Opinion ID: 655577
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: False Arrest of Post

Text: 22 Count Two alleged that Sellers-Sampson arrested Post without probable cause. Probable cause exists if the facts and circumstances within the officer's knowledge, of which he or she has reasonably trustworthy information, would cause a prudent person to believe, under the circumstances shown, that the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about to commit an offense. Von Stein v. Brescher, 904 F.2d 572, 578 (11th Cir.1990). When an officer asserts qualified immunity, the issue is not whether probable cause existed in fact, but whether the officer had arguable probable cause to arrest. Moore v. Gwinnett County, 967 F.2d 1495, 1497 (11th Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1049, 122 L.Ed.2d 357 (1993). That is, the officer is entitled to qualified immunity if a reasonable officer could have believed that probable cause existed. Id. 23 Here, the issue is not whether the code team's head counts were, in fact, correct; on summary judgment, we assume that plaintiffs' evidence about the number of customers is true. The issue material to qualified immunity is whether a reasonable officer in Sellers-Sampson's place--that is, in these circumstances--could have believed that more than 22 customers were present during a code team visit. 5 24 When Sellers-Sampson arrested Post, he knew the code team had found max cap violations on three earlier visits. He himself had counted more than 22 people on the February 28 and March 4 visits and had verified his results with another code team member. On March 18, the night of the arrests, both he and Banks counted over 22 people. 25 The code team's head counts might have been wrong; but from the record before us, no reasonable fact-finder could find other than that a reasonable officer in Sellers-Sampson's place could have thought Big Louie's was over the max cap. Plaintiffs admit that at least 18 or 19 customers were present each time the code team visited and that the number might have been 20 on the night of the arrests. The difference between 20 customers and more than 22 is small; in many circumstances, a reasonable officer could believe that more than 22 customers were present, even if the actual number was 20. 26 A mistaken but reasonable count cannot be ruled out in this case given the conditions at Big Louie's. The undisputed evidence showed the aisles were crowded when the code team visited Big Louie's. The code team had to count customers while ignoring employees and keeping track of customers that were entering, exiting, and waiting for take-out food. Under the circumstances, a reasonable officer in Sellers-Sampson's place could have believed that more than 22 customers were present, even if the actual number was a little lower, as plaintiffs claim. Sellers-Sampson is entitled to qualified immunity because he had arguable probable cause to arrest Post. 6 27 Plaintiffs alleged that Hurley was liable for participating in Post's false arrest. In addition to what has already been said about the head counts, Hurley had no authority to arrest Post and knew nothing about the arrests before they took place. Although Hurley counted heads on February 28 and March 18, no evidence shows that Sellers-Sampson talked to Hurley about arresting Post. Hurley is entitled to qualified immunity because Hurley's acts, as established by the record before us, violated no clearly established law.