Opinion ID: 694923
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: facts surrounding the arrest

Text: 5 On Saturday, March 12, 1988, at approximately 1:30 p.m., Runyon, a police officer with three years of experience, accompanied by a citizen rider, was patrolling the neighborhood where Neill's mother and stepfather lived. Runyon was driving a marked patrol car. Runyon knew that recently there had been a number of daytime burglaries in the neighborhood because he had taken burglary reports from residents. 6 According to Runyon, as he was driving southbound on Thornwood Drive towards the intersection with Armand Drive, he saw Neill standing on her tiptoes at a fence surrounding the residence at 4398 Armand Drive, situated at the intersection of Thornwood and Armand, with her hands grasping the top of the fence. Runyon stated that shortly thereafter, he saw Neill walking quickly away from the residence and down Thornwood Drive. 7 Neill's version as to the beginning of this encounter differs from Runyon's. According to Neill, after she grabbed the top of the fence (which she did while talking to her stepfather in the backyard), she walked around the house into the garage to speak with her mother. The garage door to the house was open, music was playing, and there were two cars parked there. After she had this conversation with her mother, she retraced her steps towards Thornwood Drive. As she passed the backyard fence (on Thornwood) for the second time, she again spoke to her stepfather over the fence, but this time did so without stopping or grasping the fence. According to Neill, it was only then that Runyon made contact with her. 8 According to Runyon, his suspicions were first aroused when he saw Neill peer over the fence and then walk quickly away. Runyon then noticed a disheveled black man walk past Neill. Runyon testified that they both seemed to slow and look at each other intently as they passed each other. Transcript, Volume 3, Feb. 14, 1990, at 185. Runyon felt that they were working together and possibly casing ... or looking for a house to burglarize. Id. Runyon stated that he did not believe that he had reasonable suspicion to detain Neill until he saw her exchange glances with the black man. Neill denies having even seen a black man on the sidewalk. The citizen-rider in the car with Runyon also did not see a black man. 9 As Neill walked past a driveway on Thornwood Drive, Officer Runyon pulled into the driveway, emerged from his patrol car and, from behind his open door, asked Neill if he could talk to her. Neill stopped but replied that she was in a hurry. Runyon asked Neill if she lived in the neighborhood and she responded affirmatively. Runyon then told Neill he had seen her peering over the fence of a house up the street and asked her what she was doing. Neill answered that the house belonged to her stepfather and that she had been asking him whether he wanted anything from the grocery store. Neill went on to say that if Runyon had a problem with that explanation, he should talk to her parents because she was in a hurry to go. 10 Runyon asked Neill for her driver's license. She had her license in her purse but stepped back without giving it to him. Neill testified that at that point she thought that she had already given a completely adequate explanation for her actions. Because she had also made an offer to have her parents corroborate the explanation, she thought for a moment about why she should give the officer her license. According to Neill, before she had time to produce her license, Runyon grabbed her arm and told her she was not going anywhere. 11 Both agree that Neill then started to run around the back of the patrol car and up the street towards the intersection of Armand Drive and Thornwood Drive. Neill continued some distance pulling Runyon, who was still grasping her arm, until he pushed her down onto a grassy area where he held her against the ground with the weight of his body. Neill struggled against Runyon's efforts to handcuff her. In the midst of this struggle, Runyon was scratched, although the cause of the scratch is disputed. 1 Runyon finally succeeded in handcuffing Neill, although the straps of Neill's purse were locked into the handcuffs during the course of her tussle with Runyon because Neill had refused to release the purse. Neill testified that Runyon jerked her arm back very roughly, and that he put the cuffs on her as tight as he could. Transcript, Volume 1, Feb. 12, 1990, at 10. 12 Runyon pulled Neill to her feet, moved her to his patrol car and placed her in the back seat. At some point during or after his struggle to handcuff Neill, Runyon told Neill that she was under arrest for obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duties and for battery on a police officer. He then placed the body of her purse outside the back window of the patrol car and asked his citizen rider to roll up the window of the back seat. The citizen rider did so, and Neill was isolated from her purse. By rolling up the window with Neill's arms pulled up behind her, Neill could neither stand nor sit in the patrol car. 13 Neill continued to struggle against the handcuffs. Another officer arrived on the scene, unlocked the handcuffs, released the purse and recuffed Neill. The officer then informed Neill that she was under arrest for assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. 14 Neill was taken to the police station, where she was fingerprinted and photographed. She was then released. A week later she went to the Kaiser Urgent Care center to see a doctor about her wrists. The doctor prescribed Motrin to alleviate her pain. Neill complains that she experienced pain in her arm and shoulder for six weeks after the incident at issue here and in her wrists for eight months afterwards, and that the pain in her wrists persisted on and off thereafter. Neill testified at trial in this matter that she was experiencing numbness in two fingers of each hand approximately twice a week.