Opinion ID: 4461213
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Officer Hershberger

Text: Martinez argues that Officer Hershberger placed her in greater danger by failing to inform her of her rights or options, failing to provide her with the Clovis PD’s handout for domestic violence victims, and failing to make an arrest. MARTINEZ V. CITY OF CLOVIS 17 Although these failures may have been a dereliction of Hershberger’s duties, they were not “an affirmative act [that] create[d] an actual, particularized danger.” Hernandez, 897 F.3d at 1133 (citing Kennedy, 439 F.3d at 1063). In other words, Hershberger did not make the situation worse for Martinez. Hershberger simply left Martinez in the same position she was in before the police had arrived. Martinez also maintains that Hershberger failed to separate her from Pennington, causing her to recant her allegations of abuse out of fear of Pennington. But this alleged failure did not expose Martinez to a danger that she would not otherwise have faced. See Henry A., 678 F.3d at 1003. Failing to affirmatively separate Martinez from Pennington left her in the same position she would have been in had Hershberger not responded to the 911 call. At least under these circumstances, Hershberger did not violate Martinez’s right to due process. However, the record also reveals that Hershberger told Pennington about Martinez’s testimony relating to his prior abuse, and also stated that Martinez was not “the right girl” for him. A reasonable jury could find that Hershberger’s disclosure provoked Pennington, and that her disparaging comments emboldened Pennington to believe that he could further abuse Martinez, including by retaliating against her for her testimony, with impunity. The causal link between Hershberger’s affirmative conduct and the abuse Martinez suffered that night is supported by Martinez’s testimony that Pennington asked Martinez what she had told the officer while he was hitting her. That Martinez was already in danger from Pennington does not obviate a state-created danger when the state actor enhanced the risks. See Hernandez, 897 F.3d at 1135 (explaining that an officer cannot avoid liability merely 18 MARTINEZ V. CITY OF CLOVIS because the plaintiff had already been in a dangerous situation before contact with the officer). Because a reasonable jury could infer that Martinez was placed in greater danger after Hershberger disclosed Martinez’s complaint and made comments to Pennington that conveyed contempt for Martinez, the first requirement of the statecreated danger doctrine is satisfied.