Opinion ID: 74409
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plaintiffs' Summary Judgment Motion

Text: This case is unusual in that Plaintiffs filed their own joint motion for summary judgment addressing qualified immunity. In addition to denying Defendants' motions, the district court granted Plaintiffs' motion, 13 Under this Circuit's law, Defendants' drawing their guns and ordering Plaintiffs to lie down did not convert this investigatory stop or seizure into an arrest. See Courson v. McMillian, 939 F.2d 1479, 1493 (11th Cir.1991); United States v. Roper, 702 F.2d 984, 987 (11th Cir.1983) (an officer's drawing his weapon and ordering two unarmed occupants to exit a vehicle did not convert the investigatory stop into an arrest); accord United States v. Pantoja-Soto, 768 F.2d 1235, 1236 (11th Cir.1985). 13 in effect striking Defendants' qualified immunity defenses as a matter of law. The district court, however, erred in doing so because Defendants' different sequence of events, if credited by a jury, clearly establishes arguable reasonable suspicion for the stop here and would entitle Defendants to qualified immunity on Plaintiffs' illegal stop claims. See Wardlow, 120 S.Ct. at 675-76.14 In their testimony, Defendants explain why they followed and drew close to Plaintiffs' blue Pontiac, and how Defendants thought certain occupants recognized them as being police officers, looked nervous, and refused to make eye contact with the officers. After pulling ahead in traffic, Defendants were watching through the rearview mirror and saw Plaintiffs' blue Pontiac appear to take evasive action by turning abruptly into a side street. The Defendants doubled back and found the blue Pontiac in a parking lot. To them the blue Pontiac had the look of a stolen car rapidly abandoned because a door was ajar with an item of clothing hanging outside. The Defendants further aver that their police badges were visible on the outside of their clothing, that only Sauls approached the Plaintiffs, that Fields and Pinckney remained in the parking lot, that Sauls identified himself as a police officer, that Dean then fled, and that only then did Sauls, fearing for his safety, unholster his weapon and order Plaintiffs to the ground. Sauls also testified that he never pointed his gun at the men, but kept it at a 45-degree angle. According to Defendants, Sauls had re-holstered his weapon and was reaching down to pat down the men when Stearns shot. Only after being shot did Sauls unholster his weapon and return fire. Furthermore, when Stearns shot, Fields was chasing Dean, and Pinckney was 14 In Wardlow, the defendant moved to suppress a gun recovered during a protective pat-down search. The search was incident to his being stopped because he fled upon observing a police caravan. Prior to his flight, the defendant was standing next to a building holding an opaque bag. The state court suppressed the gun, holding sudden flight in a high crime area does not create a reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop. Wardlow, 120 S.Ct. at 675. The Supreme Court disagreed and held that a defendant's presence in a heavy-narcotics-trafficking area and his unprovoked flight upon noticing the police were sufficient to create reasonable suspicion. Id. at 676. The Court also observed that [o]ur cases have also recognized that nervous, evasive behavior is a pertinent factor in determining reasonable suspicion. Id. 14 radioing in the license plate of Plaintiffs' car. Officers Fields and Pinckney did not approach the Shop and unholster their weapons until after Stearns shot. Plaintiffs' evidence contradicts this account of the shooting incident. Nonetheless, Defendants' version of events, if credited by a jury, establishes arguable reasonable suspicion for the stop. Therefore, we find that the district court erred in granting summary judgment for Plaintiffs on Defendants' qualified immunity defenses to Plaintiffs' illegal stop claims.