Brady ex rel. Estate of Murray v. City of Westland

1 F. Supp. 3d 729, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19647, 2014 WL 632585
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedFebruary 18, 2014
DocketCase No. 12-12365
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1 F. Supp. 3d 729 (Brady ex rel. Estate of Murray v. City of Westland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brady ex rel. Estate of Murray v. City of Westland, 1 F. Supp. 3d 729, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19647, 2014 WL 632585 (E.D. Mich. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

GERALD E. ROSEN, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On May 31, 2012, Plaintiff Mary Brady commenced this action in this Court on behalf of the estate of her late son, Donald Murray, asserting federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and various state-law claims against the City of Westland, four West-land police officers, and a Garden City police officer arising from the Defendant officers’ alleged use of excessive force against Mr. Murray during a July 30, 2011 incident in a Westland neighborhood. More specifically, the Defendant officers were summoned to the scene after Mr. [731]*731Murray, evidently under the influence of crack cocaine, was seen wandering through the neighborhood acting strangely and yelling “call the cops,” and after he forcibly entered a home and began to assault its 80-year-old occupant, Beverly Moore. Ms. Moore’s son, Darryl Moore, was able to wrestle Mr. Murray out to the front porch of the home, where two neighbors came to Mr. Moore’s aid in his struggle with Mr. Murray. Upon arriving at the home, the Defendant officers took over from Mr. Moore and his neighbors in the effort to restrain Mr. Murray, and the officers eventually were able to overcome Mr. Murray’s continued resistance and handcuff him with the assistance of a single Taser stun administered to Mr. Murray’s lower back. Shortly after this struggle, Mr. Murray began having difficulty breathing and a Westland officer administered CPR, but Mr. Murray was pronounced dead upon his arrival at a nearby hospital.

Through the present motions, the Defendant law enforcement officers and the City of Westland seek an award of summary judgment in their favor on each of the claims asserted against them in Plaintiffs complaint.1 In support of their motions, Defendants argue primarily (i) that the force used by Garden City police officer Randy Lorenzetti and Westland officers Stephen Bird, Bryan Mytych, and Christopher Benson to subdue and handcuff Mr. Murray was appropriate under the circumstances; (ii) that there is no evidence that the other Westland officer named as a Defendant in the complaint, Kyle Dawley, was involved in the efforts to restrain Mr. Murray or otherwise inflicted any force whatsoever on Mr. Murray during the course of the encounter giving rise to this suit; and (iii) that Plaintiff has failed to identify a policy or custom of the Defendant City of Westland that was the moving force behind any alleged violation of Mr. Murray’s federal constitutional rights. In response, Plaintiff relies exclusively on the police reports prepared by the Defendant officers and photographs of Mr. Murray reflecting injuries he evidently sustained during the incident in question to argue that issues of fact remain as to whether one or more of the Defendant officers might have inflicted force on Mr. Murray after he was subdued and no longer posed a threat to the officers or anyone else on the scene.2

Defendants’ motions have been fully briefed by the parties. Having reviewed the parties’ briefs and their accompanying exhibits, as well as the remainder of the record, the Court finds that the relevant allegations, facts, and legal issues are sufficiently presented in these written submissions, and that oral argument would not aid the decisional process. Accordingly, the Court will decide Defendants’ motions “on the briefs.” See Local Rule 7.1(f)(2), U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan. This opinion and order sets forth the Court’s rulings on these motions.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Westland Defendants suggest in their motion that Plaintiff has “completed no discovery” and has essentially “abandoned any sincere effort to develop this [732]*732case.” (Westland Defendants’ Motion, Br. in Support at 5-6.) Although Plaintiff disputes this, asserting that she has “diligently undertaken discovery,” (Plaintiffs Response Br. at 11), the fact remains that the only exhibits accompanying Plaintiffs responses to Defendants’ motions are (i) a report prepared by the Westland police following the incident giving rise to this suit, and (ii) copies of photographs taken of Donald Murray after this incident. So far as the record discloses, none of the Defendant police officers has been deposed, and the only deposition testimony in the record is that of Plaintiff Mary Brady, who has conceded that she lacks any direct knowledge of the events giving rise to the claims in this case. (See Westland Defendants’ Motion, Ex. 11, Plaintiffs Dep. at 109.) Accordingly, the following account of the facts is derived almost exclusively from the reports of the Defendant police officers,3 as well as the statements and affidavits of a few non-party witnesses that are included as exhibits to Defendants’ motions.

On Friday, July 29, 2011, Donald Murray and a friend visited the Westland apartment of Mark and Annette Robinson, where they ate dinner, played cards, drank beer, and remained overnight. According to Mark Robinson’s statement to the Westland police, Mr. Murray behaved normally on Friday, but began to act strangely on Saturday morning. (See Westland Defendants’ Motion, Ex. 3, Westland Police Report at 19.) Mark Robinson further stated that from past experience, Mr. Murray would act this way when he was high on crack cocaine. (See id)4 Likewise, Annette Robinson characterized Mr. Murray as acting “[sjcared” and “[p]aranoid,” and she too viewed this behavior as attributable to Mr. Murray smoking crack. (See [733]*733Westland Defendants’ Motion, Ex. 2, Statement of Annette Robinson.)5

At around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, July 30, 2011, Mr. Murray exited the Robinsons’ apartment, taking an ashtray on his way out, and walked to a nearby Westland neighborhood. As Mr. Murray traveled through this neighborhood, he attracted the attention of the residents by yelling and acting as though he was drugged or intoxicated. (See Westland Police Report at 10; see also Westland Defendants’ Motion, Ex. 6, Cudney Aff. at ¶ 3.) Mr. Murray threw the ashtray he was carrying against the side of a house, shattering it, and then climbed a fence and headed toward the home of 80-year-old Beverly Moore and her son, Darryl Moore. (See Westland Police Report at 10; see also Westland Defendants’ Motion, Ex. 4, Darryl Moore Aff. at ¶ 2.)

Upon reaching the Moore residence, Mr. Murray began pounding on the front door. (Westland Police Report at 18.) When Ms. Moore opened the door, Mr. Murray pushed past her and entered the home. Darryl Moore was in the basement at the time, and came upstairs to check on his mother after he heard “screaming and a loud noise or thud from the upstairs.” (Darryl Moore Aff. at ¶ 3.) Mr. Moore discovered “an unknown person walking from my kitchen toward my mother in the living room area,” and he unsuccessfully attempted to steer this individual out the back door. (Id. at ¶¶ 4-5.) Mr. Murray then entered the living room, where he “kicked over a table, grabbed a vase or mug and raised his arm as if to threaten” Ms. Moore. (Id. at ¶ 6.) As Mr. Murray grabbed Ms. Moore’s arms, pinned them behind her, and “began to pull her through the house,” Mr. Moore grabbed and struggled with Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
1 F. Supp. 3d 729, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19647, 2014 WL 632585, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brady-ex-rel-estate-of-murray-v-city-of-westland-mied-2014.