Wilcox v. City of Detroit

163 F.Supp.3d 474

Gerald Wilcox, et al., Plaintiffs,

v.City of Detroit, et al., Defendants.

Case No. 13-11679

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.

Signed February 16, 2016

Wolfgang Mueller, Mueller Law Firm, Farmington Hills, MI, for Plaintiffs.

Jerry L. Ashford, Detroit City Law Department, Detroit, MI, for Defendants.

Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment [24] and Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [32]

Arthur J. Tarnow, Senior United States District Judge

Due to an accusation against a significantly younger man who shared his name, Plaintiff Gerald Wilcox became a suspect in the investigation of an armed robbery he did not commit. Defendants Eric Smigielski and Brian Headapohl, Detroit police officers, arrested Mr. Wilcox in his home without a warrant at the direction of their supervisor, Defendant Diaz Graves. Defendant Samuel Dunagan was placed in charge of Mr. Wilcox's investigation. Mr. Wilcox was charged with the robbery and spent fifteen days in jail before being released on bond. The prosecution eventually dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.

Mr. Wilcox and his wife, Alecia Wilcox, bring constitutional and common law claims for false arrest against Defendants Headapohl, Smigielski, Graves, and City of Detroit, as well as constitutional and common law claims for malicious prosecution against Defendant Dunagan. Defendants move for summary judgment on all claims. Plaintiffs move for summary judgment only on the constitutional and common law false arrest claims against Defendants Headapohl, Smigielski, and Graves. After a hearing on January 20, 2016, the Court took the parties' motions for summary judgment under advisement.

For the reasons stated below, Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment [Dkt. #24] is GRANTED with respect to their Fourth Amendment false arrest claims against Defendants Headapohl, Smigielski, and Graves. Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [32] is DENIED on those claims. With respect to all other claims, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment [32] is GRANTED and Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment, if applicable, is DENIED . Defendants Dunagan and City of Detroit are DISMISSED from the case, which remains open only to determine the damages to be awarded in the judgment against Defendants Headapohl, Smigielski, and Graves on the Fourth Amendment false arrest claims.

Factual Background

On January 30, 2013, a man robbed a Family Dollar Store in Detroit at gunpoint. He drew his gun on cashier Lashawnda Everett and demanded the contents of the cash register. Everett lacked access to the register, but store manager Cynthia Jackson opened it and gave the robber the cash. David Windon, another employee present at the time, hid after observing the robber draw his gun.

Meanwhile, retired Detroit police officer Pride Johnson was in the parking lot. When he witnessed the robbery through the glass doors, he called the Detroit police and described the robber as a six-foot-tall Black man with medium complexion, a heavy build, and an afro hairstyle, wearing a balaclava or half ski mask. He did not describe the robber's age. Johnson observed the robber leave the store and take off in a car. He gave the car's license plate number to the police.

Shortly thereafter, two officers went to the store while two others went to the home where the car was registered. The officers at the home filed a report stating that they talked to Beatrice McKinney, who owned the home and the car. They reported that she speculated that her nephew, Gerald Wilcox, had taken the car without her permission, as he had done before. The officers also learned that she owned a handgun, which turned out to be missing; McKinney speculated that Wilcox had taken the gun too. At her deposition, McKinney testified that she gave the officers a description of Wilcox and told them that he was twenty-two or twenty-three years old. However, the officers' report lists Wilcox's age as forty-five. McKinney testified that she told the officers she did not know where Wilcox lived, but that he had recently been kicked out his girlfriend's house on Strathmore Street. This information is not in their report.

Early the next morning (January 31, 2013), Defendant Graves, a unit supervisor, received a report about the robbery and assigned it to Defendants Headapohl and Smigielski. Using Michigan's Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), they found a record of a forty-three-year-old Gerald Wilcox living in Saint Clair Shores. This was Plaintiff Gerald Wilcox. The record included a photo of Mr. Wilcox. Headapohl and Smigielski went to the Family Dollar Store and viewed surveillance footage of the robbery, but reached no conclusion on whether the man in the footage was also the man in Mr. Wilcox's photo. They then went to McKinney's house, but she was not home. They presented their information to Defendant Graves, who authorized them to go to Mr. Wilcox's home and instructed them to arrest him.

Defendants Headapohl and Smigielski, along with four other officers, went to Plaintiffs' home the same day (January 31, 2013). Plaintiff Alecia Wilcox met the officers at the door. The ensuing events are disputed. At their depositions, Headapohl and Smigielski affirmed the description in Smigielski's police report from that day. According to the report, Mrs. Wilcox lied to the officers, saying her last name was Wilson and that nobody named Gerald lived there. At her own deposition, however, Mrs. Wilcox denied lying to the officers. According to Smigielski's report, Mrs. Wilcox eventually looked towards the living room and told someone that the police were looking for him. The officers then saw Mr. Wilcox through the window. Mrs. Wilcox then “opened the door and let [the officers] inside.” At her deposition, Mrs. Wilcox testified that the officers “just came in the house when they saw him.” She further testified that before entering, the officers had not told her why they were there. The officers arrested Mr. Wilcox and took him to jail. Defendant Dunagan was then put in charge of investigating the case against him. Dunagan testified that he never believed Mr. Wilcox was actually the robber.

The next day (February 1, 2013), officers took written statements from Everett, Jackson, and Windon (the store employees who witnessed the robbery). Everett described the robber as “maybe 30 yrs old or under.” Jackson described him as “early twenties to mid twenties.” Windon described him as between twenty and thirty. Dunagan showed them photos of Mr. Wilcox and four other men, all of whom were in their forties. Jackson and Windon did not identify any of them as the robber. However, Everett identified Mr. Wilcox as the robber.

The next day (February 2, 2013), Dunagan took a statement from McKinney, the owner of the car used in the robbery. She said that her relative Gerald Wilcox, who she had accused of being the robber, was only twenty-two or twenty-three years old. She saw a picture of Plaintiff Gerald Wilcox and denied knowing him. Dunagan obtained an arrest warrant for Plaintiff Gerald Wilcox.

Mr. Wilcox was arraigned the next day (February 3, 2013). Bond was set at $100,000 cash. Officers took a statement from Pride Johnson (the retired police officer who witnessed the robbery). Johnson did not describe the robber's age.

Mr. Wilcox's preliminary hearing was held on February 15, 2013. Judge Shannon A. Holmes asked if McKinney—the only link between the robber and the name Gerald Wilcox—had confirmed that Mr. Wilcox was the man she had accused. Dunagan informed Judge Holmes that McKinney had denied knowing Mr. Wilcox. Judge Holmes ordered Mr. Wilcox released on a $10,000 personal bond, but declined to dismiss the charges.

On March 7, 2013, Pride Johnson (the retired officer) met Dunagan and the prosecutor for a “walk-through.” He saw Mr. Wilcox and said that he was not the robber. The prosecutor dismissed the charges. Dunagan testified that he did nothing to find the actual robber after Mr. Wilcox was released, due to a heavy caseload.

Analysis

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). The moving party has the burden of establishing that there are no genuine issues of material fact, which may be accomplished by demonstrating that the nonmoving party lacks evidence to support an essential element of its case. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The Court must construe the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp. , 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). A genuine issue for trial exists if “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

I. Fourth Amendment false arrest

Under the Fourth Amendment, a police officer “may not enter a private home without a warrant absent an exigency or consent.” Smith v. Stoneburner , 716 F.3d 926, 929–30 (6th Cir.2013) (citing Payton v. New York , 445 U.S. 573, 590, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) ). The consent exception requires a free invitation into the home, rather than mere acquiescence to the officer's entry. Id. at 930 (citing United States v. Moon , 513 F.3d 527, 538 (6th Cir.2008) ). The exigency exception includes an exception for “hot pursuit,” pursuant to which “an officer may chase a suspect into a private home when the [suspect] has fled from a public place.” Id. at 931 (citing Warden v. Hayden , 387 U.S. 294, 298–99, 87 S.Ct....