Carter v. Buscher

763 F. Supp. 392, 1991 WL 73674
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 26, 1991
DocketNo. 90-3002
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 763 F. Supp. 392 (Carter v. Buscher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter v. Buscher, 763 F. Supp. 392, 1991 WL 73674 (C.D. Ill. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

RICHARD MILLS, District Judge:

Civil rights action.

The facts are singular.

Cross-motions for summary judgment.

Judgment for Defendants.

Case closed.

I. Facts

Plaintiff’s husband, Raymond Ruhl, was being investigated by the ISP in January, 1988, for solicitation to murder his wife— the Plaintiff. In fact, during the investigation Plaintiff was offered and accepted protective custody by the ISP. With the assistance of a co-conspirator, Roger Arke-bauer, the police obtained sufficient evidence to authorize Ruhl’s arrest. See Arkebauer v. Kiley, 751 F.Supp. 783 (C.D.Ill.1990).

Ruhl worked as a correctional officer at the Vandalia Correctional Center. Ruhl was also believed by the ISP to run a gun shop out of his home and had been heard to brag that he was always armed — even while working at the prison in violation of DOC regulations.

On January 15, 1988, ISP agents Virgil Lee Bensyl, David P. McLearin, and Tamara J. Byers, with the assistance of their superior officers, planned the arrest of Ruhl for the solicitation to murder his wife. Michael Heltsley and Michael McKinney, internal investigators for the DOC, were also asked to assist in Ruhl’s arrest.

The police consciously chose not to attempt Ruhl’s arrest at his home because of his ready access to guns. Further, because Ruhl allegedly was armed at the prison where he worked, and the police would have had to surrender their guns before entering the prison, they chose not to arrest him at the prison. Instead, the police, with the assistance of Alfred Buscher, Van-dalia’s warden, devised a scheme in which Buscher would contact Ruhl at home and ask him to assist the niece of a fellow warden (played by Byers) whose car had broken down near Ruhl’s home.

At approximately 5:50 p.m., Buscher called Ruhl and asked him to assist the [394]*394stranded motorist. Ruhl agreed to help and Buscher then telephoned McLearin and told him that Ruhl was on his way. Byers, along with Bensyl and McLearin (all dressed in civilian clothing) parked their car on the west side of Route 51 just south of Oconee, Illinois and waited for Ruhl to arrive. Heltsley and McKinney waited nearby as backup.

At approximately 6:00 p.m. Ruhl approached the scene from the south, made a U-turn, and parked approximately 15 feet behind Byers’ vehicle on the west side of the highway. Byers, posing as a stranded motorist, approached Ruhl’s vehicle and spoke with Ruhl through the open, driver's side window. Ruhl refused to leave his car which he left running with the transmission in gear.

When Ruhl refused to leave his car, Ben-syl also walked back to Ruhl’s car. McLea-rin at this time signaled Heltsley and McKinney to move in as back up. When Bensyl arrived at Ruhl’s vehicle he stood slightly behind and to the left of Byers at the driver's side window. Bensyl shined his flashlight in the window and announced “State Police.”

Immediately after Bensyl announced “State Police,” Ruhl opened fire with a 9mm Browning semi-automatic pistol from inside the vehicle. Bensyl was immediately struck and killed. Ruhl then fired at least four shots through his front windshield at McLearin who was approaching from the right front of Byers’ vehicle. McLearin was struck once in the left wrist and received a grazing wound to his head. McLearin was then struck by Ruhl’s vehicle as it rolled forward. Eventually, McLearin sought shelter in a ditch along the west side of the road.

Ruhl leaned down to the right on his front seat, firing back at Byers as she moved toward the rear of Ruhl’s vehicle. Byers fired seven rounds through the back windshield attempting to hit Ruhl. Due to various obstructions such as the back windshield and seat, however, Ruhl was not hit by Byers’ fire. Ruhl then exited his vehicle in a crouched position. Byers fired her last round and once again missed hitting Ruhl. Heltsley and McKinney, meanwhile, had arrived at the scene and stopped their vehicle on the west side of the highway shortly behind Ruhl’s car. While attempting to fire at Byers, Ruhl was distracted by McLearin who was then shot a third time by Ruhl. Heltsley, armed with a .12 gauge shotgun, was unable to fire at Ruhl during this exchange because Byers was in his line of fire.

After shooting McLearin for the third time, Ruhl spun back toward Byers, who was now out of ammunition. At this point Heltsley, who had positioned himself near the right passenger door of McKinney’s vehicle, shot Ruhl in the chest with a single .12 gauge shotgun slug. Ruhl fell to the ground and dropped his weapon.

Byers, believing that Ruhl was attempting to get up and retrieve his weapon, ran to Ruhl, picked up his gun, and fired the last round at Ruhl, striking him in the forearm. Simultaneously McLearin fired twice at Ruhl, striking him once in the left foot and lower leg. According to the coroner’s inquest, Ruhl died within a few seconds from the shotgun wound to his chest. The entire sequence of events, from the time Ruhl shot Bensyl until all shooting ceased, is estimated to have lasted between 45 and 60 seconds.

Plaintiff, as administratrix of Ruhl’s estate, then commenced this civil rights action against Warden Buscher, Agents Byers, McLearin, Heltsley and McKinney, Captain Murphy and the Estate of Agent Bensyl. Plaintiff alleges that

by reason of their ill conceived plan in the attempt to arrest Raymond John Ruhl along a darkened highway instead of inside the correctional institution where he worked, the Defendants, in their attempt to apprehend and arrest Raymond John Ruhl, provoked a situation whereby unreasonable deadly force was used in the attempt to seize his person in violation of the Fourth Amendment. ...

II. Summary Judgment

Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), summary judgment should be entered “if the plead[395]*395ings, 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.” Unquestionably, in determining whether a genuine issue of material fact exists, the evidence is to be taken in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 158-59, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608-09, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). Nevertheless, the rule is also well established that the mere existence of some factual dispute will not frustrate an otherwise proper summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Thus, the “preliminary question for the judge [is] not whether there is literally no evidence, but whether there is any upon which a jury could properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it upon whom the onus of proof is imposed.” Id. at 251, 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (quoting Improvement Co. v. Munson, 14 Wall. 442, 448, 20 L.Ed. 867 (1872)); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct.

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Related

Plaka v. Drinski
811 F. Supp. 1356 (N.D. Indiana, 1993)
Carter v. Buscher
973 F.2d 1328 (Seventh Circuit, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
763 F. Supp. 392, 1991 WL 73674, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-buscher-ilcd-1991.