Opinion ID: 4315143
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Foster’s Fourth Amendment claims

Text: Plaintiff Foster alleges that the TPD violated his Fourth Amendment rights because (1) Officer Senter did not have probable cause to stop the vehicle; (2) TPD officers did not read Foster his Miranda rights before his arrest; (3) Foster’s handcuffs were too tight; (4) officers did not respond to his complaints that he could not breathe in the back of the police car; and (5) TPD officers subjected Foster to an unreasonable search and seizure. Defendants respond that Foster was pulled over during a valid Terry stop, and that after just 45 minutes, the entire scene was turned over to the Mississippi State Police. Defendants contend that Foster’s claims that his handcuffs were too tight and that he could not breathe in the car do not demonstrate TPD officers acted with reckless disregard for his safety and well-being. They also contend that Plaintiffs have failed to identify any TPD policy or custom which caused the alleged constitutional violations. It is true that Plaintiffs have not pointed to an official TPD policy or policymaker that caused the alleged constitutional violations. 18 In fact, Plaintiffs have failed to establish any causal link between the alleged violations and a TPD policy that was unconstitutional or adopted “with deliberate indifference to the known or obvious fact that such constitutional violations would result.” 19 Because Plaintiffs failed to provide evidence of “(1) an official [TPD] policy (or custom), of which (2) a policy maker can be charged with actual or constructive knowledge” that caused Foster’s alleged constitutional violations, the district court correctly granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on Foster’s Fourth Amendment claims. 20 18 See Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 578 (citing Monell, 436 U.S. at 694). 19 Johnson, 379 F.3d at 309. 20 See Pineda, 291 F.3d at 328. Additionally, to the extent Foster contends that his Fifth Amendment rights were violated because he never received a Miranda warning, we note that he has not alleged that his supposed interrogation led to any incriminating 8 Case: 17-60774 Document: 00514655230 Page: 9 Date Filed: 09/25/2018 No. 17-60774