Hall v. Fries

CAROLYN HALL, Administrator of the Estate of WALTER WAYNE PETERSON, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. OFFICER ERIC FRIES, Individually and In His Official Capacity;SGT. SHAWN BOSTICK, Individually; THE CITY OF MOULTRIE;CHIEF FRANK LANG, Individually and In His Official Capacity;AND SHERIFF AL WHITTINGTON, Individually, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 7:13-CV-105 (HL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA VALDOSTA DIVISION

June 15, 2015

ORDER

Before the Court are the Motion to Exclude Plaintiff's Expert (Doc. 60) by Defendants Officer Eric Fries, individually and in his official capacity, the City of Moultrie, and Chief Frank Lang, individually and in his official capacity (collectively "Moultrie Defendants"); the Motion to Exclude Plaintiff's Expert (Doc. 61) by Defendants Sgt. Shawn Bostick ("Bostick") and Sheriff Al Whittington ("Whittington")¹; Bostick and Whittington's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 85); the Moultrie Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 89); andPlaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend Her Complaint (Doc. 115). For the reasons provided below, the motions to exclude Plaintiff's expert are granted in part and denied in part, the motions for summary judgment are granted, and the motion for leave to amend the complaint is denied.

I. Factual Summary²

This case centers on the allegedly unreasonable use of force by Defendants in violation of the Fourth Amendment. On September 5, 2011, a clerk at the Best Little Store in Georgia reported to the Moultrie Police Department ("MPD") that someone he thought was Walter Wayne Peterson ("Peterson") had thrown a brick through the store's front window. After hearing a dispatch about the incident, MPD Officer Lamar McKnight ("McKnight") visited the Best Little Store in Georgia and learned from a witness that the person who had thrown the brick had run down the street and entered a house. (Moultrie Defendants' Statement of Material Facts ("Moultrie's SMF"), Doc. 91, ¶¶1-3).

McKnight went to the house and, standing at the front door knocking, heard noises indicating that the individual inside the house had gone to its rear. McKnight walked to the back door and found it ajar. (Id. at ¶¶6-7). Suddenly, Peterson slammed the door shut so forcefully that McKnight thought Petersonmust have rammed his shoulder into the door. Then, through the closed door, McKnight heard Peterson say "these motherfuckers owe me money." Sounds from inside the house suggested Peterson was moving back toward the front door. (Bostick and Whittington's Statement of Material Facts ("Bostick/Whittington's SMF"), Doc. 85-2, ¶¶9-11). By this point, a second MPD officer, Rowell Leao, had come to the house. (Deposition of Lamar McKnight, Doc. 105, p. 38). Asking Leao to watch the rear door, McKnight returned to the front of the house. (Bostick/Whittington's SMF, ¶12).

When McKnight knocked on the front door, he heard what sounded like someone running toward the door. Suddenly the door swung open, and Peterson appeared holding a knife in his right hand. McKnight perceived Peterson's actions as being "very aggressive." The officer felt threatened, drew his weapon, and backed away from the door. In McKnight's haste to create distance between himself and Peterson, he stumbled and fell off the house's porch, landing in some bushes. Peterson then slammed the door shut. (Id. at ¶¶13-17). As McKnight was later to learn, Peterson suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. (Plaintiff's Statement of Material Facts ("Plaintiff's SMF"), Doc. 117, ¶15).

Other law enforcement officers arrived on the scene during this time, including Robert Rodriguez ("Rodriguez"), who was an officer with the MPD. McKnight described to Rodriguez what had taken place, and Rodriguez called hissupervisor, who instructed him to summon the MPD's special weapons and tactical ("SWAT") team. (Bostick/Whittington's SMF, ¶¶18-19; Deposition of Robert Rodriguez, Doc. 106, pp. 25-26). The SWAT team is composed of law enforcement officers from both the MPD and the Colquitt County Sheriff's Department ("CCSD"). Eric Fries ("Fries"), a MPD officer and member of the SWAT team, was called to the house and relayed the request for the SWAT team to Shawn Bostick, who was the team's commander and a deputy sheriff with the CCSD. After Bostick arrived on the scene, he was informed that Peterson had broken the store window, gone into a house, and with a knife assaulted McKnight when the officer attempted to investigate the property damage. (Bostick/Whittington's SMF, ¶¶22-26). At some point in time, an officer with the CCSD swore out an arrest warrant on Peterson for aggravated assault against McKnight.³ (Plaintiff's SMF, ¶10).

Bostick assumed command of the area surrounding the house where Peterson was secured. Both before and after Bostick's arrival, a trained crisis negotiator on the SWAT team sought to communicate with Peterson via the public address system attached to the negotiator's patrol car. Peterson never responded to the negotiator. Hearing about the situation, Reginald Green ("Green") came to the house. As a supportive employment supervisor at theColquitt County Mental Health Department, Green had worked with Peterson for over fourteen years. The SWAT team allowed Green to use a bullhorn for several minutes in an attempt to open a dialogue with Peterson, but there was no response from inside the house. In total, the efforts to communicate with Peterson lasted for more than two hours, without success. (Moultrie's SMF, ¶¶23, 27-36). During this time, the SWAT team learned of Peterson's mental health issues. (Plaintiff's SMF, ¶15).

After these failures to encourage Peterson to communicate with law enforcement, Bostick decided to try other means. Bostick ordered a throw phone, a two-way communication device,⁴ to be placed on the house's front porch in the hope that Peterson would take the phone inside the house where he would feel more comfortable communicating with the SWAT team. The thrown phone was placed within two feet of the house's front door. Using the public address system on the patrol car, the officers informed Peterson that the phone was outside the door. He did not respond or retrieve the phone. Hoping that uncomfortable conditions inside the house would induce Peterson to use the phone, Bostick ordered the electrical power line to the house to be cut. This step elicited no response from Peterson. (Moultrie's SMF, ¶¶37-41).

Bostick decided to have the SWAT team breach the front door and toss the phone inside the house. Six SWAT team members lined up in a "stack" outside the front door. Tom Mothershed ("Mothershed") served as the point man in the stack and was equipped with a shield and a Taser. The SWAT team forced the door open with a battering ram, and almost immediately, Mothershed saw Peterson coming toward the door with a knife in his right hand. Mothershed shouted that Peterson had a knife and then discharged his Taser. It appeared to Mothershed that Peterson continued toward the front door, which slammed shut. The officer immediately attempted to open the door, but he could not do so, leading him to think that Peterson was either lying against the door, having been immobilized by the Taser, or pushing on it to prevent the officers from entering the house. (Id. at ¶¶42-47, 49-51).

Watching the commotion on the front porch from a distance, and observing Mothershed deploy the Taser, Bostick thought there was an opportunity for the SWAT team to enter the house by the back door while Peterson was, so Bostick believed, incapacitated near the front door.⁵ Running to the rear of the house to agroup of officers waiting by the back door, Bostick ordered them to enter the house while Peterson was still immobilized by the Taser. Eric Fries was one of the officers waiting by the back door. Leading the way into the house, Fries kicked open the rear door of the residence and entered a laundry and storage room that was too small to allow for many of the other officers to follow him into the room. Fries then encountered a bedroom door, which he was only able to breach after three kicks. (Id. at ¶¶52-56, 60-63).

With the last kick, the door opened, and Fries encountered Peterson. The man was standing approximately two to three feet in front of Fries and wielding a butcher knife that he was slashing at the officer in a downward, stabbing motion. Fries stepped backward, drew his firearm, and shot at Peterson three times, before falling backward and injuring his head. A subsequent test for gunshot residue on Peterson indicated that he was no closer than three to five feet from Fries when the shots were fired. After Fries fired at Peterson, the suspect turned and ran into the interior of the house. (Id. at ¶¶64-70, 76-77). Members of the SWAT team followed Peterson toward the front of the house where they found him lying on the ground near a set of drums by the front door with his back toward the officers. One of the officers told Bostick that Peterson still had the knife. Because Peterson had not yet been taken into custody and appeared to be getting up from the floor, Bostick ordered him to be tased twice. Shortlythereafter, discovering that Peterson had been shot, Bostick told the paramedics to provide medical treatment, but, despite their efforts, Peterson died soon afterwards from his gunshot wounds. (Bostick/Whittington's SMF, ¶¶88-90).

Plaintiff Carolyn Hall ("Plaintiff"), as the administrator of Peterson's estate, filed suit in this Court on July 31, 2013. (Complaint, Doc. 1). Defendants have been added and removed from the lawsuit through the stipulated dismissal of certain defendants (Stipulation of Dismissal, Doc. 35), Plaintiff's amendment of her complaint (First Amended Complaint, Doc. 32), and this Court's dismissal of other defendants (Order, Doc. 45). The remaining defendants are the City of Moultrie; Eric Fries, individually and in his official capacity as a police officer; Frank Lang, individually and in his...