Opinion ID: 515717
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendants Ellsworth, Curren, Terhune and Sambatero

Text: 44 While Unwin has not been able to personally identify the law enforcement officers who had contact with him on the night in question, the remaining four defendants, Trooper Ellsworth and Officers Curren, Terhune, and Sambatero, all admit having physical contact with Unwin during the time Unwin was repeatedly beaten. The depositions of the various law enforcement officers indicate that Trooper Ellsworth was the first of appellants to have contact with Unwin that night. After escorting several other inmates to their cells, Trooper Ellsworth saw three to four officers struggling with Unwin in the dayroom. Ellsworth then assisted these officers in their struggle with Unwin. According to Unwin's answers to interrogatories, it was sometime during this struggle in the dayroom that Unwin had been hit from behind, fell to the ground where he was held face down, and struck on the side of his face with fists and nightsticks. Unwin was handcuffed at some point during the struggle in the dayroom. Ellsworth, grabbing Unwin by his arm, moved Unwin to his cell with the help of Officers Sambatero and Terhune, who had come to assist Ellsworth at some point. In his answers to interrogatories, Unwin stated that he was carried to his cell where he was forced into the corner of his cell and repeatedly beaten. Sometime after entering the cell, Trooper Ellsworth and Officer Sambatero, with the help of Officer Terhune, placed Unwin on the bed in the cell. Several other officers, including Officer Curren and Piere Planchet 10 observed the struggle with Unwin outside his cell. Defendants assert that Unwin struggled violently with them. 45 After Unwin appeared to have calmed down and the handcuffs were removed, Trooper Ellsworth asserts that he left the cell. While Officers Terhune and Sambatero were leaving the cell, Unwin sprang off the bed and took a swing at one of the officers, possibly landing a punch on Officer Sambatero's face. Sambatero threw Unwin against the wall of the cell. Several officers rushed into the cell at that point, including Officer Curren. Curren testified that he then struck Unwin in the face in order to subdue him. The officers then locked the cell door as they left the cell. 46 Piere Planchet tells a somewhat different story. According to Planchet, he was outside Unwin's cell when he noticed a state trooper struggling with Unwin while Unwin was crouched on his knees with handcuffs on. While he cannot identify the state trooper, Planchet is certain that it was a state trooper because of the green state police uniform worn by the person. Planchet entered the cell to assist the trooper. While another officer may have been in the cell at first, this officer left when Planchet entered the cell. Planchet pressed his knee against Unwin and pushed him against the toilet in the cell while the trooper removed Unwin's handcuffs. The trooper (not one of the local police officers) then punched Unwin in order to daze him. Planchet and the trooper then left the cell and secured the door. 47 Before it is possible to evaluate the conduct of each of these four defendants to determine whether they transgressed clearly established Eighth Amendment standards, it is necessary first to know the context in which the conduct occurred. Specifically, it is necessary to know whether, on the night in question, there was a disturbance, such as occurred in [Whitley v. Albers ], that indisputably pose[d] significant risks to the safety of inmates and prison staff.... Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312, 320, 106 S.Ct. 1078, 1084, 89 L.Ed.2d 251 (1986). In situations where prison officials are responding to an outbreak of violence, the appropriate standard is  'whether force was applied in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.'  Whitley, 475 U.S. at 320-21, 106 S.Ct. at 1084-85 (quoting Johnson v. Glick, 481 F.2d 1028, 1033 (2d Cir.1973)). In such emergencies, officials cannot be expected to measure nicely the precise amount of force necessary to restore order. However, where institutional security is not at stake, the officials' license to use force is more limited; to succeed, a plaintiff need not prove malicious and sadistic intent. Rather, Eighth Amendment liability will be imposed where the officials' actions involve the wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain as determined by the need for the application of force, the relationship between the need and the amount of force that was used, and the extent of the injury inflicted. Wyatt v. Delaney, 818 F.2d 21, 23 (8th Cir.1987). See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 105, 97 S.Ct. 285, 291, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) (deliberate indifference to prisoner's serious medical needs is cruel and unusual punishment). 48 In this case, the context in which defendants' contact with Unwin took place remains unclear. After discovery, there appears to be a genuine issue of material fact as to whether a prison disturbance, as described in Whitley, actually existed. The record, construed in the light most favorable to Unwin, shows that, on the night in question, a dozen or so inmates were in the dayroom of the prison. Unwin, who had spent most of the earlier part of the day watching television and playing cards, was watching several inmates play cards in the dayroom. The other inmates were not doing anything in particular; a few were simply hanging around, while others occasionally engaged in horseplay. None of the inmates in the dayroom were armed, drunk, or acting out. There was intermittent noise emanating from the dayroom, although it is unclear whether the inmates or correctional officers were the source of it. There was various debris strewn about the dayroom floor, and some of the aluminum tables in the room were damaged; it is unclear how long the dayroom had been in such a state. At some point in the night, but after defendants had been called to the prison, an obstreperous inmate, who had earlier been ordered to remain in his cell, came out of his cell and entered the dayroom. This inmate, who was drunk, picked up a chair and threw it. Another inmate, in an attempt to subdue him, began to wrestle with the drunk inmate. The other inmates, including Unwin, were not involved in this struggle. It was after this that defendants and other law enforcement officers, who had come to the prison in response to an emergency call, entered the day room for the purpose of moving the inmates to their cells. There is no evidence indicating that the prison authorities or law enforcement officers had requested the inmates to return to their cells before the officers entered the dayroom. 11 There is some evidence that after the officers had entered the room some of the inmates (not including Unwin) were asked to return to their cells but resisted. Other inmates returned to their cells on their own. As to Unwin, he was immediately knocked to the floor after the officers entered the dayroom, beaten, handcuffed, and then carried to his cell. All of the inmates were in their cells within five to ten minutes after the officers entered the dayroom. 49 We cannot say on the basis of this record that it was undisputed that there was a prison disturbance of Whitley magnitude on the night in question. 12 And with this material issue in dispute, we cannot adequately address the legal issue of whether the actions of each of the four defendants (Ellsworth, Curren, Terhune, and Sambatero) violated clearly established Eighth Amendment standards. Hence, it remains unclear whether to judge their contact with Unwin by a standard requiring Unwin to show that defendants acted maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm. It is also unclear if this is a case within which to balanc[e] competing institutional concerns for the safety of prison staff or other inmates. Whitley, 475 U.S. at 320, 106 S.Ct. at 1084. And it is a question of fact whether the four defendants acted with objective legal reasonableness, Anderson, 107 S.Ct. at 3039, given all the circumstances. Answers to these fact-specific questions, which are essential to the qualified immunity inquiry, cannot be resolved in this case on summary judgment. 50 Consequently, defendants Ellsworth, Curren, Terhune, and Sambatero are not entitled to summary judgment on grounds of qualified immunity. A fuller factual foundation is necessary before the complex legal issue of qualified immunity can be resolved. See C. Wright, A. Miller & M. Kane, 10A Federal Practice & Procedure Secs. 2725, 2728 (1983) (court has discretion to deny summary judgment where resolution of complex questions of law require a more concrete factual development than may be obtained through summary proceedings). See also Berg v. Kincheloe, 794 F.2d 457, 461-62 (9th Cir.1986) (summary judgment inappropriate where it was uncertain whether concern for prison security played a role in defendant's conduct).