3d 978, 982 (10th Cir.1994) (same); Patzner v. Burkett, 779 F.2d 1363, 1369 (8th Cir.1985) (same); see also United States v. Flowers, 336 F.3d 1222, 1229-1231 (10th Cir.2003). 72 Welsh provides an illustration of this principle. There, the defendant's car swerved off the road, coming to a stop in an open field. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 742, 104 S.Ct. 2091. A witness, noticing the car driving erratically, contacted the police, but by the time they arrived defendant Welsh had walked away from the scene. Id. By checking the vehicle identification number, police were able to identify the car as belonging to Welsh, and proceeded to his home without first obtaining a warrant. Id. Police entered his home and took him to the station house to administer a breathalyzer test. Id. at 743, 104 S.Ct. 2091. Welsh refused to take the test and as a result was charged and convicted in two separate, but related, proceedings: one concerning his refusal to submit to a breathalyzer test and the second relating to driving while intoxicated. Id. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the convictions, ruling that the warrantless arrest was justified under the doctrine of exigent circumstances. Id. at 747-48, 104 S.Ct. 2091. 73 The Supreme Court reversed both convictions. Although the government argued that the need to preserve the evidence of Welsh's blood alcohol level created exigent circumstances, the Court held that preservation of evidence did not justify a warrantless in-home arrest if the offense for which probable cause was said to exist is relatively minor. Id. at 750, 104 S.Ct. 2091. In determining the gravity of the underlying offense, the Court looked to the substantive state law, finding that it is the best indication of the State's interest. Id. at 751, 754, 104 S.Ct. 2091. In that case, the offense which Welsh was suspected to have committed was a noncriminal, civil forfeiture offense, for which no imprisonment is possible. Id. at 754, 104 S.Ct. 2091. The Court concluded that [g]iven this expression of the State's interest, a warrantless home arrest cannot be upheld simply because evidence of the petitioner's blood-alcohol level might have dissipated while police obtained a warrant. Id. at 754, 104 S.Ct. 2091. The Court did not specify how serious a crime must be under state law to justify application of the exigent circumstances doctrine, though it cited with apparent approval a state supreme court decision adopting a rule holding that misdemeanors are excluded. Id. at 753, 104 S.Ct. 2091 (quoting State v. Guertin, 190 Conn. 440, 461 A.2d 963, 970 (1983)); see also United States v. Aquino, 836 F.2d 1268, at 1271 n. 4 (10th Cir.1988). 74 Similarly, this Court has held that [t]o determine the existence of an exigency, a court must consider the gravity of the offense. Howard, 34 F.3d at 982; see also Flowers, 336 F.3d at 1229-31. As in Welsh, this Court in both Howard and Flowers considered state law relevant in determining whether a particular alleged crime was serious enough to support a warrantless arrest under the exigent circumstances doctrine. We see no reason why a similar analysis would not be applicable to the exigent circumstances doctrine as applied to warrantless searches as well as warrantless arrests. See William A. Schroeder, Factoring the Seriousness of the Offense into Fourth Amendment Equations — Warrantless Entries into Premises: The Legacy of Welsh v. Wisconsin, 38 U. Kan. L.Rev. 439, 450 (1990) (Most judicial and scholarly discussions of warrantless fourth amendment entries predicated on alleged exigencies do not distinguish between entries to search and entries to seize or arrest.); see also id. at 457-58. 75 New Mexico's statutes clearly signal the State's limited interest in coerced testing of the blood of a motorist charged with a petty misdemeanor. More significantly, New Mexico's determination regarding the absence of exigency is clearly displayed by the fact that New Mexico law does not grant a magistrate authority to issue a warrant for this search. If a state does not permit obtaining evidence from the bloodstream, even under the protection of a warrant based on probable cause, it perforce demonstrates minimal interest in the evidence to be obtained by the search. State actors then cannot turn around and seek shelter under the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. See Welsh, 466 U.S. at 753-54, 104 S.Ct. 2091. 76 This approach is assumed within Schmerber itself. After noting that warrants are generally required absent specific emergency circumstances, Schmerber held that The officer in the present case... might reasonably have believed that he was confronted with an emergency, in which the delay necessary to obtain a warrant, under the circumstances, threatened the destruction of the evidence. 384 U.S. at 770, 86 S.Ct. 1826 (emphasis added and internal quotation marks omitted). Implicit in this holding is that exigent circumstances exist only when a warrant would be available but for the shortage of time. That is not true in this case.
77 Defendants contend in the alternative that the search administered to Mr. Marshall was consensual, and therefore constitutional. See Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041 (search pursuant to consent does not violate the Fourth Amendment); Dubbs, 336 F.3d at 1207 (same); United States v. Pena-Sarabia, 297 F.3d 983, 986 (10th Cir.2002) (same). 78 Immediately prior to the blood test, Mr. Marshall told Nurse Goad, Ma'am, you don't have my consent oral or written to take my blood. But if you're going — and I rather you not stick me with that needle. But if you're go going to take my blood, I'm not going to resist, but you don't have my consent oral or written. Defendants claim that Mr. Marshall's statement should be interpreted as assenting to the blood test, thereby removing any liability under the Fourth Amendment. 79 Defendants' argument is based on New Mexico's statutory scheme governing blood tests administered to motorists suspected of driving under the influence of a controlled substance. Under New Mexico's Implied Consent Act, N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-111, a motorist may refuse to submit to a chemical test, but if he does so, his driver's license may be revoked. 80 Defendants contend that Mr. Marshall is trying to have it both ways. They argue that the statement to Nurse Goad was craftily constructed to refuse consent for the purpose of constitutional liability, while avoiding revocation of his license under New Mexico law. In other words, Mr. Marshall raised the objection to preserve a future § 1983 claim against Defendants, but assented to the search in order to save his driver's license. Mr. Marshall, by contrast, claims that he expressed unqualified objection to the blood test, and that his decision not to offer physical resistance while handcuffed and in the presence of two officers cannot be construed as consent. 81 Whether a search is consensual is a question of fact to be determined by the totality of the circumstances. United States v. Pena, 143 F.3d 1363, 1366 (10th Cir.1998). We find that there is a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether Marshall consented to the search, and remand to the district court for further factfinding. 12
82 Mr. Marshall's claims of supervisory and municipal liability were dismissed by the district court on the ground that these claims are premised on constitutional violations. Since we have reversed the grant of summary judgment and remanded to the district court the Equal Protection claim and the Fourth Amendment claim based on the blood test, we reverse the district court's disposition of these claims and remand for further proceedings. 83 Municipalities can be sued for monetary, declaratory, or injunctive relief for deprivations of constitutional or civil rights. Monell v. Department of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). A municipality, however, cannot be held liable for the actions of its employees under the theory of respondeat superior. Seamons v. Snow, 206 F.3d 1021, 1029 (10th Cir.2000) (citing Monell, 436 U.S. at 691, 98 S.Ct. 2018). Plaintiffs seeking to impose liability on a municipality under section 1983 must identify a municipal policy or custom causing their injury. Board of County Com'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 403, 117 S.Ct. 1382, 137 L.Ed.2d 626 (1997) (citing Monell, 436 U.S. at 694, 98 S.Ct. 2018). An unconstitutional deprivation is caused by a municipal policy if it results from decisions of a duly constituted legislative body or an official whose acts may fairly be said to be those of the municipality itself. Brown, 520 U.S. at 403-04, 117 S.Ct. 1382. Similarly, custom has come to mean an act that, although not formally approved by an appropriate decision maker, has such widespread practice as to have the force of law. Id. at 404, 117 S.Ct. 1382. 84 In the district court, Mr. Marshall based his claims for municipal and supervisory liability in large part on the evidence from the Midland investigation and various racial incidents involving the Hobbs police force, which, he contended, demonstrated negligence in hiring, training, and supervision on the part of Captain Knott and the deliberate indifference, or possibly official policy or custom of the City. 13 Because these issues were not addressed by the district court and will be affected by the court's ruling on the admissibility and significance of the Midland evidence, we remand to the district court to address these claims in the first instance.
85 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Medical Defendants on all claims. Although the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Medical Defendants was based on its order granting summary judgment in favor of the Hobbs Defendants, which we have reversed in part, we affirm the district court's decision with respect to the Medical Defendants on other grounds. 86 Mr. Marshall's initial and amended complaints failed to specify which claims were directed at the Medical Defendants, as opposed to those directed at the Hobbs Defendants exclusively. The district court reasoned that since the Medical Defendants were only involved in the blood test, their potential liability is necessarily limited to that procedure. Adopting this assumption, we interpret Mr. Marshall's complaint as asserting that the seizure of his blood violated his Equal Protection and Fourth Amendment rights, and that this act constituted battery and negligence per se under New Mexico law. 87 To sustain a claim under the Equal Protection Clause, a plaintiff must provide evidence that he was treated differently from others who are similarly situated to him, and that the acts forming the basis of the plaintiff's claim were motivated by a discriminatory purpose. See Pers. Adm'r of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272-74, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979); Village of Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. at 264-66, 97 S.Ct. 555. Mr. Marshall admits that there are no facts showing disparate treatment or racially motivated discrimination by the Medical Defendants. Thus, we uphold the district court's dismissal of the equal protection claim against the Medical Defendants. 88 As to the Fourth Amendment, the evidence in the record, interpreted in the manner most favorable to Mr. Marshall, does not support liability on the part of the Medical Defendants. The record shows that Iris Goad, the nurse on duty at Columbia Lea Regional Hospital, administered the blood test at the behest of police officers Porter and Roye, who signed the consent form. She knew that Mr. Marshall verbally refused to consent but did not otherwise resist the taking of his blood. Neither she nor any other employee of the Hospital was otherwise involved, or had any further knowledge about the circumstances. 89 We are not aware of any decisions of the Supreme Court or of this court regarding the liability of medical personnel for performing a warrantless and coerced blood test at the instruction of a police officer, but other cases provide a close and persuasive analogy. First, nurses have been permitted to rely on the representations of other nurses that parental consent has been obtained for the medical examinations of children. Dubbs, 336 F.3d at 1217 & n. 15. If it is reasonable for nurses to rely on other nurses regarding consent, we see no reason to doubt it is reasonable for nurses to rely on police officers regarding probable cause and exigent circumstances. 90 Similarly, courts have held that police officers may ordinarily rely on determinations made by other officers regarding the constitutional legitimacy of police procedures. In Whiteley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 568, 91 S.Ct. 1031, 28 L.Ed.2d 306 (1971), the Supreme Court noted that police officers called upon to aid other officers in executing arrest warrants are entitled to assume that the officers requesting aid [had properly determined the existence of] probable cause. See also Baptiste v. J.C. Penney Co., 147 F.3d 1252, 1260 (10th Cir.1998) (for qualified immunity purposes, female officer called in by another officer to conduct pat-down search of female suspect is entitled to rely on first officer's determination of probable cause); Ramirez v. Butte-Silver Bow County, 298 F.3d 1022, 1027-28 (9th Cir.2002), cert. granted on other grounds sub nom. Groh v. Ramirez, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 1354, 155 L.Ed.2d 195 (2003) (in the qualified immunity context, distinguishing between officers who lead the search and are responsible for ensuring that they have lawful authority for their actions, and line officers who may accept the word of their superiors that they have a warrant and that it is valid); Caldarola v. Calabrese, 298 F.3d 156, 166-67 (2d Cir.2002) (reversing denial of qualified immunity because an officer is entitled to rely on factual accuracy of information supplied by his superiors). 91 The same is true of private persons assisting the police. In Warner v. Grand County, 57 F.3d 962, 965 (10th Cir.1995), this Court held that a private party who assisted in a search could not be sued under § 1983 when she followed the ostensibly legitimate orders of a state official for the mere purpose of assisting the state with its investigatory powers. See also Rodriques v. Furtado, 950 F.2d 805, 815 (1st Cir.1991) (holding that a doctor could not be sued for performing a body cavity search pursuant to an allegedly defective search warrant). 92 Many of these decisions arose in the context of a claim of qualified immunity, rather than on the merits of the constitutional claim. Here, the Medical Defendants do not assert qualified immunity, but argue that performing a search at the behest of the ostensibly legal order of a police officer is not unreasonable and hence not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. We agree. The qualified immunity cases which we have cited did not rest on the lack of clearly established statutory or constitutional rights, Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982), but rather on the theory that private parties or police officers relying on the orders or determinations of other law enforcement officials are entitled to qualified immunity because such reliance is objectively reasonable. See, e.g., Baptiste, 147 F.3d at 1260 (actor entitled to qualified immunity if actions are objectively reasonable). Since the Supreme Court has long held that the `touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness,' Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 39, 117 S.Ct. 417, 136 L.Ed.2d 347 (1996) (quoting Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 250, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991)), this rationale goes to the merits of the § 1983 claim, not just to the availability of qualified immunity. See Dubbs, 336 F.3d at 1217 n. 15. 93 Nurses and other medical personnel have neither the training nor the information that would be necessary to second-guess police determinations regarding probable cause, exigent circumstances, and the like. If police officers, trained in Fourth Amendment law and specifically charged to conduct their activities in conformance with the Constitution, are entitled to rely on legal or factual determinations made by other officers, then nurses should be able to do the same. To hold medical personnel liable would impose a greater constitutional duty on medical professionals than on law enforcement, an outcome having no basis in either logic or precedent. See Rodriques, 950 F.2d at 815, cited approvingly in Warner, 57 F.3d at 965; Ruppel v. Ramseyer, 33 F.Supp.2d 720, 729 (C.D.Ill.1999) (under state law, medical personnel are not liable for damages for police-ordered blood tests). 94 While not conclusive on the federal question of liability under § 1983, it is noteworthy that New Mexico, like many other states, has enacted a statute requiring that medical personnel, rather than police, administer blood tests to DUI suspects, and immunizing them from liability when acting pursuant to police requests: 95 Only a physician, licensed professional or practical nurse or laboratory technician or technologist employed by a hospital or physician shall withdraw blood from any person in the performance of a blood-alcohol test. No such physician, nurse, technician or technologist who withdraws blood from any person in the performance of a blood-alcohol test that has been directed by any police officer... shall be held liable in any civil or criminal action for assault, battery, false imprisonment or any conduct of any police officer, except for negligence.... 96 N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-103. Subject to minor variations, similar laws have been passed by most states in this circuit. See Kan. Stat. Ann. § 32-1132(c); Okla. Stat. tit. 47 § 752(A)-(B); Utah Code Ann. § 41-6-44.10(5); Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-106. This suggests a strong legislative consensus consistent with our legal conclusion here. 97 We therefore conclude that the district court correctly granted the Medical Defendants' motion for summary judgment.
98 After dismissing all of Marshall's federal claims on summary judgment, the district court dismissed the remaining claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). As we have reinstated certain federal claims against the Hobbs Defendants, we remand the related state law claims to the district court for reconsideration.