Opinion ID: 170083
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Excessive Force Claims and Qualified Immunity

Text: The issue in the instant case deals with the alleged use of excessive force. The Cortez II court stated that in order for a plaintiff’s excessive force claim to succeed against a defendant’s qualified immunity based summary judgment motion “a plaintiff is required to show that the force used was impermissible (a constitutional violation) and that objectively reasonable officers could not have not thought the force constitutionally permissible (violates clearly established law).” Cortez II, 478 F.3d at 1128. Ms. Segura offers two arguments to show that Officer Jones used excessive force: (1) through the use of handcuffs and (2) by pushing her into the wall.
The district court determined that Officer Jones initiated an investigative detention, not an arrest. Dist. Ct. Or. at 5. The district court also reasoned that Officer Jones used the handcuffs on Ms. Segura, knowing that she had previously refused to cooperate, in order to preclude her escape and did so only long enough to obtain her identity and criminal record. Id. The district court held that in light of the fact that Officer Jones was alone, and the previous behavior by Ms. Segura, the seizure constituted a lawful - 10 - investigative detention under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). It is also noteworthy that the record indicates that the manager told Officer Jones that the suspects were in the aisle of the store containing scissors and knives. This background is relevant in ascertaining what the appropriate level of force would be in this situation because we stated in Cortez II that “police have historically been able to use more force in making an arrest than in effecting an investigative detention.” Cortez II, 478 F.3d at 1126. Ms. Segura argues that the use of handcuffs violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from the use of excessive force in the context of an investigative detention. The handcuffs were on Ms. Segura for roughly five minutes and left marks on her wrists that disappeared within a day. Ms. Segura makes no allegations in her brief regarding any psychological injuries sustained by the incident. Once again, Cortez II is instructive in providing the legal principles necessary in analyzing whether excessive force was used in effectuating an investigative detention. There is a balancing of concerns that occurs when evaluating the appropriate level of force to be used in a Terry stop. “Although Terry stops are normally nonintrusive, we have indicated that law enforcement may (1) display some force, (2) place suspects on the ground, (3) use handcuffs, or (4) detain suspects in law enforcement vehicles, even in the absence of probable cause.” Cortez II, 478 F.3d at 1130 (quoting United States v. Perdue, 8 F.3d 1455, 1463 (10th Cir. 1993)). In Graham v. Connor, the Supreme Court held that “[o]ur Fourth Amendment jurisprudence has long recognized that the right to make an arrest or investigatory stop necessarily carries with it the right to use some degree of - 11 - physical coercion or threat thereof to effect it.” 490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989). We also have held that an escalation in the level of force used in a Terry stop can change the detention into an arrest. United States v. Shareef, 100 F.3d 1491, 1507 (10th Cir.1996). “We apply Fourth Amendment standards of objective reasonableness to analyze constitutional claims of excessive force.” Graham, 490 U.S. 386, 396-97. We must evaluate whether the manner in which Officer Jones handcuffed Ms. Segura constitutes excessive force. At the outset, we must determine if it was reasonable for Officer Jones to use handcuffs on Ms. Segura. This reasonableness inquiry “requires careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.” Graham, 490 U.S. 386, 396; see also Oliver v. Woods, 209 F.3d 1179 (10th Cir. 2000). Additionally, in United States v. Neff, we held that the use of handcuffs during an investigative detention is acceptable if done to “maintain the status quo during the course of [the detention].” 300 F.3d 1217, 1220-21 (10th Cir. 2002). Also, we further held in United States v. Neff that the “use of handcuffs is not a per se violation of the rights of a person being detained for investigation based on reasonable suspicion.” 300 F.3d at 1220. Officer Jones responded to a call where neither suspect had cooperated in providing identification to the store manager. Thus, Officer Jones was unable to obtain any information about possible warrants or their criminal histories. Further, the - 12 - knowledge that the suspects had been uncooperative necessarily informs the officer as to how he should proceed in acting towards the suspects. Ms. Segura was not a bystander either–she was one of the suspects. Officer Jones already was aware that both suspects had refused to cooperate in providing identification. Finally, he had been told that they were acting suspiciously while in the store. The handcuffs were on Ms. Segura for approximately five minutes and were removed after she provided Officer Jones with her name and a valid address so that he would know whether she had any warrants or criminal history. In comparison, Ms. Rich, who was also in the room at the time, provided Officer Jones with identification thereby precluding any need for him to handcuff her. With her name and address, she would be less likely to flee because police would more easily be able to find her. Also, with the knowledge that Ms. Rich had no prior criminal history or warrants for arrest, Officer Jones was able to determine that she posed little threat or risk of flight. This different treatment of the two suspects is relevant in determining whether Officer Jones’s handcuffing of Ms. Segura was reasonable. Looking at the totality of the circumstances that Officer Jones confronted, we cannot say that the use of the handcuffs on Ms. Segura was unreasonable or excessive. Officer Jones had no information about her, knew that she had been uncooperative, and was seen acting suspiciously in the aisle containing scissors and knives. Thus, the brief use of handcuffs to ensure both his own and the suspect’s safety while preventing her from fleeing was reasonable. - 13 - An excessive force claim requires some actual injury, be it physical or emotional, that is not de minimis. Cortez II, 478 F.3d at 1129. The handcuffs were on Ms. Segura for roughly five minutes and the marks that they left on her wrists were gone by the next day. We feel that this degree of distress or pain falls into the category of de minimis. In Cortez II, we held that the use of handcuffs which left marks lasting for four days was “insufficient, as a matter of law, to support an excessive force claim if the use of handcuffs is otherwise justified.” 478 F.3d at 1129. Again, based on the circumstances before Officer Jones, the brief use of handcuffs was not unreasonable because she had been uncooperative, the officer wanted to prevent the suspect from injuring either herself or himself, and in an attempt to preclude her from trying to escape which would have further escalated the potential danger to either party and the level of force used to subdue the suspect. The conduct as to Ms. Segura’s wrists did not rise to the level necessary to sustain an excessive force claim based on the use of handcuffs.
The second basis for excessive force raised by Ms. Segura is that Officer Jones pushed her against the wall in order to place the handcuffs on her. Ms. Segura stated that her face hit the wall when Officer Jones was placing the handcuffs on her, although there were no visible marks, cuts or abrasions on her face. Also, Ms. Segura stated that Officer Jones exacerbated her back injury when he pushed her against the wall. She took pain medication that evening to allay her discomfort. The injury stemmed from a - 14 - previously herniated disk in her back that was last re-injured while she was gardening. The case relevant to this claim is Saucier v. Katz. 533 U.S. 194 (2001). That case involved the shoving of an elderly man, with a visible leg brace on, into the back of a police van. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 198. The Court held that pushes and shoves must be adjudged under the Fourth Amendment reasonableness requirement. Id. at 209. The Court went on to say that the officer “did not know the full extent of the threat respondent posed or how many other persons there might be who, in concert with respondent, posed a threat...” Id. at 208. The officer’s lack of knowledge in Saucier v. Katz is similar to Officer Jones’s circumstances in the instant case. Fourth Amendment reasonableness analysis “must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments-in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving-about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.” Graham, 490 U.S. at 396-97. In Saucier, the Court held that the officer who pushed the suspect was entitled to qualified immunity because his actions did not violate clearly established law. 533 U.S. at 208-209. There the suspect was wearing a large and visible leg brace. In the instant case, Officer Jones had no way of knowing that Ms. Segura had a previous back injury that occasionally could be exacerbated. The shove in Saucier was also of a more forceful nature than that in the instant case because it forced the suspect to the ground, whereas here, Ms. Segura’s face pressed against the wall, leaving no mark or wound. In Saucier, the plaintiff argued that had he not caught himself, he would have sustained an injury. - 15 - Here, Ms. Segura provides no evidence of an injury to her face and stated that she needed pain medication for one evening to allay her back injury due to the push. Since the officer in Saucier was entitled to qualified immunity where there was a visible preexisting condition, Officer Jones is entitled to qualified immunity where there was no cognizable indication of an already existing back injury. Further, the record does not bear out Ms. Segura’s claim that the injuries to her face were substantial enough to be more than de minimis. In sum, we find that the district court erred in denying Officer Jones’s qualified immunity summary judgment motion with respect to Ms. Segura’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 excessive force claim as to both the handcuffing and the push. We REVERSE the district court’s partial denial of Officer Jones’s qualified immunity motion for summary judgment and REMAND for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion. Entered for the Court William J. Holloway, Jr.