AELE Monthly Law Summaries
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On-Line Edition http://www.aele.org/law June, 2006 AELE Monthly Law Summaries of articles online at www.aele.org/law from the: • AELE Law Enforcement Liability Reporter • Fire and Police Personnel Reporter • AELE Jail and Prisoner Law Bulletin Sign up for e-mail notification that next month’s AELE County sheriff and other law enforcement officials were not publications are online: www.aele.org/e-signup.html liable for failing to protect woman from being murdered by her estranged husband based on their alleged failure to take Summaries from the June 2006 adequate measures in response to her report that he had AELE Law Enforcement Liability Reporter assaulted and raped her two weeks before. Kromer v. County of Onondaga, 809 N.Y.S.2d 723 (A.D. 4th Dept. 2006). The online edition has a featured article on all underlined cases plus the full opinion. Cases without underlining are noted in brief Emotional Distress only in the online edition, but will feature a link to the full opinion, Officers' actions in arresting a man for allegedly interfering if available on the Internet. with their interview of his companion about a report of a man driving a dirt bike and carrying a gun in the vicinity was not Assault and Battery: Physical "extreme and outrageous" as required for a claim for intentional Police officers did not use excessive force in restraining infliction of emotional distress under New York state law. Lee v. "psychotic and aggressive" man who refused to obey police McCue, No. 04CIV.6077, 410 F. Supp. 2d 221 (S.D.N.Y. 2006). orders to leave premises of music studio, refused orders to drop a pen he was holding, and resisted efforts to handcuff him. False Arrest/Imprisonment: No Warrant Gregory v. County of Maui, No. Civ. 04-00516, 414 F. Supp. 2d Arrest of four female minors for violation of a D.C. law 965 (D. Hawaii 2006). imposing only civil penalties for underage possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages stated a valid claim for Disability Discrimination violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. Doe v. Metro. Police Arrest of a deaf motorist for driving under the influence (DUI) Dep't of D.C., 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 10263 (D.C. Cir.). did not violate his right against disability discrimination under the Deputy was not entitled to qualified immunity for arresting a Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Rehabilitation Act, mobile home occupant inside her residence when there were since the basis of the arrest was not his disability, but rather factual issues as to whether he possessed either an arrest probable cause, based on observation of his driving, and the warrant or probable cause for the arrest at the time of entry. smell of alcohol on his breath, to believe that he was in fact Lepone-Dempsey v. Carroll County Commissioners, 159 Fed. intoxicated, along with failure of a roadside sobriety test. Bircoll Appx. 916 (11th Cir. 2005). v. Miami-Dade County, 410 F. Supp. 2d 1280 (S.D. Fla. 2006). Officer could arrest a suspect for her refusal to provide identification, and the arrestee therefore could not recover Domestic Violence damages on her civil rights claim alleging that the police Illinois Supreme Court rules that police officers who allegedly department had a policy of inadequate training on arrests for failed to assist domestic violence victim in response to 911 call refusal to provide identification. Coatney v. Las Vegas were not entitled to absolute immunity under state law on a Metropolitan Police Dept., 158 Fed. Appx. 790 (9th Cir. 2005). claim that their inaction was willful and wanton conduct which Officer responding to a report of a domestic disturbance caused her death when her husband subsequently shot her. between a mother and her 16-year-old daughter had probable More specific limited immunity provision of domestic violence cause to arrest the mother when she obstructed his efforts to statute applied instead, with an exception for willful and wanton investigate the incident by continuing to approach and interrupt conduct. Moore v. Green, 2006 Ill. Lexis 613. his conversation with the daughter after she had been told not to 1 On-Line Edition http://www.aele.org/law June, 2006 do so. Sullivan v. City of Pembroke Pines, No. 05-12754, 161 fucking suicide bomber communist terrorist!" with "W.O.M.D. on Fed. Appx. 906 (11th Cir. 2006). Board" were a "true threat" not protected as free speech. Fogel Suspect's arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct after he v. Grass Valley Police Department, 415 F. Supp. 2d 1084 (E.D. placed "tombstones" bearing the names of his neighbors on his Cal. 2006). lawn and engaged in an altercation with one of his neighbors in an officer's presence was supported by probable cause. Purtell Interrogation v. Mason, No. 04C7005, 412 F. Supp. 2nd 903 (N.D. Ill. 2006). Suspect questioned, and searched on the premises of his employer, an auto manufacturer, during an auto vandalism False Arrest/Imprisonment: Warrant investigation, voluntarily consented to answer questions and to Arrest, pursuant to warrant, of man who allegedly threatened be searched by sheriff's deputy, so that he could not pursue a purported trespassers on his club's land by pointing a gun at federal civil rights claim for these actions. Aquino v. Honda of them did not violate his rights. Officer properly passed along the America, Inc., No. 04-4274, 158 Fed. Appx. 667 (6th Cir. 2005). man's denial of this to the prosecutor along with the statements Refusal to allow suspect to call his lawyer or otherwise speak of the complaining witnesses, and his mere denial was to his counsel while he was being interrogated could not be the insufficient to eliminate probable cause for the arrest. Grubbs v. basis for a claim of violation of his Sixth Amendment right to Bailes, No. 05-7076 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 10437 (10th Cir.). counsel when it occurred before he was charged, rather than Even without allegedly false information provided by police after the initiation of formal criminal proceedings. James v. York inspector in his affidavit for the arrest warrant, there was County Police Dept., 160 Fed. Appx. 126 (3rd Cir. 2005). probable cause to issue the warrant for the arrest of the suspect based on the minor victim's statements that he had repeatedly Malicious Prosecution touched her in the area of her vagina, and a therapist's report Despite her claim that her first conviction for rape and indicating that the suspect had touched the victim's chest area sodomy, subsequently set aside, was caused by county and bottom. Guerrero v. San Francisco, 156 Fed. Appx. 36 (9th prosecutors withholding exculpatory materials in violation of her Cir. 2005). due process rights, she could not pursue her federal civil rights claim for malicious prosecution when she was again found guilty False Arrest/Imprisonment: Wrongful Detention of lesser charges and sentenced to time served on retrial. Stein Police officers did not violate a man's rights by detaining and v. County of Westchester, 410 F. Supp. 2d 175 (S.D.N.Y. 2006). questioning him after he was reported to be armed in a hardware store. Thurman v. Village of Homewood, 2006 U.S. Public Protection: Disturbed/Suicidal Persons App. Lexis 10881 (7th Cir.). Police chief and officers were not liable under Ohio state law for failure to prevent man's suicide in the absence of any Firearms Related: Intentional Use showing that they acted with a malicious purpose, in bad faith, •••• Editor's Case Alert •••• or in a wanton or reckless manner in responding to reports that Use of deadly force to shoot and kill a suspect fleeing from he had acted "suspicious" when unsuccessfully attempting to the scene of an undercover drug bust was only justified if, at the purchase a firearm at a store. Schoenfield v. Navarre, No. L-05- time of the shooting, the suspect's vehicle posed an imminent 1082, 843 N.E.2d 234 (Ohio App. 2005). danger to officers. Factual disputes as to whether or not that was the case made summary judgment in favor of the shooting Pursuits: Law Enforcement police detective improper. Sigley v. City of Parma Heights, No. Upholding a jury award against a city in a case where a 05-3035, 437 F.3d 527 (6th Cir. 2006). motorist was injured from a collision with a police cruiser engaged in a high speed pursuit, a Maryland appeals court ruled First Amendment that a police department order stating that, during such pursuits, A municipal ordinance requiring door-to-door canvassers officers were required to bring their vehicles to a full stop when who plan to "hand pamphlets or other written material" to they crossed an intersection against traffic control devices was residents or discuss with them "issues of public or religious admissible evidence. Baltimore v. Hart, 891 A.2d 1134 (Md. interest" to first register with the police department violates the App. 2006). First Amendment. Serv. Employees Int'l Union v. Mt. Lebanon, Officer was entitled to official immunity from liability for 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 10596 (3d Cir.). injuries to three passengers and death of driver in vehicle struck While the statements "Allah praise the Patriot Act," and by car fleeing from him during high-speed pursuit. Hanse v. "JIHAD on the First Amendment," painted on the side of an Phillips, 623 S.E.2d 746 (Ga. App. 2005). arrestee's car, were protected speech under the First Police officer was not liable in a federal civil rights lawsuit for Amendment, there was a genuine factual issue as to whether either death of child passenger in vehicle pursued after it fled other statements on the vehicle, such as that the driver was 'a license checkpoint or injuries to passengers in car struck by 2 On-Line Edition http://www.aele.org/law June, 2006 pursued vehicle when he was only attempting to seize the driver investigation, lasting twenty minutes, and involving the of the fleeing car, did not know the child was in the pursued handcuffing of the driver while the car trunk and inside were vehicle, and the collision was an unintended consequence of the searched did not violate the motorist's Fourth Amendment pursuit.