Bobbie F. Walls, Jr. v. City of Greensboro, Det. J.C. Payne, Det. M.P. O’Hal, Det. A.J. Smith, Det. G.H. Wilde, Det. K.A. Denny, Det. R.L. Armstrong, Ofc. Walker, Ofc. Tyler, and Ofc. Hooker

District Court, M.D. North Carolina·Decided July 7, 2026·No. 1:24-cv-01074·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA

BOBBIE F. WALLS, JR., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) 1:24CV1074 ) CITY OF GREENSBORO, DET. J.C. ) PAYNE, DET. M.P. O’HAL, DET. ) A.J. SMITH, DET. G.H. WILDE, ) DET. K.A. DENNY, DET. R.L. ) ARMSTRONG, OFC. WALKER, OFC.) TYLER, and OFC. HOOKER, ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND RECOMMENDATION OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Police officers with the City of The City of Greensboro (“the City”) Greensboro arrested, detained, and has moved to dismiss all claims charged Bobbie F. Walls, Jr. with against it, the official capacity claims crimes related to drug distribution, a against the individual defendants, drive-by shooting, and a separate and the punitive damages demand. discharge of a firearm. Walls See Def. City of Greensboro’s Mot. to contends officers lacked probable Dismiss, Docket Entry 15; Def. City of cause and knowingly made false Greensboro’s Mem. of Law in Support statements and material omissions to of Mot. to Dismiss (“Mem. in Supp.”), the Magistrates to obtain warrants Docket Entry 16. and charges. He has sued the defendants for these alleged acts and Because Walls has not sufficiently claims violations of his Fourth, pled Monell liability against the City, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments the federal claims against the City rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, should be dismissed. Likewise, Walls and false arrest, false imprisonment, has not alleged the City waived obstruction of justice, and defamation immunity from suit for state torts. per se in violation of North Carolina Further, because adequate state law. See generally Compl., Docket remedies can redress the alleged Entry 1. injuries, there is no direct state constitutional claim. Thus, the state law claims against the City should be security footage from Greensboro dismissed. Were any claim to survive Nissan, he saw “‘a black Cadillac against the City, Walls could not be Escalade’” swerve into the left lane to awarded punitive damages, and, avoid crashing into the victim’s car. therefore, his request for them should Id. ¶ 10. Walls does not drive a black be dismissed. And, finally, because Cadillac Escalade. Instead, he drives the official capacity claims against the a black Cadillac SRX, which is smaller individual defendants are duplicative than an Escalade. Id.¶ 14. of the claims against the City, they, too, should be dismissed. That same afternoon, the driver of a black Cadillac SUV discharged a In sum, the Court should grant the firearm out of the car while heading City’s motion. east on Landmark Center Boulevard. Id. at 33. Other detectives and officers I. FACTS at this scene told Hooker that “it appeared to them that the same ‘Black All well-pled facts are accepted as true Cadillac Escalade’ was involved in and considered in the light most [both shootings].” Id. ¶ 11. A witness favorable to the plaintiff. See Nemet to this shooting described the driver Chevrolet, Ltd. v. as “‘a black male in his late twenties Consumeraffairs.com, Inc., 591 F.3d with long dreads possibly shoulder 250, 255 (4th Cir. 2009) (citation length.’” Id. These features do not modified). describe Walls. Instead, Walls is a black male in his early forties who is On the afternoon of September 27, bald with a full beard with gray 2023, in Greensboro, a person fired patches. Id. ¶ 13. shots out of a black Cadillac SUV speeding east on West Wendover Two days later, on September 29, Avenue near Norwalk Street. A round Detectives Wilde and O’Hal stopped struck a nearby car and hit the driver Walls’ car for fictitious tags and no in the left leg. Compl. at 35.1 financial responsibility on the car. Id. According to the police report, a ¶¶ 15, 31. Officers also told Walls that witness told officers that he was “‘one his car was involved in a shooting, and hundred percent sure it was a black they accused him of living at 1012 Fir Cadillac SUV’” with tinted windows Place in Greensboro. Id. ¶¶ 16, 17. that made it difficult to see the driver. Walls did not live at 1012 Fir Place. Id. at 36. Walls alleges that same Instead, at all relevant times, his witness told Officer Hooker that he residence was 502 Woodlake Drive. “‘saw a black Cadillac Escalade.’” Id. Id. ¶¶ 23, 34.b. The officers searched ¶ 9. When Officer Hooker reviewed Walls and the car and found no

1 Walls attached copies of two police numbers that CM/ECF assigned to the reports to his Complaint. Citations to document. Elsewhere, Walls organized information in those reports are the page his Complaint with paragraphs. evidence of any illegal activity — no 502 Woodlake Drive. Id. ¶ 23; see also firearms, bullets, bullet holes, drugs, id. ¶¶ 24, 33, 34.b. or drug paraphernalia. Id. ¶¶ 31, 34.e. Law enforcement executed the Detectives Wilde and O’Hal residential search warrant at 1012 Fir transported Walls to the Swing Road Place and found firearms and station and locked him in an interview suspected drugs. They charged Walls room where they held him for with possessing them. Id. ¶ 22. approximately five hours. Id. ¶¶ 18, 20. Officers never cited him for traffic On October 13, K.A. Denny applied for violations. Instead, they questioned and received an arrest warrant for him about his location on September Walls based on the offenses of 27 and asked him about the location September 27. Id. ¶¶ 26, 27. Denny of a firearm. Id. ¶ 20. A detective told swore to the Magistrate the name of a Walls, “We know you sell drugs out witness to the offenses who your Brother’s house” because “a C.I. “‘identif[ied] Mr. Walls as the told us.” Id. ¶ 19. Walls denied selling offender.’” Id. ¶ 27. But Denny knew drugs and told the detectives that he that statement was false because the did not live at that house. Id. The witness “‘was never anywhere around detectives responded by telling him 6006 Landmark Center Blvd. to that “they saw [him] leaving 1012 Fir Witness ANYONE discharge a Place” and asked him, “Will any drugs Firearm” and never told law be found there?” Id. ¶ 21. enforcement he was there. Id. ¶¶ 28, 32, 34.e. The only witness to the That same day, Detective J.C. Payne shooting on Landmark Center applied for a search warrant for 1012 Boulevard provided a description of Fir Place and swore to the Magistrate the suspect that did not describe that the following information was Walls. Id. ¶ 32. verified: the suspect car was a 2018- 2019 model of a black Cadillac SRX, Walls also alleges that Armstrong, the driver discharged a firearm, a Walker, Hooker, and Tyler altered confidential informant named Walls their police reports to reflect a as selling and storing drugs at 1012 Fir dispatch time that aligned with the Place, and 1012 Fir Place was Walls’ time his “alleged vehicle is seen on residence. Id. ¶ 24. Flock,” the city’s license-plate reader system. Id. ¶ 34.a. But the detectives Payne did not inform the Magistrate did not use Flock “to establish [him] of the actual suspect’s description, as the driver” of the suspect SUV. Id. that the suspect car was a Cadillac ¶ 34.b. In addition, Smith stated in Escalade, or that Walls’ residence was his report that he researched Walls “and determined he had a [sic] address of 1012 Fir Place” even though Walls’ address “at all relevant times” was 502 Woodlake Drive. Id. Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, ¶ 34.e. 570 (2007)). Legal conclusions “must be supported by factual allegations” Law enforcement charged Walls with that amount to more than possession of a firearm by a felon, “unadorned, the-defendant- going armed to the terror of the unlawfully-harmed-me people, injury to personal property, accusation[s].” Id. (citing Twombly, discharging a weapon into occupied 550 U.S. at 555).

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Bobbie F. Walls, Jr. v. City of Greensboro, Det. J.C. Payne, Det. M.P. O’Hal, Det. A.J. Smith, Det. G.H. Wilde, Det. K.A. Denny, Det. R.L. Armstrong, Ofc. Walker, Ofc. Tyler, and Ofc. Hooker, (M.D.N.C. 2026).

Bobbie F. Walls, Jr. v. City of Greensboro, Det. J.C. Payne, Det. M.P. O’Hal, Det. A.J. Smith, Det. G.H. Wilde, Det. K.A. Denny, Det. R.L. Armstrong, Ofc. Walker, Ofc. Tyler, and Ofc. Hooker (Bobbie F. Walls, Jr. v. City of Greensboro, Det. J.C. Payne, Det. M.P. O’Hal, Det. A.J. Smith, Det. G.H. Wilde, Det. K.A. Denny, Det. R.L. Armstrong, Ofc. Walker, Ofc. Tyler, and Ofc. Hooker) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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