Procknow v. Curry, Civ. No. 12–971 RHK/SER.

26 F.Supp.3d 875

Jason PROCKNOW, Plaintiff

v.Hugh CURRY, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 12–971 RHK/SER.

United States District Court, D. Minnesota.

Signed June 18, 2014.

Amanda R. Cefalu, Anderson, Helgen, Davis & Nissen, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, for Plaintiff.

Ryan M. Zipf, League of Minnesota Cities, St. Paul, MN, for Defendants Hugh Curry, Brian Rundquist, Matt Ondrey, Brian Renzy, Rich Evans, and John Collins.

AMENDED¹ MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

RICHARD H. KYLE, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This action arises out of Plaintiff Jason Procknow's arrest at the Extended Stay America Hotel (the “Hotel”) in Eagan, Minnesota, on August 29, 2011. Procknow alleges the arresting officers used excessive force while taking him into custody, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that several other officers violated the Fourth Amendment by conspiring to search, without a warrant, the room in which he was staying.² He also asserts claims for assault and discrimination. Presently before the Court is Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 23). For the reasons that follow, the Motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to Procknow, the record reveals the following facts.³ Procknow was convicted of (among other things) attempted first-degree murder in Wisconsin in 1992. He was paroled in 2001 but his parole was revoked a year later when he was convicted of forgery, identity theft, and related crimes, as well as fleeing/eluding a police officer. After a further period of incarceration, he was again paroled in January 2010, but he absconded from supervision in early 2011 and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections issued a warrant for his arrest.

On August 26, 2011, Procknow booked a room at the Hotel through the website priceline.com, paying for it in advance with his credit card. The reservation was for two people but was made in the name of Procknow's girlfriend, Jennifer Van Krevelen; the two intended to stay at the Hotel from August 28 through August 31. When they arrived at the Hotel on August 28, Van Krevelen filled out a registration form indicating the “guest name” was “Jen Van Krevelen,” the dates of the stay were from August 28 to August 31, the number of adults was 2, and the car associated with the room was a 2009 Pontiac with Minnesota plates (Van Krevelen's car). The form contained blanks for “signature of primary guest” and “signature of secondary guest,” the first of which was signed by Van Krevelen and the second of which was left blank. In other words, nothing on the form indicated that Procknow would be staying in the room, despite a Hotel policy mandating that all occupants be “registered”; this was intentional, as Procknow was attempting to “lay low” from law enforcement. The two were assigned room 315.

Wisconsin authorities learned of Procknow's whereabouts and contacted Eagan police. They advised Procknow had a prior criminal history, including an attempted murder conviction; would likely flee if confronted; and drove a 2004 black BMW with Wisconsin license plates. A group of Eagan officers, including Defendants Rich Evans, John Collins, Matt Ondrey, and Brian Rundquist, traveled to the Hotel and asked the desk clerk if Procknow was staying there. The clerk found no record of Procknow in the Hotel's computer, as his name had been omitted from the registration form. The officers next asked about Van Krevelen and were informed she was staying in room 315; they went to the room and knocked on the door but received no response. As the officers had not seen Procknow's car in the Hotel's parking lot, they concluded he and Van Krevelen were not there and headed to their squad cars to leave.

As the officers were driving off the property, Evans observed a black BMW with Wisconsin plates entering the Hotel's parking lot, and he radioed the other officers that he believed Procknow had just returned. Collins and Rundquist came back to the Hotel and found Van Krevelen standing alone near the BMW. They spoke with her while Ondrey approached the Hotel to attempt to locate Procknow, who had gone inside. As Ondrey reached the Hotel's double entrance doors, he observed Procknow in the vestibule, having just passed through the inner door from the inside. Ondrey held open the outer door and said “you can come through, I'm heading in,” before he recognized Procknow.⁴ Procknow then wheeled and started running through the Hotel lobby, with Ondrey giving chase and ordering him to stop.⁵ Ondrey could not see Procknow's hands as he fled, and he believed Procknow was reaching toward his waistband. As Procknow reached an interior door, Ondrey fired his Taser,⁶ with the probes lodging in Procknow's left shoulder and back. Procknow lost bodily control and fell forward, his momentum carrying him “extremely hard” into the door. He crumpled to the floor on his right side, his right arm caught between himself and the door.

Ondrey then moved closer and ordered Procknow to place his hands behind his back. In response, Procknow rolled onto his stomach, ostensibly in an attempt to pull his arm out from against the door to comply with Ondrey's commands. Ondrey, however, interpreted Procknow's actions as an attempt to stand and flee, and he discharged his Taser a second time. Following this second discharge, Procknow managed to roll onto his stomach completely, and Ondrey again ordered him to place his hands behind his back. According to Procknow, as he attempted to do so, and while he was otherwise not resisting, Ondrey Tasered him a third and final time.

At this point, Curry and Rundquist arrived to assist. Procknow claims that as he was lying on the floor, Curry approached and stomped on the back of his head without warning, splitting open his forehead and “busting” open his eye. Procknow also claims that Curry then exclaimed, “Welcome to Minnesota Vikings territory,”⁷ and “dropped” his knee onto the back of Procknow's head “full force,” breaking some of his teeth and tearing the skin on his nose. And, Procknow claims that Rundquist jumped onto his legs and he (Rundquist) and Ondrey began hitting and punching him all over his body, while Curry delivered a third blow to his head. Procknow eventually lost consciousness from the alleged beating and when he came to, he was leaning against the door with his hands cuffed behind his back, bruised and bleeding profusely.

Procknow sat in the Hotel lobby for the next 10 to 15 minutes, with the officers repeatedly asking him for permission to enter room 315; he refused. Rundquist then disappeared from the scene but returned approximately 10 minutes later holding a Hotel room key (obtained from Van Krevelen)⁸ and began whispering to the other officers. A short time later, Rundquist, Collins, and Defendant Brian Renzy went to room 315, knocked, and after receiving no response, opened the door using Van Krevelen's key. Inside, in plain view, they found several items they believed were evidence of fraud or identity theft, including credit cards and W–2 forms in the names of other persons. After photographing the scene, the officers secured the room, left, and obtained a search warrant; a later search uncovered additional incriminating evidence.

In April 2012, Procknow commenced this action alleging inter alia that Defendants (1) used excessive force while effecting his arrest, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, (2) conspired to unlawfully search room 315, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and (3) conspired to discriminate against him and did discriminate against him, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985 and the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Minn.Stat. § 363A.01 et seq., respectively. While this matter was pending, Procknow was indicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on 27 counts of tax fraud and identity theft. The indictment was predicated, in part, on evidence found by the Eagan officers in room 315 on August 29, 2011.

On September 13, 2013, Procknow moved in his criminal case to suppress all the evidence found in room 315 as “fruits of [an] illegal search.” He expressly argued that the officers' warrantless entry into the room violated the Fourth Amendment. Meanwhile, in this case, on August 16, 2013, Defendants moved for summary judgment on all of Procknow's claims, arguing among other things that the search of room 315 did not violate the Fourth Amendment. To avoid entangling itself with the criminal proceedings—specifically, the suppression motion that rested upon the same predicate as the unlawful-search claim in this case—the Court continued the summary-judgment Motion until after the suppression motion was decided.

On November 5, 2013, United States Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Crocker issued a Report and Recommendation (R & R) in the criminal case recommending that the suppression motion be denied. After an evidentiary hearing at which numerous witnesses testified, Judge Crocker determined that Procknow “was not a legitimate guest at the hotel because he intentionally avoided making known his presence” and thus had no reasonable expectation of privacy in room 315. Shortly after Judge Crocker issued the R & R, Procknow agreed to plead guilty to two of the charges in the indictment (with the Government dismissing the rest), but he reserved the right to challenge on appeal the denial of his suppression motion if the R & R were later adopted by the presiding district judge. That came to pass on December 20, 2013, when United States District Judge William Conley adopted the R & R, specifically agreeing with Judge Crocker that Procknow enjoyed no expectation of privacy in room 315, and even if he had, it terminated upon his arrest. Procknow was later sentenced to 72 months' imprisonment on the two counts to which he pleaded guilty. On February 21, 2014, he appealed his conviction and sentence, as well as the order denying his suppression motion, and that appeal...