Carlos Alvarado v. Hunt, et al.

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided March 30, 2026·No. 2:24-cv-01159·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Case No.: 2:24-cv-01159-JAD-MDC Carlos Alvarado, 4 Plaintiff Order Granting Defendants’ Motion for 5 v. Summary Judgment on Federal Claim, Dismissing State-law Claim without 6 Hunt, et al., Prejudice to its Refiling in State Court, and Closing Case 7 Defendants [ECF No. 38] 8

9 This case stems from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) officers’ 10 decision to arrest Uber driver Carlos Alvarado for driving under the influence after he tried to 11 drive through a busy Las Vegas Strip crosswalk. Post-arrest tests for substances vindicated 12 Alvarado’s insistence that he wasn’t impaired, and he sues the arresting officers, claiming that 13 the arrest violated his state and federal constitutional rights because they lacked probable cause. 14 The defendant officers now move for summary judgment, arguing that the totality of 15 what they observed gave them probable cause to arrest Alvarado and, at minimum, ensures them 16 qualified immunity from his federal claim. I find that it was reasonably arguable that probable 17 cause existed to arrest Alvarado, so the officers are entitled to qualified immunity on his federal 18 claim. And because that ruling disposes of the only claim over which this court has original 19 jurisdiction, I decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state-law claim. 20 So I grant the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the federal claim, dismiss the state- 21 law claim without prejudice to its refiling in state court, and close this case. 22

23 1 Background 2 A. A commotion near a busy crosswalk draws Officers Hunt and Montalbano’s 3 attention to Alvarado.

4 Late one night on the famed Las Vegas Strip, Hunt, Montalbano, and several other 5 officers were responding to a fight when Alvarado, who was driving for Uber, pulled a white 6 SUV into a nearby private driveway to drop off passengers.1 Nothing about that arrival initially 7 drew the officers’ attention. A few minutes later, Alvarado tried to leave the driveway and turn 8 onto the street.2 But that driveway opened into a crosswalk that was busy with foot traffic, so a 9 crossing guard was stationed there to hold vehicles while pedestrians cleared the entrance.3 10 When Alvarado approached, the guard began yelling, “Hey, what are you doing!” as pedestrians 11 were still crossing.4 The officers’ body-worn-camera footage captured the beginning of that 12 confrontation and shows Alvarado backing up while the guard stood near the front of the SUV.5 13 But it does not clearly capture the next few seconds. One officer’s camera turns away,6 and the 14 other tilts more toward the ground.7 15 Hunt and Montalbano testified that, after backing up, Alvarado maneuvered left to get 16 around the crossing guard and toward the opposite lane of travel.8 Alvarado described the 17

18 1 ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 468-4) at T06:03:26Z. For clarity, I cite the body-worn-camera footage using the file labels from the defendants’ manual filing. 19 2 Id. at T06:05:09Z. 20 3 Id. 21 4 Id. at T06:05:12Z. 5 Id. at T06:05:25Z. 22 6 See ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 468-4) at T06:05:28Z. 23 7 See id. (BWC 468-3) at T06:05:28Z. 8 ECF No. 45-3 at 4; ECF No. 45-4 at 7–8. 1 encounter differently in his testimony, recounting that he backed up to create safety between him 2 and the crossing guard, but he wasn’t sure why he began moving his car forward afterwards.9 3 But in the camera footage, he can be heard telling the officers that he was “trying to get around” 4 the crossing guard and that he was an Uber driver trying to get back to work.10

5 B. Hunt and Montalbano detain Alvarado and begin investigating possible 6 impairment.

7 The bodycam footage shows Hunt and Montalbano ordering Alvarado out of the SUV 8 and placing him in handcuffs.11 Shortly afterward, Montalbano spoke briefly with the crossing 9 guard, who accused Alvarado of trying to “run over everybody” and said that he stepped in front 10 of the SUV to stop Alvarado from doing so.12 11 The officers’ attention then shifted to whether Alvarado might be impaired because an 12 officer noted that he was leaning on his car with red eyes,13 and the officers smelled marijuana— 13 though the impaired-driving report only chronicles the presence of dilated and constricted pupils, 14 not bloodshot eyes.14 Hunt stated that there was a “strong odor” and asked Alvarado whether he 15 had “smoke[d] anything.”15 In his deposition, however, Hunt also acknowledged that when he 16 smells marijuana on the Strip, he is not always able to tell where it’s coming from.16 17 18

9 ECF No. 47-2 at 3 (Alvarado’s deposition). 19 10 ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 468-3) at T06:05:41Z–44Z, T:06:05:56Z–06:00Z. 20 11 Id. at T06:05:34Z. 21 12 Id. at T06:06:58Z–:07:10Z. 13 ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 467-19) at T:06:08:17Z–20Z. 22 14 ECF No. 38-8 at 6. 23 15 ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 467-19) at T:06:08:14Z–31Z. 16 ECF No. 45-3 at 10. 1 For his part, Montalbano testified that when he and Hunt first got to the driver’s door, 2 they could smell “burnt marijuana in the vehicle.”17 He also testified that the smell “lingered for 3 a bit and then dissipated,” and that he looked around the vehicle to see whether anything visible 4 was causing it.18 He did not believe Alvarado was actively smoking, and no marijuana or

5 paraphernalia was found in the vehicle.19 The same record also reflects that Alvarado denied 6 drinking or smoking that day and told Hunt that the last time he had smoked weed was in high 7 school.20 8 The officers also described Alvarado as behaving unusually during his detention. 9 Montalbano testified that Alvarado appeared “erratic,” “very animated,” “excited,” and not 10 “rational for what was going on for the situation.”21 An officer can be heard on the bodycam 11 remarking that there was “something off” about Alvarado, and another officer commented that 12 Alvarado “can’t sit still.”22 Those observations led Hunt and Montalbano to request a DUI-unit 13 officer. While waiting for that officer’s arrival, Hunt and Montalbano continued speaking with 14 Alvarado and later removed his handcuffs. The bodycam footage shows Alvarado performing

15 balancing and heel-to-toe movements on his own.23 As he did so, he said “look,” asked, “are we 16 good?” and later remarked, “you guys think I’m pretty—why do you want to mess with me?”24 17 18

17 ECF No. 38-3 at 8. 19 18 ECF No. 38-3 at 22. 20 19 Id. 21 20 Id. at 27. 21 Id. at 8. 22 22 ECF No. 38-1 (BWC 467-18) at T06:14:03Z–:25Z. 23 23 Id. (BWC 467-15) at T06:23:12Z–:40Z. 24 Id. 1 C. Garcia arrives and conducts a DUI investigation; Alvarado gets arrested. 2 Officer Garcia was working in the DUI unit that night when Hunt and Montalbano called 3 him to conduct testing. Hunt and Montalbano briefed him on why they had detained Alvarado 4 before Garcia began his own investigation.25 One officer can be heard on the bodycam recording

5 telling Garcia that “he’s got something,” but he just didn’t know what it was.26 Garcia testified 6 that he could smell marijuana coming from Alvarado.27 Garcia then conducted a roadside DUI 7 investigation. He administered the horizontal-gaze-nystagmus (HGN), walk-and-turn, one-leg- 8 stand, and lack-of-convergence tests; Montalbano administered the finger-to-nose test; and Hunt 9 administered a modified Romberg test, which tests the driver for swaying or balance issues.28 10 The officers arrested Alvarado for a DUI following those tests and obtained a warrant to conduct 11 a blood draw.29 12 D. Alvarado sues Montalbano, Hunt, and Garcia. 13 Later testing from Metro and from a test Alvarado obtained himself came back negative 14 for the tested substances.30 Alvarado filed this counseled action. He asserts two claims against

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Carlos Alvarado v. Hunt, et al., (D. Nev. 2026).

Carlos Alvarado v. Hunt, et al. (Carlos Alvarado v. Hunt, et al.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Harlow v. Fitzgerald
457 U.S. 800 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Scott v. Harris
550 U.S. 372 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Pearson v. Callahan
555 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 2009)
United States v. Nile Smith
790 F.2d 789 (Ninth Circuit, 1986)
Ramirez v. City of Buena Park
560 F.3d 1012 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Hershel Rosenbaum v. Washoe County
663 F.3d 1071 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
Mullenix v. Luna
577 U.S. 7 (Supreme Court, 2015)
United States v. Hector Magallon-Lopez
817 F.3d 671 (Ninth Circuit, 2016)
Isayeva v. Sacramento Sheriff's Department
872 F.3d 938 (Ninth Circuit, 2017)
Paulette Smith v. Edward Agdeppa
81 F.4th 994 (Ninth Circuit, 2023)