Opinion ID: 2966339
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Qualified Immunity on the Stop and Frisk Claim

Text: The Fourth Circuit has definitively held that the qualified immunity doctrine protects police officers who mistakenly make an arrest, so long as that arrest is supported by probable cause. Because those _________________________________________________________________ of appeal which would circumvent the true intent of the Appellants. See Brookens v. White, 795 F.2d 178, 180 (D.C. Cir. 1986) (finding that a mistake in designating the judgment appealed from should not result in loss of appeal so long as an intent to appeal can be inferred). Second, the proceedings below were initiated pro se by the Appellants, and although they eventually retained counsel, some leeway should be afforded to them here in the interest of justice. See, e.g., Gordon v. Leeke, 574 F.2d 1147, 1151 (4th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 970 (1978) (finding that pro se complaints should be construed liberally). Third, the Appellants' Brief clearly evidences their intent to appeal the district court's summary judgment determinations, and not its denial of the Rule 59(a) motion. See Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 181 (1962) (finding that although the form of a notice of appeal may be inept, it is sufficient to appeal an order where the appellant's intent to appeal that order is manifest). 10 cases logically suggest that qualified immunity should similarly be afforded to police officers who make vehicular stops, so long as those stops are supported by reasonable suspicion, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to the Appellees on the § 1983 claims arising from their initial decision to execute the vehicular stop; because the stop and frisk was supported by reasonable suspicion, qualified immunity was properly afforded to the Appellees. In Pritchett v. Alford, 973 F.2d 307 (4th Cir. 1992), we addressed a case in which a wrecker driver brought a § 1983 action against highway patrolmen, alleging that the patrolmen had arrested him without probable cause for allegedly violating South Carolina laws governing the solicitation of towing businesses by wrecker companies. We held that qualified immunity was properly denied to the police officers in that case, setting forth the now familiar three-part test for determining entitlement to qualified immunity: Ruling on a defense of qualified immunity [ ] requires (1) identification of the specific right allegedly violated; (2) determining whether at the time of the alleged violation the right was clearly established; and (3) if so, then determining whether a reasonable person in the officer's position would have known that doing what he did would violate that right. The first two of these present pure questions of law for the courts. The third, which involves application of Harlow's objective test to the particular conduct at issue, may require factual determinations respecting disputed aspects of that conduct. 973 F.2d at 312. In applying the first and second prongs of the test, we found that the proper focus is upon ascertaining the constitutional right not at its most general or abstract level, but rather determining the right at the level of its application to the specific conduct being challenged. Id. In elucidating the third prong, we held that the determination of the reasonableness of the action taken must be made on the basis of information actually possessed by the officer at the critical time, or that was then reasonably available to him, and in light of any exigencies of time and circumstance that reasonably may have affected the officer's perceptions. Id. Additionally, in describing how 11 such determinations should be reviewed when the qualified immunity claim is made at the summary judgment stage, we found: Because qualified immunity is designed to shield officers not only from liability but from the burdens of litigation, its establishment at the pleading or summary judgment stage has been specifically encouraged. This does not mean, however, that summary judgment doctrine is to be skewed from its ordinary operation to give special substantive favor to the defense, important as may be its early establishment. Here, as in any context, summary judgment for the movant is appropriate only if (1) there are no genuine issues of material fact, and (2) on the undisputed facts the defendant as movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. As indicated, the narrow threshold question whether a right allegedly violated was clearly established at the appropriate level of inquiry and at the time of the challenged conduct is always a matter of law for the court, hence is always capable of decision at the summary judgment stage. Whether the conduct allegedly violative of the right actually occurred or, if so, whether a reasonable officer would have known that conduct would violate the right, however, may or may not be then subject to determination as a matter of law. If there are genuine issues of historical fact respecting the officer's conduct or its reasonableness under the circumstances, summary judgment is not appropriate, and the issue must be reserved for trial. Id. at 313 (emphasis added). Under that analysis, we found that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity in that case because: (1) the right not to be arrested without probable cause was clearly established; and (2) a reasonably competent officer in the defendant's position would have known that charging the driver would violate that right. Id. at 314-15. See also Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635 (1987). Similarly, in Mensh v. Dyer, 956 F.2d 36 (4th Cir. 1991), we addressed a case in which a homeowner brought a§ 1983 action when he was mistakenly detained by an arrest team in the middle of the 12 night. 956 F.2d at 37. In holding that the police officers should have been afforded qualified immunity at the summary judgment stage, this Court held that the officers were entitled to summary judgment if they could establish that reasonable officers could have believed that their actions were lawful in light of both clearly established law and the information the officers possessed at the time. Id. at 39. In so holding, the Court explicitly found that an arrest based on probable cause does not violate the Fourth Amendment even if the wrong person is arrested. Id. Applying that principle to the case, the Court held that because the police were executing a facially valid warrant, their actions were supported by probable cause, and that they were thus entitled to qualified immunity. Id. at 40. Applying those principles to the case at bar, it is clear that the Appellees here were entitled to qualified immunity as to the § 1983 claims arising from their actual decision to stop Appellant Taft's car and to frisk the occupants. Indeed, although the case law described above deals expressly with probable cause arrests, the principles set forth therein apply equally to vehicular stops under the reasonable suspicion standard. Several considerations compel an affirmance here. First, the law is well settled that a vehicular stop is justified where the police officers have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity based on articulable facts. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977) (finding that a vehicular stop and frisk of the car's occupants is governed by the reasonable suspicion standard set forth in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)); United States v. Taylor, 857 F.2d 210, 213 (4th Cir. 1988) (finding that a brief investigative stop of a vehicle is permissible when the investigating officers have a reasonable suspicion grounded in articulable facts that the person stopped is involved in criminal activity). In the instant case, the police officers were expressly directed over the radio to stop the Appellants' car because it was believed that the car was carrying the suspected murderer, Wooten. Thus, the reasonable suspicion standard was certainly met since the Appellees' decision to stop the car was based expressly on an order from police headquarters. See United States v. Moore, 817 F.2d 1105, 1107 (4th Cir. 1987), cert. denied , 484 U.S. 965 (1987) (finding that a call made by a dispatcher suggests the existence of reasonable suspicion, and finding that a police officer is not constitutionally required to be certain that a crime has occurred when he makes 13 a stop). Indeed, as noted by the Appellees, to have refused to act on the radio dispatch order to stop the car, would have been to be negligent in their duties. Second, in light of the fact that the stop itself was certainly supported by reasonable suspicion, the police officers were entitled to qualified immunity on any claim alleging that such a stop violated the Appellants' Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures. Indeed, in conducting the three-step qualified immunity analysis set forth by the Supreme Court and followed by this Circuit in Pritchett, supra, it is clear that the district court did not err. Under the first two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis, it is plain that the specific right in question -- the right not to be stopped and frisked without reasonable suspicion -- was indeed clearly established at the time of the alleged violation. See, e.g., Pennsylvania v. Mimms, supra. The third prong of the qualified immunity analysis, however -- whether reasonable people in the officers' position would have known that doing what they did would violate that right -- was not met here. Indeed, this Court held in Pritchett that such a reasonableness determination must be made on the basis of information actually possessed by the officers at the critical time, or that was then reasonably available to them, and in light of any exigencies of time and circumstance that reasonably may have affected the officers' perceptions; in the instant case, the information actually possessed by the officers at the time of the stop was that the radio dispatcher had suspected that the Appellants' car carried Wooten, and the exigencies of the circumstances compelled them to act immediately before the car could get away. Thus, a reasonable officer in those circumstances would have certainly felt justified in stopping the car on such information. Third, in Pritchett, it was held that applying the third prong of the qualified immunity analysis at the summary judgment stage may be inappropriate [i]f there are genuine issues of historical fact respecting the officer's conduct or its reasonableness under the circumstances. 973 F.2d at 313. In the instant case, however, there is no dispute as to the actual conduct of the officers in making the initial decision to stop the car and to frisk the occupants ; the Appellants do not contest on appeal that the officers stopped the car because they were told to do so by the radio dispatcher, or that the stop was executed in a genuine effort to search for Wooten. Nor do the Appellants 14 effectively challenge the district court's conclusion that stopping a car in response to a police dispatch call is generally supported by reasonable suspicion. Last, it is irrelevant for qualified immunity purposes that Wooten was not actually hiding in the Appellants' car. Indeed, this Court held in Mensh v. Dyer, supra, that the mistaken seizure of an individual is not pertinent to a proper qualified immunity analysis. Indeed, it is precisely in such a case of genuinely mistaken identity that the doctrine of qualified immunity is designed to protect police officers from civil liability. For the foregoing reasons, the district court did not err in finding that the police officers were entitled to qualified immunity with respect to the Appellants' claim that the actual decision to stop the Appellants' car was violative of their civil rights. Because the stop was supported by reasonable suspicion, the police officers were properly entitled to qualified immunity as to that claim. B. Qualified Immunity on the Excessive Force Claims By contrast, the Appellees' entitlement to qualified immunity as to the Appellants' excessive force claims was incorrectly granted by the district court at the summary judgment stage. Indeed, in light of the genuine disputes of material fact concerning the actual conduct of the police officers in executing the seizure and search, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment on this issue, and remand the case for trial on the § 1983 excessive force claims. The Supreme Court, in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), fully addressed the constitutional standard which governs § 1983 claims arising from a police officer's alleged use of excessive force in making an arrest, investigatory stop, or other seizure of an individual's person. In Graham, the petitioner sought to recover damages for injuries allegedly sustained when the officers used physical force against him during the course of an investigatory stop. 490 U.S. at 388. The Supreme Court, reversing a decision of the Fourth Circuit, articulated an objective reasonableness standard for addressing such cases. Id. at 392. In particular, the Court held that in addressing a § 1983 excessive force claim, proper analysis begins by identifying 15 the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed by the challenged application of force; in the context of an arrest or investigatory stop, the Court found that an excessive force claim is most properly characterized as invoking the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 394. The Court held that in judging the reasonableness of a stop or seizure under the Fourth Amendment, three factors should be considered: (1) the severity of the crime at issue, (2) whether the suspect posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and (3) whether the suspect actively resisted arrest by flight. Id. at 396. Additionally, the Court held: The reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. . . . As in other Fourth Amendment contexts, however, the reasonableness inquiry in an excessive force case is an objective one: the question is whether the officers' actions are objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them, without regard to their underlying intent or motivation. An officer's evil intentions will not make a Fourth Amendment violation out of an objectively reasonable use of force; nor will an officer's good intentions make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional. Id. at 396-97. Therefore, the Court explicitly rejected an approach in which the police officer's good faith would be relevant. Id. at 397. The Fourth Circuit, in Rowland v. Perry, 41 F.3d 167 (4th Cir. 1994), recently applied that test in a § 1983 excessive force case in which the district court had denied an officer's claim of entitlement to qualified immunity on a motion for summary judgment. 41 F.3d at 171. In that case, the actual amount of force used by the police was in dispute. Id. at 172. In affirming the denial of qualified immunity by the district court, we outlined the proper inquiry that should be undertaken in addressing claims of qualified immunity in excessive force cases: The reasonableness inquiry is an objective one. To gauge objective reasonableness, a court examines only the actions 16 at issue and measures them against what a reasonable officer would do under the circumstances. Subjective factors involving the officer's motives, intent, or propensities are not relevant. The objective nature of the inquiry is specifically intended to limit examination into an officer's subjective state of mind, and thereby enhance the chances of a speedy disposition of the case. Though it focuses on the objective facts, the immunity inquiry must be filtered through the lens of the officer's perceptions at the time of the incident in question. Such a perspective serves two purposes. First, using the officer's perception of the facts at the time limits second-guessing the reasonableness of actions with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. Second, using this perspective limits the need for decision-makers to sort through conflicting versions of the actual facts, and allows them to focus instead on what the police officer reasonably perceived. In sum, the officer's subjective state of mind is not relevant to the qualified immunity inquiry but his perceptions of the objective facts of the incident in question are. Id. at 172-73. Under that standard, it was found that, in evaluating a police officer's entitlement to qualified immunity against excessive force claims, the proper inquiry is whether a reasonable officer could have believed that the use of force alleged was objectively reasonable in light of the circumstances. The test is not rigid or mechanical but depends on the `facts and circumstances of each particular case.' Id. at 173, quoting Graham, 490 U.S. at 396. As part of the reasonableness analysis, the Court urged that the three Graham factors be considered together: (1) the severity of the suspected crime at issue, (2) whether the suspect posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and (3) whether the suspect actively attempted to evade arrest by flight. Id. Under that rubric of analysis, the Court found that the police officer in the case was not entitled to qualified immunity because (1) the offense of stealing five dollars was minor, (2) the suspect posed no threat to the officer, and (3) the facts suggesting resistance by the suspect were disputed. Id. at 174. In so finding, the Court held that although disputed versions of the facts alone are not enough to warrant denial of summary judgment, such disputed 17 facts combined with unfavorable Graham factors, suggest that granting summary judgment to a police officer on the issue of qualified immunity is inappropriate. Id. Cf. Slattery v. Rizzo, 939 F.2d 213 (4th Cir. 1991) (finding that a narcotics officer participating in a sting operation could have believed that the arrestee posed a deadly threat, and was thus entitled to qualified immunity in an excessive force case, where past incidents involving weapons and violence had occurred at the location of the arrest and where the arrestee ignored the officer's order to raise his hands and instead turned toward the officer with an object in his hand). In applying the case law of the Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court to the instant case, it appears that the behavior of the police officers here was sufficiently in dispute that qualified immunity should not have been granted on the excessive force claims at the summary judgment stage. Indeed, in the instant case, the application of the third prong of the qualified immunity analysis -- whether a reasonable police officer in the same circumstances would have known he was violating a clearly established right-- suggests that qualified immunity was improperly granted. Several considerations, in particular, compel a reversal of the district court's decision as to the excessive force claims. First, as expressly stated by the Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor, supra, and reaffirmed by the Fourth Circuit in Rowland, supra, it is well established that in judging the reasonableness of a stop or seizure, three factors must be considered: (1) the severity of the crime at issue, (2) whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and (3) whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest by flight. In the instant case, the application of these three factors suggest that the force used by Appellees was unreasonable, taking the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmovants, the Appellants. First, it is undeniable that the crime at issue -- Wooten's murder of an individual -- was a severe and gruesome crime. Second, however, the Appellants, by their behavior, certainly did not pose an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others; indeed, it is undisputed that they were extremely compliant throughout the stop. Third, the Appellants certainly did not actively resist arrest by attempting to flee the scene; indeed, even under the police officers' version of the facts, the Appellants in no way resisted the 18 police's efforts to get them out of the car, handcuff them, and search them, unlike in Slattery v. Rizzo, supra. Thus, the three-factor Graham test suggests that the facts in this case do not support the degree of force allegedly used by the Appellees. Second, and related, Graham expressly held that the reasonableness inquiry in an excessive force case is an objective one: the question is whether the officers' actions were objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them, without regard to their underlying intent or motivation; indeed, the Court expressly held that an officer's good intentions do not make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional. Graham, 490 U.S. at 397. Accordingly, the Appellees cannot claim entitlement to qualified immunity here simply by arguing that the police in this case acted in good faith in order to protect the Appellants. Indeed, under the express standard put forth by the Supreme Court, it is clear that the officer's subjective good faith is irrelevant to the analysis; it is the objective reasonableness of the officers' actions under the three-factor Graham test that is dispositive here. Third, the issue of qualified immunity on this claim was not appropriate for disposition at the summary judgment stage. This Court in Rowland v. Perry, supra, recently held that although disputed versions of the facts alone are not sufficient to warrant denial of summary judgment, such disputed facts combined with unfavorable Graham factors, suggest that granting summary judgment to police officers on the basis of qualified immunity is inappropriate. 41 F.3d at 174. In the instant case, as discussed above, the application of the Graham factors was unfavorable to the police since the factors suggest that the degree of force used was unreasonable. Moreover, in the instant case, the facts concerning the amount of force used were expressly disputed; indeed, the two parties disagreed on almost every claim made, including (1) whether the police had their guns trained on the minor Appellants when they exited the car, (2) whether the police clicked and cocked their guns in an intimidating way, (3) whether the police sexually fondled the Appellants during the patdown searches, and (4) whether guns were held against the minor Appellants' heads. Remembering that on summary judgment the nonmovant's version of disputed facts is accepted, and applying the Graham factors, summary judgment on qualified immunity should 19 have been denied because there clearly existed genuine disputes of material fact. Indeed, taking the Appellants' allegations in the light most favorable to them, as a court should on a motion for summary judgment, the Appellees' actions clearly would have amounted to excessive force.3 See Pritchett v. Alford, 973 F.2d at 313 ([i]f there are genuine issues of historical fact respecting the officer's conduct or its reasonableness under the circumstances, summary judgment is not appropriate, and the issues must be reserved for trial.). Fourth, even under the police officers' version of the facts, the amount of force used may have been unreasonable. First, the Appellees concede that they knew that Onte Taft, although of a heavy build, was not Wooten as soon as he stepped out of the car, see Appellees' Brief at 9; thus, it is unclear why they searched Onte, handcuffed him, and forced him to kneel on the road in front of a patrol car. Second, the Appellees clearly knew that Jeanette Taft was a female, and thus that she could not be the suspected murderer; again, therefore, it is unclear why they searched her, handcuffed her, and forced her into the back seat of a police car.4 Third, and related, the Appellees concede that Jeanette Taft was placed in the backseat of the patrol car with the handcuffs in front of her, while Onte Taft was placed on his knees facing the headlights of a patrol car; they allege, however, that these inconveniences were undertaken toprotect the Appellants. It is unclear, however, how handcuffing and restraining Onte and Jeanette in the fashion employed would in any way protect them. Finally, it is unclear why the minor Appellants were handcuffed in light of the fact that they clearly did not pose a threat to the police officers, and in light of the fact that they plainly did not match Wooten's description. _________________________________________________________________ 3 The Appellees argue in their Brief that because the Appellants do not allege that the pat-down ever extended underneath their clothing or undergarments, there is no genuine issue of material fact that the force used was excessive or sexually abusive. There is no support in the case law, however, that a pat-down search has to extend beneath the clothing in order for it to be sexually abusive. 4 This case is distinguishable from United States v. Taylor, 857 F.2d 210 (4th Cir. 1988), because in Taylor, the actual suspect was known to be in the car when the police stopped the car. In the instant case, by contrast, the Appellants clearly could not have been Wooten. 20 For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court's finding of qualified immunity on the excessive force claims, and remand the case for trial only on those particular claims. Although the officers were entitled to qualified immunity as to their actual decision to stop the vehicle, they were not entitled to such a determination as to their alleged use of excessive force in carrying out the seizure and search. Of course, at a trial, the reasonableness of what the Appellees actually did may be established, in which case qualified immunity could then be deemed proper.