Opinion ID: 165632
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Qualified Immunity and Directed Verdict on Federal False Arrest Claims

Text: 19 Plaintiffs also contend the district court erred in granting Officer Sholtis's motion for a directed verdict on their § 1983 claim on the basis of qualified immunity. To defeat a defense of qualified immunity, Plaintiffs must establish that Officer Sholtis's actions in arresting them violated their constitutional rights and that the rights violated were clearly established at the time of the arrest. Albright v. Rodriguez, 51 F.3d 1531, 1535 (10th Cir.1995). We review the district court's decision de novo. Fry v. Board of County Comm'rs, 7 F.3d 936, 938 (10th Cir.1993). 20 Plaintiffs allege that their arrest violated their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures. This argument fails, however, for precisely the same reason that Plaintiffs' state claim for false arrest failed: a warrantless arrest is lawful under the Fourth Amendment if there is probable cause to believe that the person arrested has committed an offense. Atwater v. Lago Vista, 532 U.S. 318, 322, 121 S.Ct. 1536, 149 L.Ed.2d 549 (2001) ([i]f an officer has probable cause to believe that an individual has committed even a very minor criminal offense in his presence, he may, without violating the Fourth Amendment, arrest the offender.) Probable cause exists to arrest if facts and circumstances within the arresting officer's knowledge and of which he or she has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to lead a prudent person to believe that the arrestee has committed or is committing an offense. Romero v. Fay, 45 F.3d 1472, 1476 (10th Cir.1995) (quoting Jones v. City and County of Denver, 854 F.2d 1206, 1210 (10th Cir.1988)). Having seen Plaintiffs in the park after closing, Officer Sholtis would have little difficulty establishing both probable cause to arrest them and qualified immunity from a claim of false arrest. 21 In support of their federal claim for false arrest, Plaintiffs reiterate the arguments they made in support of their state claim: that Officer Sholtis lacked probable cause to arrest them because the ordinance requires specific intent and that the Albuquerque police department's SOPs forbade off-duty officers from making warrantless arrests for misdemeanors. These arguments are no more availing in the federal than the state context. 22 Incorporating a specific intent requirement into the Ordinance would be of no material assistance to Plaintiffs. As discussed above in relation to Plaintiffs' state-law claim for false arrest, violating the Ordinance requires knowledge of the facts that make prohibited conduct illegal, not knowledge that that conduct is illegal. Plaintiffs were in the Park of their own volition, knew that they were in the Park, and knew what time it was; their knowledge of these facts would satisfy the general intent required by the Ordinance. 23 As to the fact that Officer Sholtis was off-duty, federal law is no more amenable to the incorporation of municipal police SOPs than is its New Mexico counterpart. Probable cause exists when the arresting officer has knowledge sufficient to convince a prudent person that the arrestee has committed an offense. Romero, 45 F.3d at 1476. The existence of probable cause depends on the arrestee's behavior and the officer's knowledge of it rather than on whether the officer is on-duty. Even if it were clear that Officer Sholtis had violated the SOPs, that violation would not transform an arrest supported by probable cause into an unconstitutional seizure: [o]fficials sued for constitutional violations do not lose their qualified immunity merely because their conduct violates some statutory or administrative provision. Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 194, 104 S.Ct. 3012, 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984). An SOP is not enough to create a clearly established right to be arrested without a warrant only by an on-duty police officer; if a right is to be recognized as a clearly established constitutional right, there must be a Supreme Court or Tenth Circuit decision on point, or the clearly established weight of authority from other courts. Herring v. Keenan, 218 F.3d 1171, 1180 (10th Cir.2000) (holding that probation officer's disclosure to probationer's sister and employer of his HIV status violated internal policy, but that violation of policy did not make disclosure a violation of constitutional right) (quoting Anaya v. Crossroads Managed Care Systems, Inc., 195 F.3d 584, 594 (10th Cir.1999)). Even if Officer Sholtis violated the SOPs, this violation would not create a violation of a clearly established constitutional right ex nihilo. Since Plaintiffs have failed to establish a constitutional violation, they cannot defeat Officer Sholtis's qualified immunity defense. 24