Annie Sam v. Donald Thompson
Opinion
*712
Jamarcus Sam sued Officer Shone Chase Richard, the City of Opelousas, and the City's insurer under
I.
The following facts are drawn from the summary judgment evidence before the district court, viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. On the evening of February 10, 2015, sixteen-year-old Jamarcus Sam walked with some friends to the Walmart in Opelousas, Louisiana. Once inside the store, the group split up and browsed until one of Sam's friends got into an argument with another girl. The group left the store, and one of Sam's friends, Eddie Stag, stole a jacket.
At 9:49 p.m., Officer Shone Chase Richard of the Opelousas Police Department was dispatched to respond to the reported theft. Richard drove to the Walmart in his patrol car and encountered Sam's group nearby. According to Sam, Richard activated his emergency lights and Sam's group scattered and ran.
After a short chase, another officer saw Sam and Stag, and threatened to release a dog if the boys didn't stop running. Sam lay face down on the ground and put his hands on the back of his head. Sam stated in deposition that Richard then slapped Sam across the face, kneed him, placed him in handcuffs, and shoved him against a police car. The slap did not break the skin, but a scrape against the concrete drew blood from Sam's hip. Richard agreed in his testimony that after Sam stopped running, Sam did not resist being detained, but Richard denied using any force other than handcuffing.
While Richard was detaining Sam, another officer handcuffed Stag, and both boys were placed in the back of Richard's patrol car. Richard drove back to the Walmart, arriving at 10:03 p.m. Once back at the store, a Walmart security guard approached the patrol car and identified Stag as the person who stole the jacket. Sam remained in Richard's patrol car until 10:45 p.m., when Richard drove Sam and Stag to the Opelousas Police Station. Once at the station, another officer called Sam's mother, who promptly picked him up.
Sam did not visit a doctor the night of the incident. He stated in deposition that, after the incident, he "just felt like [he] got in a normal fight." The incident "didn't mess [Sam] up physically," but it did cause him to bleed on the scene and "left a scab." Sam denied that the slap to his face left a bruise, but one of Sam's friends stated in deposition that, after the incident, Sam "looked like he got hit" and "his face was a little red and bruised." Finally, according to medical records generated from a medical appointment about six weeks after the *713 incident, Sam complained of lingering pain in his left hip.
Sam sued Richard,
1
the City of Opelousas, and the City's insurer in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. In his amended complaint, Sam asserts liability under
II.
We review a district court's grant of summary judgment de novo.
Burciaga v. Deutsche Bank Nat'l Tr. Co.
,
Sam's first claim is for excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. "To prevail on an excessive force claim, a plaintiff must show '(1) an injury that (2) resulted directly and only from the use of force that was excessive to the need and that (3) the force used was objectively unreasonable.' "
Windham v. Harris County, Texas
,
The district court concluded that Sam's injuries were
de minimis
and therefore could not support an excessive force claim. This was error. In
Alexander v. City of Round Rock
, we reversed dismissal of an excessive force claim.
Although a de minimis injury is not cognizable, the extent of injury necessary to satisfy the injury requirement is directly related to the amount of force that is constitutionally permissible under the circumstances. Any force found to be objectively unreasonable necessarily exceeds the de minimis threshold, and, conversely, objectively reasonable force will result in de minimis injuries only. Consequently, only one inquiry is required to determine whether an officer used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. In short, as long as a plaintiff has suffered some injury, even relatively insignificant injuries and purely psychological injuries will prove cognizable when resulting from an officer's unreasonably excessive force.
*714
On the facts as recounted by Sam, Richard's use of force was objectively unreasonable at the summary judgment stage. Although Sam initially ran, he states in deposition that he was lying face down on the ground with his hands on his head when Richard kneed him in the hip and pushed him against a patrol car. Such a use of force on a compliant suspect is excessive and unreasonable.
See
,
e.g.
,
Alexander
,
*715 III.
Sam also appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment on his unjustified detention claim. Sam bases this claim on a specific period: the time between when a Walmart employee identified Stag as the actual thief and when Richard and Sam arrived at the station. 5 Richard does not dispute that Sam spent this time handcuffed in the back of Richard's cruiser. The Radio Log, which both parties rely on, shows that the identification occurred sometime after 10:03 p.m., and Sam arrived at the police station at 10:51 p.m.
The district court held that Sam was not arrested; his detention was a mere investigative stop. The parties dispute this contention. We conclude that, even if the district court erred in holding that Sam's detention did not amount to an arrest,
see, e.g.
,
Turner v. Lieutenant Driver
,
To remain within the bounds of the Fourth Amendment, a warrantless arrest must be supported by probable cause.
Gerstein v. Pugh
,
In Louisiana, it is a crime for "any pedestrian to cross an interstate highway, except in the case of an emergency."
*716
Sam makes no more than a conclusory argument that Richard lacked probable cause to arrest him for crossing the highway. Instead, Sam asserts that the highway-crossing offense is only an after-the-fact justification for the arrest.
7
But the test is objective; Richard's state of mind plays no part.
Devenpeck
,
IV.
Based on the conclusion that Richard committed no constitutional violation, the district court also granted summary judgment on Sam's claims against the City of Opelousas and its insurer. This judgment is vacated for the reasons offered in Part II above. We decline to consider in the first instance whether Sam can meet the demanding test for municipal liability.
Finally, after granting summary judgment on all of Sam's federal claims, the district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Sam's state law claims.
See
V.
The district court's: (1) grant of summary judgment as to Sam's excessive force claim against Richard is VACATED; (2) grant of summary judgment as to Sam's unjustified detention claim against Richard is AFFIRMED; (3) grant of summary judgment as to Sam's claims against the City of Opelousas and its insurer is VACATED; and (4) dismissal of Sam's state law claims is VACATED. The case is remanded for further proceedings.
Sam's amended complaint identifies Richard only as "John Doe." Richard was later substituted for John Doe.
We observe that at least one other circuit has held a slap to the face to be similarly excessive and unreasonable.
See
Lucier v. City of Ecorse
,
We note that the Supreme Court recently reversed denial of qualified immunity in an excessive force case.
See
Kisela v. Hughes
, --- U.S. ----,
In finding that Sam's injuries were
de minimis
, the district court relied on
Ikerd v. Blair
,
In his briefing before this court, Sam expressly waived any claim based on the detention between when Sam left the Walmart and when his mother picked him up.
It makes no difference to our analysis that § 32:216 is a misdemeanor,
Atwater v. City of Lago Vista
,
Sam also argues that the highway-crossing offense is not sufficiently related to the shoplifting offense to support probable cause. In doing so, Sam relies on older cases holding that, to support a lawful arrest, the offense establishing probable cause must be "closely related" to the offense identified by the arresting officer at the time of arrest. But the Supreme Court overruled this line of cases in
Devenpeck
.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jamarcus SAM, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Shone Chase RICHARD, Officer, in His Individual and Official Capacity; City of Opelousas, Defendants-Appellees
- Cited By
- 50 cases
- Status
- Published