Anthony Patrick v. City of Chicago

81 F.4th 730
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided August 31, 2023·No. 22-1425·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

No. 22-1425 ANTHONY LEROY PATRICK, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

CITY OF CHICAGO, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 1:14-cv-05414 — Virginia M. Kendall, Judge.

ARGUED MAY 18, 2023 — DECIDED AUGUST 31, 2023

Before WOOD, LEE, and PRYOR, Circuit Judges. PRYOR, Circuit Judge. Anthony Patrick was arrested in June 2013 for various weapons-related charges and later charged with numerous counts of attempted murder. After pleading guilty to one count of aggravated discharge of a weapon and receiving a sentence of time served, Patrick brought this civil action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He alleged that the City of Chicago and twenty-three Chicago police officers violated his constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth 2 No. 22-1425

Amendments by conspiring to conduct an unlawful arrest, execute a warrantless search of his home, and detain him unlawfully . Patrick also asserted various state law claims including conspiracy, respondeat superior liability, and indemnifi- cation. The defendants moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The district court granted the motion, dismissing all of Patrick’s federal claims and finding the state law claims either time-barred or blocked as derivative actions of Patrick’s unsuccessful constitutional claims. Patrick appeals. 1 We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

I

A

In reviewing the dismissal of Patrick’s complaints, we must accept his allegations as true and view them in the light most favorable to him. See Milchtein v. Milwaukee Cnty., 42 F.4th 814, 819 (7th Cir. 2022). On June 15, 2013, Patrick was finishing up some work on a house near the home of an onand -off girlfriend, when gang affiliates of the girlfriend’s current boyfriend—Armond Freeman—began shooting at him. Patrick was able to escape in his truck and drive to his mother’s house, where he lived. Also at the home at the time were Patrick’s current girlfriend and his children.

1 Patrick also brought Section 1983 claims for excessive force and vio-

lations of due process, various Monell claims, and state law claims for malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He does not pursue these claims on appeal, meaning any arguments relating to them are waived. O'Neal v. City of Chicago, 588 F.3d 406, 409 (7th Cir. 2009); see also Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs. of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).

No. 22-1425 3

After realizing that he had left his truck unlocked with his work equipment, Patrick went outside to secure it. Upon leaving the residence, Patrick observed Freeman throw a brick through the truck’s windshield. Immediately, Freeman and another Gangster Disciple opened fire on Patrick. Patrick ran back inside, grabbed a gun loaded with pellet bullets, and fired two shots from the front door of his home. The bullets struck Freeman in the buttocks and behind the ear. Freeman and the other gang member stopped advancing toward the house and ran away.

Later that afternoon, Chicago police officers arrived at Patrick ’s home. Upon hearing banging on the front door, Patrick looked outside and saw three Chicago police officers standing on the front porch and other officers forming a perimeter around the front of the house. Officers instructed Patrick to open the door, explaining that they simply wanted to talk. Patrick complied with the officers’ request, but, upon entering the home, law enforcement immediately shoved Patrick to the ground inside the entryway and handcuffed him. While pinning Patrick to the ground, the defendants demanded that Patrick tell them where the gun was or they were going to tear Patrick’s mother’s home apart. At the time of the officers’ entry into the home, they had not obtained either a search warrant or an arrest warrant.

Fearing for his and his family’s safety, and also feeling as if he had no other choice but to do as the officers demanded, Patrick informed the officers that there was a gun in a safe in the basement of the home. In response, two officers pulled Patrick, still handcuffed, off the ground, and told him to take them to the safe. Once downstairs, the officers told the children to go upstairs; the officers then shut the door to the 4 No. 22-1425

basement, leaving them and a still-handcuffed Patrick inside the basement alone. Patrick was instructed to open the safe. After he did so, the officers seized ammunition and a number of guns. Patrick was arrested, and his mother was instructed by one of the officers to sign a written consent form so that she could have the seized property returned to her. Patrick’s mother complied.

While awaiting a probable cause hearing, Patrick was charged with various weapons-related charges. It is unclear from the complaint when the probable cause hearing occurred , but it appears from the state court docket that following this hearing, Patrick was eventually charged with additional crimes, including attempted murder.2 Patrick was detained for over five years awaiting trial. On the eve of trial, Patrick was presented with a plea deal in which he could plead guilty to one count of aggravated discharge of a weapon and all other charges would be dismissed in exchange . Patrick would also receive a sentence of time served. Wanting to ensure his freedom, Patrick accepted the deal.

B

Following his release, Patrick sued the City of Chicago and the officers involved alleging both constitutional and state law violations related to his arrest, the search of his home, and his detention. Dismissing the Second Amended Complaint, the district court found Patrick’s § 1983 unlawful search and seizure claim collaterally estopped by the court’s previous judgment in Patrick v. Cook County Department of Corrections,

2 We take judicial notice of the state court records. Ewell v. Toney, 853

F.3d 911, 917 (7th Cir. 2017) (state court proceedings are a proper subject of judicial notice).

No. 22-1425 5

et al., No. 13-cv-08352 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 8, 2014) (“CCDC Litigation ”). The court also dismissed the remaining federal claims, finding them to be either time-barred or barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994). Because none of Patrick’s constitutional claims survived under § 1983, the district court also dismissed Patrick’s Monell 3 claims against the City of Chicago without prejudice. In exercising supplemental jurisdiction over Patrick’s derivative state law claims of malicious prosecution , intentional infliction of emotional distress, conspiracy, respondeat superior liability, and indemnification, the district court determined that these claims also must fail because the underlying substantive causes of action were Heck-barred. The court gave Patrick leave to file an amended complaint.

C

In the Third Amended Complaint, Patrick raised similar claims to the Second Amended Complaint including § 1983 claims of warrantless search and seizure, unlawful pretrial detention, conspiracy, supervisor liability, 4 and other federal

3 Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs. of City of New York, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).

The critical question under Monell is whether a municipal (or corporate) policy or custom gave rise to the plaintiff’s harm, or if instead the harm was the result of acts of the entity’s agents. Glisson v. Ind. Dep’t of Corr., 849 F.3d 372, 379 (7th Cir. 2017). A municipality may be liable under § 1983 if the plaintiff can prove that the alleged unconstitutional action is caused by: (1) an express policy of the municipality, (2) “a widespread practice that is so permanent and well-settled that it constitutes a custom or practice ,” or (3) a person with final policymaking authority. Bohanon v. City of Indianapolis, 46 F.4th 669, 675 (7th Cir. 2022); Glisson, 849 F.3d at 379.

4 In this claim, found in Count Six of the Third Amended Complaint,

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