Williams v. Goodfriend
Williams v. Goodfriend
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff Marlon T. Williams, appearing pro se , commenced this suit pursuant to
BACKGROUND
On the evening of June 18, 2014, plaintiff was released from jail in Buffalo, New York. He had been arrested for a parole violation. Williams Depo. (Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. B) at 16-20.
Plaintiff testified at his deposition in this case that his "baby mother," Keya Thompson-White ("Keya"), bailed plaintiff out of jail. After his release, plaintiff was driven back to Rochester by Keya, his cousins and his brother.
*173Later that day, the RPD received a call of a man with a gun who had menaced someone in front of a house on North Goodman Street in Rochester. Defendant RPD Officer Cody Goodfriend responded to the call.
Upon arriving at the house, Goodfriend spoke to the victim, Lakesha Jenkins, who told him that she had gotten into an argument with Keya in front of the house. Goodfriend states in an affidavit (Dkt. # 36-2) that Jenkins said that while she was arguing with Keya, she saw plaintiff exit a car parked across the street. He walked over, began yelling at her and accused her of "setting up" his brother (who had been shot by someone a few nights earlier). Goodfriend states that Jenkins told him that plaintiff pulled out a handgun and yelled at her, "You gonna die tonight Kesha!," but two men who had been in the car with plaintiff pulled him away from the scene, and he left.
Goodfriend, accompanied by defendant Officer Salvatore Amato, then went to a house on Keller Street, which Jenkins had identified as plaintiff's residence. When they arrived, Goodfriend and Amato found a crowd of people in the front yard. Plaintiff testified at his deposition in this case that "[t]here was a ton" of people at his house, mostly relatives, who were there to welcome him home from jail. Plaintiff's Depo. (Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. B) at 24.
Defendants state that shortly after their arrival, they began talking with plaintiff's mother, who was standing outside in the yard. She told them that plaintiff was inside the house. At this point, the parties' versions of the details diverge to some extent.
Defendants contend that as this conversation was going on, outside the house, plaintiff came out of the front door of the house and asked what was going on. Defendants assert that when he was told that he was under arrest, plaintiff yelled, "Hell no! I ain't going nowhere," and ran back into the house. (Dkt. # 38 ¶ 16.) Defendants assert that they immediately pursued him into the house.
Plaintiff testified at his deposition that he was in his second-floor bedroom when he heard some commotion downstairs, and that he came downstairs to find his mother and police officers, inside the house. He testified that the officers attempted to persuade him to come outside, but that he responded that if he was not under arrest, he would not do so. (Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. B at 29-30.)
What is undisputed is that a physical altercation broke out between plaintiff and defendants, inside the house. Defendants admit that they used force against plaintiff. They state that based on Jenkins's statements about plaintiff brandishing a gun, they decided, and attempted, to arrest plaintiff, but he ran into the house. The officers pursued him, and inside the house they were confronted by several other people (presumably guests of plaintiff, who were there to join in the welcome-home celebration) who began making hostile comments toward the officers.
Defendants state that they tried to apprehend plaintiff, who resisted their attempts. During the ensuing scuffle, plaintiff allegedly backed himself into a corner and assumed a "fighting stance." According to defendants, defendant Amato then struck plaintiff with a closed fist, and as the two men grappled, Amato used his knee to hit plaintiff in the forehead.
At some point, three other officers arrived: Timothy Pancoe, Paul Helfer, and Richard Rodriguez. Eventually, plaintiff ended up on the floor. According to defendants, they attempted to handcuff him, but he continued to resist. After defendant Goodfriend struck plaintiff in the face, *174plaintiff rolled onto his stomach. Defendant Helfer used his taser against plaintiff, while defendants Rodriguez and Goodfriend continued to strike plaintiff, until they were able to get plaintiff's right arm behind his back and handcuff him. Plaintiff was then taken to a nearby police station, and later to Rochester General Hospital, where he received medical treatment. Def. R. 56 Statement (Dkt. # 38.)
That, in a nutshell, is defendants' version of what happened. According to plaintiff, he was upstairs, and when he heard yelling coming from the first floor, he went downstairs, with his two-year-old son in his arms, and found defendants in a confrontation with plaintiff's mother and some of his other relatives. Plaintiff alleges that the officers pushed his mother aside, and that Officer Goodfriend lunged at plaintiff. Plaintiff instinctively attempted to block Goodfriend's punch, and in the ensuing struggle, plaintiff was struck and tased, and eventually lost consciousness. Plaintiff's Depo. Tr. (Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. B.) at 49-57. Plaintiff testified that his next memory is of waking up in the back of a police car.
Following plaintiff's arrest, Goodfriend executed an accusatory instrument, accusing plaintiff of menacing in the second degree (
On March 23, 2015, shortly after the start of his jury trial, plaintiff accepted a plea offer, and pleaded guilty to attempted assault in the second degree, in satisfaction of all the charges against him. (Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. C.) The statutory basis for the charge was
Plaintiff commenced this suit in October 2015. He has sued officers Goodfriend, Amato, Pancoe, Rodriguez and Helfer. Plaintiff has asserted claims under the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as discussed in more detail below.
DISCUSSION
I. False Arrest and Malicious Prosecution Claims
Plaintiff has asserted claims for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. (Dkt. # 1 at 10.) Both claims must be dismissed.
Establishing a claim of false imprisonment-which under New York law is essentially the same as false arrest, see Donovan v. Briggs ,
The elements of a malicious prosecution claim are: (1) the commencement or *175continuation of a criminal proceeding by the defendants against the plaintiff; (2) the termination of the proceeding in favor of the accused; (3) the absence of probable cause for the criminal proceeding; and (4) actual malice.
The existence of probable cause is a defense to both false imprisonment and malicious prosecution claims. See Jenkins v. City of New York ,
As to false arrest, that is true if probable cause existed as to any charge, even if not on the charge for which the plaintiff was arrested. See Ackerson v. City of White Plains ,
"[A] grand jury indictment gives rise to a presumption that probable cause exists and a claim for malicious prosecution in relation to the crimes described in the indictment thereby is defeated." McClellan v. Smith ,
In addition, "the Second Circuit has adopted 'the common-law rule, equally applicable to actions asserting false arrest, false imprisonment, or malicious prosecution ... that the plaintiff can under no circumstances recover if he was convicted of the offense for which he was arrested.' " Freire v. Zamot , No. 14-CV-304,
A conviction on any charge for which plaintiff was arrested is conclusive evidence of probable cause to arrest. Wingate v. Gives ,
Plaintiff's conviction, based on his guilty plea, shows that there was probable cause for his arrest and prosecution.
*176Wingate ,
II. Unlawful Entry
Plaintiff alleges that defendants entered his home without a warrant, and without any exigent circumstances that would excuse a warrantless entry, in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment.
As outlined above, the parties agree that the defendant officers entered plaintiff's home, but plaintiff's and defendants' accounts of exactly how that transpired differ. Plaintiff alleges that he heard some commotion downstairs, and that when he got to the bottom of the stairs he found RPD officers in his living room, confronting and then pushing their way past his mother.
Defendants contend that while Goodfriend and Amato were standing outside the house, plaintiff came out of the house, and that upon being informed that he was under arrest, he dashed back inside. They contend that they pursued him, primarily out of concern that he was going to fetch a gun inside the house. Again, defendants state that Jenkins had told Goodfriend that plaintiff had brandished a pistol and threatened to kill her a short time earlier.
In support of their motion for summary judgment, each defendant has submitted an affidavit recounting his recollection of the events. Goodfriend and Amato state that they saw plaintiff come out of the house, and that they pursued him back into the house. (Dkt. # 36-2, # 36-3). Pancoe and Helfer state that when they arrived on the scene, in response to calls for backup, plaintiff, Goodfriend and other people were already inside the house. (Dkt. # 36-4, # 36-6.) Rodriguez states that when he arrived, he "observed officers attempting to arrest Marlon Williams while other people in the house crowded around the arrest location," so apparently his testimony is that the other officers and plaintiff were inside the house when he arrived. (Dkt. # 36-5 ¶ 6.)
In support of their motion for summary judgment, defendants note that at his plea allocution, plaintiff was asked by the prosecutor, "you retreated back into your house, correct?" (referring to the moment when the officers attempted to arrest him), and he responded, "Yes." See Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. C at 6.
I am not convinced that this establishes, as a matter of law, that defendants' version of the events is accurate. For one thing, although statements made during a plea colloquy are presumed to be true, see United States v. Khan ,
Second, the question itself was not crystal clear. The colloquy was as follows:
[Prosecutor]: Did there come a time when the police came to [139 Kelly Street]?
[Plaintiff]: Yes, sir.
*177[Prosecutor]: One of them attempted to place you under arrest; is that correct?
[Plaintiff]: Yes.
[Prosecutor]: Without getting into other charges, you retreated back into your house, correct?
[Plaintiff]: Yes.
(Dkt. # 36-1 Ex. C at 6.)
Resolving all ambiguities and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiff, the non-moving party, as I must, see Jaffer v. Hirji ,
Defendants also argue that by pleading guilty to attempted assault, plaintiff implicitly admitted that at the time of the attempted assault, Goodfriend was engaged in the "lawful duty" of attempting to arrest him. Defendants note that (1) Penal Law § 120.05(3), the statute under which plaintiff was convicted, makes it an offense to cause physical injury to a police officer, with intent to prevent the officer from performing a lawful duty, and that (2) in Payton v. New York ,
On the record before me, the Court cannot rule as a matter of law that, in entering a guilty plea, defendant conceded that the officers had lawfully entered his home. In particular, the Court will not assume that plaintiff should have foreseen that his plea to a criminal-assault charge would necessarily foreclose a later Fourth Amendment civil rights claim. Aside from the aforementioned ambiguous testimony that he "retreated" from the officers, plaintiff did not explicitly state where he or the officers were, when these events began. His terse responses to the prosecutor's questions shed little light on those matters, and to rule as a matter of law that plaintiff must have been outside the house, and that he suddenly ran back in (as defendants claim) would run afoul of the Court's duty to draw all permissible inferences in plaintiff's favor. Cf. People v. O'Dell ,
Nor am I persuaded by defendants' argument that if plaintiff were to prevail on his unlawful-entry claim, that would necessarily invalidate his attempted-assault conviction, in contravention of Heck v. Humphrey ,
Both the United States Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit have held that Fourth Amendment claims are not automatically barred by Heck , simply because the plaintiff was convicted of some underlying crime. See Fifield v. Barrancotta ,
In the case at bar, plaintiff's arrest and conviction were not dependent on evidence obtained as a result of the officers' entry into his home, regardless of whether the entry itself was lawful or unlawful. See Fifield ,
III. Fourth Amendment Excessive Force
Plaintiff alleges that defendants used excessive force to effectuate his arrest. Complaint (Dkt. # 1) at 9. Defendants admit that they used force against plaintiff, but contend that the force used was objectively reasonable.
The standard for assessing a claim of excessive force under § 1983 is one of "objective reasonableness," which "requires balancing the nature and quality of the intrusion on the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment interests against the countervailing governmental interests at stake." Tracy v. Freshwater ,
In their Rule 56 Statement (Dkt # 38), defendants state (based on the individual defendants' affidavits) that when Goodfriend and Amato "pushed through [a] group of people and attempted to physically apprehend Mr. Williams," Williams swung at Goodfriend, but missed him. Goodfriend and Amato then got hold of plaintiff, and during the ensuing struggle, *179Amato "struck Mr. Williams in the face twice with a closed fist," and "used his knee to strike Mr. Williams in the forehead two times." Goodfriend "used a straight arm-bar to bring Mr. Williams to the ground," and after plaintiff was taken to the ground, Goodfriend "delivered a downward hammer fist strike to the center of Mr. Williams's face."
Officer Helfer then arrived, and used his taser on the exposed skin of plaintiff's right shoulder. At the same time, Rodriguez, who had joined in the fray, "delivered three knee strikes to Mr. Williams's outer right thigh, while Officer Goodfriend delivered a single straight punch to Mr. Williams's forehead ...." (Dkt. # 38 ¶¶ 21-35.)
According to defendants, all of these measures were reasonably necessary to bring plaintiff under physical control, because he was resisting their efforts to handcuff him. Defendants allege that after plaintiff swung and missed at Goodfriend, he retreated into a corner and assumed a "fighting stance," and that even after plaintiff was taken down to the floor, he refused to put his arms behind his back so that he could be handcuffed. But they do not dispute that they used a significant degree of force against plaintiff.
Plaintiff's account of these events is considerably different. He alleges that after Goodfriend and Amato had been in his house for several minutes, trying unsuccessfully to persuade plaintiff to come outside, the officers "became impatient and lunged towards the plaintiff ...." (Dkt. # 42 ¶ 28.) Plaintiff states that he put one arm up, in an attempt to protect himself, but it appears that by his account, the encounter quickly turned chaotic, and he soon lost consciousness, from the force used against him.
On defendants' motion for summary judgment, the Court cannot simply credit defendants' version of the events. "Assessments of credibility and choices between conflicting versions of the events are matters for the jury, not for the court on summary judgment." Ivery v. Baldauf ,
In the case at bar, the two sides' accounts of what transpired on the night in question, particularly with respect to the officers' use of force, differ in significant and material respects. Even if the Court were to accept defendants' version of the events, I cannot determine, as a matter of law, that a rational finder of fact would have to find in favor of defendants: in other words, that the force used was reasonable, and not excessive. The Court expresses no opinion as to the reasonableness of the force used, but even assuming that plaintiff did resist, as described by defendants, that ultimately is a question for the jury to decide. See Wilson v. Prince George's County ,
IV. Personal Involvement: Defendant Pancoe
Defendants also contend that there is insufficient evidence that defendant Pancoe was personally involved in the events immediately surrounding plaintiff's arrest. In order to establish an actionable constitutional claim, plaintiff must demonstrate some personal involvement by the defendant in the constitutional violation. See Warheit v. City of New York ,
Pancoe states in his affidavit (Dkt. # 36-4) that at the time of the events in question, he was a sergeant in the RPD, and that he responded to a call. According to Pancoe, when he arrived at the house, at about 9:30 p.m., several officers were already inside. He states that a neighbor directed him to a side door, which he used to enter the house.
Once he was inside, Pancoe states, he saw Goodfriend, who told him that the officers were attempting to arrest plaintiff for menacing someone with a gun, which they thought might be somewhere in the house. Pancoe then tried to stop or dissuade others in the house from getting involved, while his fellow officers were engaged in arresting plaintiff. Id. ¶¶ 5-14.
Plaintiff does not allege that Pancoe was directly involved in his arrest, or the physical altercation leading up to his arrest. Plaintiff's claim against Pancoe appears to be based solely on Pancoe's status as a sergeant, and his presence at the scene.
The mere fact that Pancoe held a higher rank than the other officers is not enough to render him liable for the other officers' alleged use of excessive force. See Allah v. Poole ,
V. Qualified Immunity
Defendants also argue that they are entitled to summary judgment based on qualified immunity. Qualified immunity shields public officials, including police officers, from an action for civil damages, to the extent that their challenged acts do not violate "clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald ,
The Supreme Court has recently re-emphasized that "it is sometimes difficult for an officer to determine how the relevant legal doctrine, [such as] excessive force, will apply to the factual situation the officer confronts." Kisela ,
But as the Court in Kisela pointed out, "[u]se of excessive force is an area of the law 'in which the result depends very much on the facts of each case ....' "
The Court acknowledges that-as pointed out by defendants-plaintiff had allegedly just threatened to kill someone, and there was reason to think that he might have had a gun in the house. But for the Court to grant summary judgment for defendants on this ground would require the Court to invade the province of the jury by making findings of fact. That, the Court may not do.
CONCLUSION
Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Dkt. # 36) is granted in part and denied in part.
Plaintiff's claims for false arrest and malicious prosecution are dismissed. All of his claims against defendant Pancoe are dismissed.
In all other respects, defendants' motion is denied.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Plaintiff originally named the RPD as a defendant as well. His claims against the RPD were dismissed by the Court on June 22, 2016. (Dkt. # 7.)
To the extent that defendants' motion is based on the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata, I reject those arguments for essentially the same reasons stated regarding their arguments based on Heck v. Humphrey . Plaintiff's guilty plea in the criminal proceeding does not bar, as a matter of law, his civil claims.
Though any plaintiff has the right to proceed pro se , and there is no constitutional right to appointed counsel in civil cases, plaintiff might be well advised to seek counsel to represent him, going forward. It appears that this case will proceed to trial, and plaintiff might be well served by having the benefit of counsel. The Monroe County Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service might be a good place to start.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marlon WILLIAMS v. Cody GOODFRIEND, RPD
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published