Johnson v. Balt. Police Dep't

608 F.Supp.3d 227

Shirley JOHNSON, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.BALTIMORE POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., Defendants.

Civil Case No. SAG-18-2375

United States District Court, D. Maryland.

Signed June 21, 2022

Jonathan A. Azrael, John Ritchie Solter, Jr., Azrael, Franz, Schwab, Lipowitz & Solter, LLC, Towson, MD, for Plaintiff Shirley Johnson, Personal Representative of the Estate of Elbert Davis, Sr.

John Ritchie Solter, Jr., Azrael, Franz, Schwab, Lipowitz & Solter, LLC, Towson, MD, for Plaintiffs Shirley Johnson, Delores A. Davis, Mary A. Cox, Gloria A. Davis, Albert Cain, Elbert Davis, Jr., Anita Cain, Shirley Johnson, Personal Representative of the Estate of Phosa Cain.

Joshua Leland Insley, Saller, Lord, Ernstberger, & Insley, Baltimore, MD, John Ritchie Solter, Jr., Azrael, Franz, Schwab, Lipowitz & Solter, LLC, Towson, MD, for Plaintiffs To the Use of Gail S. Davis, To the Use of Leroy Davis, To the Use of Elbert Lee Davis.

Thomas H. Barnard, Baker Donelson, Baltimore, MD, Brent David Schubert, James Arba Henry Corley, Justin Sperance Conroy, Kara K. Lynch, Natalie Rose Amato, Baltimore City Department of Law, Baltimore, MD, for Defendant Baltimore City Police Department.

Ashleigh Singleton, Pro Hac Vice, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell and Berkowitz, Tallahassee, FL, Stuart R. Goldberg, Thomas H. Barnard, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, & Berkowitz, P.C., Baltimore, MD, for Defendant Wayne Earl Jenkins.

James Howard Fields, Mintzer Sarowitz Zeris Ledva & Meyers, LLP, Towson, MD, for Defendants Ryan Guinn, Richard Willard, William Knoerlein, Lt. Michael Fries, Keith Gladstone.

Brent David Schubert, James Arba Henry Corley, Justin Sperance Conroy, Kara K. Lynch, Natalie Rose Amato, Baltimore City Department of Law, Baltimore, MD, for Defendant Dean Palmere.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Stephanie A. Gallagher, United States District Judge

On April 28, 2010, Baltimore Police Department ("BPD") officers allegedly ambushed Umar Burley and Brent Matthews, who were sitting in a car on Parkview Avenue in Baltimore City, Maryland. Fearing for their lives, Burley, the driver, sped away, and the officers gave chase. Several blocks later, with the officers in pursuit, Burley ran a stop sign, and crashed into a car driven by Elbert Davis, Sr. ("Davis" or "Decedent"). The crash killed Davis and left his passenger, Phosa Cain ("Cain"), severely injured. After a search of Burley's car revealed nothing illegal, BPD officers planted drugs in the car, and both Burley and Matthews were arrested, convicted, and sentenced in this Court for possession with intent to distribute heroin. Burley was also convicted and sentenced on charges of vehicular manslaughter in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. Both men were exonerated of these convictions once a federal investigation revealed that the drugs found in Burley's car had been planted by the BPD. The investigation also revealed widespread misconduct in plainclothes units within the BPD, which, in part, resulted in the indictment and conviction of Defendant Wayne Jenkins (and others) on racketeering charges.

On August 2, 2018, Plaintiff Shirley Johnson, personally and as personal representative of the Estates of Davis, and of Cain, along with Plaintiffs Delores Davis, Mary Cox, Gloria Davis, Albert Cain, Elbert Davis, Jr., Anita Cain (the administrator of the Estate of Arthur Cain), and the Use of Gail Davis, Leroy Davis, and Elbert Lee Davis (collectively, "Plaintiffs") sued the BPD, along with Dean Palmere, Wayne Jenkins, Ryan Guinn, Richard Willard, William Knoerlein, Michael Fries, and Keith Gladstone (collectively, "Defendants"). ECF 1. Plaintiffs filed a Fourth Amended Complaint on January 8, 2021. ECF 112.

Now pending before the Court are three motions for summary judgment filed by the Defendants, ECF 165, 166, 167, and the Defendants’ motions in limine seeking to exclude the testimony of Plaintiffs’ expert witness, Dennis Waller. ECF 162, 163, 164. The Court has reviewed each of these motions, along with the related oppositions and replies. ECF 170, 171, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179. No hearing is necessary. See Loc. R. 105.6 (D. Md. 2021). For the reasons that follow, Defendants’ motions in limine will be granted in part and denied in part, and their motions for summary judgment will be denied.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This Court has detailed the relevant factual background in two prior opinions deciding motions to dismiss. ECF 83, 125. The following facts are incorporated from those opinions, although, where relevant, the Court has adjusted and supplemented its factual recitation based on the evidence as it has been developed in discovery. While discovery has revealed different accounts of certain events, many of the following facts are matters of public record and are not in dispute.

A. Defendants’ Positions Within the BPD

In 2010, the BPD employed each Defendant as a police officer. ECF 112 ¶ 21. At the time, Palmere led the Violent Crime Impact Section ("VCIS") within the BPD. Id. ¶ 28; see also id. ¶¶ 169-70 (explaining that Palmere led the VCIS from 2008 to 2010, and still oversaw VCIS when, in 2010, he was promoted to the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, into which VCIS merged). Palmere later served as a Deputy Commissioner in the BPD from 2013 to 2018, overseeing all plainclothes units and the BPD's Patrol and Operations Bureaus. Id. ¶ 28. Palmere retired from the BPD in 2018. Id.

In 2010, Fries was a Lieutenant in VCIS, and Willard and Knoerlein were both Sergeants. Id. ¶¶ 25-27. Fries, Willard, and Knoerlein therefore all held supervisory roles. Id. ¶ 133. Plaintiffs allege that Jenkins, Gladstone, and Guinn ("the Officer Defendants") worked together in VCIS, under the supervision of Fries, Willard, Knoerlein, and Palmere. Id. ¶¶ 23-27, 133. Fries, Knoerlein, and Guinn are still BPD officers. Id. ¶¶ 22-28.

B. The BPD's Allegedly Unconstitutional Policing Practices in April, 2010

Beginning in the "early 2000s," the BPD engaged in a "widespread, persistent pattern and practice of unconstitutional police conduct, including illegal stops without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, illegal pursuits and arrests, and falsification of evidence by plainclothes officers regularly employed within the BPD." Id. ¶¶ 70, 80; ECF 165-1 at 19-20. The pattern of unconstitutional practices began, according to Plaintiffs, when the BPD first utilized "elite units comprised of plainclothes officers," including "flex squads" and "Special Enforcement Teams" ("SETs"), who had "wide latitude to investigate and arrest persons suspected of dealing drugs and/or gun violations." ECF 112 ¶ 77; ECF 165-1 at 19-20. These officers, who drove unmarked cars, were often referred to as "knockers" or "jump out boys," because of their tendency to drive up to citizens, jump out of their cars, chase citizens, and conduct "aggressive illegal searches" of them. ECF 112 ¶ 79. The Fourth Amended Complaint recounts a number of instances, leading up to 2010, in which BPD officers in units like VCIS raped, robbed, and even killed Baltimore residents while on duty. Id. ¶¶ 81-99.

Plaintiffs specifically allege, and Defendants acknowledge, previous instances of misconduct by Jenkins and Gladstone. Id. ¶¶ 107-130; ECF 165-1 at 21-22. Plaintiffs allege that Jenkins "repeatedly crashed BPD-issued vehicles, damaging them and/or rendering them inoperable," and that he allegedly "went through as many as one department-issued vehicle per month." Id. ¶ 113. Plaintiffs also recount instances in which Jenkins assaulted a Baltimore resident, but incurred no departmental consequences, id. ¶ 117-20, and in which Jenkins fabricated evidence in order to incriminate an individual in 2008, id. ¶¶ 121-25. One of Jenkins's former colleagues on the Gun Trace Task Force ("GTTF") testified at the trial of two other GTTF members that, "Jenkins was very reckless, you know. I mean, he was just out of control, putting citizens at risk, you know, driving on the side of the street, going in people bumpers. I just never saw anything like this ...." Id. ¶ 128.

Plaintiffs allege that Willard, Knoerlein, and Fries each "held supervisory roles within the plainclothes units in which the Officers worked." Id. ¶ 133. Beginning in 2004, Fries supervised Jenkins when Jenkins served on a SET, and knew of the "widespread abuse[s]" officers in that SET committed. Id. ¶ 134, 152. Plaintiffs allege that Fries selected Jenkins to join VCIS, which Fries supervised in 2006, despite "knowledge of Jenkins's prior misconduct." Id. ¶ 139. Fries was also Gladstone's supervisor in VCIS starting in 2008, and upon information and belief, was his supervisor when Gladstone committed misconduct prior to 2010, as well as during the April 28, 2010 incident giving rise to this lawsuit. Id. ¶¶ 140-41. Plaintiffs further allege that Knoerlein had "actual or constructive knowledge" of Jenkins's and Gladstone's prior instances of misconduct while supervising them, and that he supervised them during some of those instances, including the April 28, 2010 incident. Id. ¶¶ 143, 145-56. Willard also allegedly had "actual or constructive knowledge" of Jenkins's prior instances of misconduct before joining VCIS. Id. ¶¶ 147-48.

Despite knowing that their subordinate VCIS officers were "committing widespread abuse[s]," Plaintiffs allege that Willard, Knoerlein, and Fries took no steps "to report or remedy illegal conduct," and that this failure to properly investigate demonstrated "a gross disregard for the constitutional rights of the public." Id. ¶¶ 154-55. Plaintiffs also allege that Willard, Knoerlein, and Fries failed to properly train Jenkins and Gladstone, despite knowing about their history of misconduct, and also "encouraged plainclothes officers under their supervision ... to violate the constitutional rights of Baltimore residents." Id. ¶¶ 156-57, 160. Willard, Knoerlein, and Fries encouraged VCIS officers to commit "overtime fraud," and to conduct illegal searches "to get as many guns...