Christopher Bailey v. City of Howell

643 F. App'x 589
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 16, 2016
Docket15-1352
StatusUnpublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 643 F. App'x 589 (Christopher Bailey v. City of Howell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Christopher Bailey v. City of Howell, 643 F. App'x 589 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

[592]*592ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

On September 25, 2011, City of Howell Police Officer Luke Lorenz initiated a traffic stop of Christopher James Bailey that led to the arrest of Bailey for operating while intoxicated, the drawing of his blood for alcohol testing, and the suspension of his driver’s license. Bailey brought 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims in federal district court against the City of Howell and Lorenz, alleging violations of Bailey’s Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In the end, the district court properly granted summary judgment to Lorenz and the City of Howell on each of Bailey’s claims.

I.

At around 2:00 a.m. on September 25, 2011, Bailey left his ten-year high-school reunion at the Shark Club in Howell, Michigan. Bailey testified that as he exited the Shark Club’s parking lot, he “immediately noticed [an] island median” in the road, which he drove around since he “felt it was not safe for [him] to back up.” Lorenz, who was in a nearby parking lot, testified that he observed Bailey exit the Shark Club’s parking lot and drive the wrong direction onto Michigan Avenue, the highway outside the Shark Club’s parking lot.

After Lorenz initiated a traffic stop of Bailey’s car by activating his emergency lights, Bailey pulled into a nearby driveway. Lorenz then exited his vehicle and approached Bailey’s car.1 After telling Bailey that he was stopped for driving the wrong way “on the one way” and because Bailey’s license plate was expired, Lorenz asked Bailey, “How much you been drinking?” Bailey responded that he had “one” drink, and Lorenz replied, “You had one? Just one? Because I can smell it pretty strong coming out of you.” Lorenz then established that Bailey had no issues with his eyes, gave Bailey a brief eye or vision test, and returned to his patrol car.

A few minutes later, Lorenz returned to Bailey’s car and asked him to step outside of his car. After Bailey did so, Lorenz stated that he intended to conduct a field .sobriety test. After some back and forth between Lorenz and Bailey, Bailey agreed to take the field sobriety test. Lorenz then conducted three sobriety tests. Lorenz moved his fingers back and forth across Bailey’s face to check him for nys-tagmus.2 After performing this test, Lorenz concluded that Bailey exhibited nys-tagmus in .both eyes. Lorenz then had Bailey perform a walk-and-turn test and a one-leg stand test, both of which Bailey passed.

Lorenz then asked Bailey when he had his last drink, to which Bailey responded “I’d say a half hour ago” but subsequently stated that he might have had “a drink- and-a-half.” Lorenz then asked Bailey to take a preliminary breath test. After some back and forth between Bailey and Lorenz, Bailey ultimately refused to take the preliminary breath test. Lorenz then handcuffed Bailey and put him in the back of Lorenz’s squad car.

About ten minutes after Lorenz arrested Bailey, Lorenz told Bailey that he was under arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated due to the consumption of an alcoholic liquor or controlled substance or [593]*593a combination of both and for operating a vehicle while visibly impaired due to the consumption of an alcoholic liquor or controlled substance or a combination of both. Lorenz then asked Bailey to submit to a “chemical test” for alcohol and/or controlled substances in his body. Lorenz explained to Bailey that refusal to take the chemical test “shall result” in suspension of his license. In Michigan, vehicle operators, subject to some exceptions, are deemed to have consented to chemical tests of their blood, breath, or urine for alcohol upon being arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated or impaired. Mich. Comp. Laws 257.625c. Further, if a person refuses a chemical test after the person has been arrested for operating while intoxicated or impaired, the officer must “immediately confiscate the person’s license” and issue a temporary license or permit to the person. Mich. Comp. Laws 257.625g. Lorenz then asked Bailey “Will you take a breath test?” and Bailey responded, “Not until I speak to my attorney.” About twenty seconds later, this exchange occurred:

BAILEY: That is — just to clarify that is neither a yes or a no.
LORENZ: It counts as a no.
B: [Laughs.] Okay. [Pause] Whatever you want.
LORENZ ON RADIO: Send me the on-call judge information please.
B: Are you asking for a test right here or at the station?
L: I’m sorry, what?
B: Are you asking for a test here or at the station?
L: The test that I was offering you would have been administered at the jail, but now we’re going to go to the hospital, and we’re going to do a blood draw.
B: Oh well then if it’s at the ja — then that’s fine. I didn’t know — you didn’t clarify what you were asking.
L: Nope, that’s alright, we’ll go to the hospital.
B: Sir, you didn’t clarify what you were asking.
L: Sir, I read you exactly what I needed to read you. You said no.
B: [Laughs.]
L: So, that’s alright. That just means you don’t have a driver’s license anymore. Fine with me.

After further discussion with Lorenz about whether he was required to tell Bailey where the test would be taken, Bailey asked Lorenz if there was a video camera in the car and Lorenz responded that there was. The following exchange then occurred:

BAILEY: Okay. Good, because I did not deny that I would not take it.
LORENZ: Your exact words to me were—
B: I said I’d like to speak with my attorney.
L: —not until I speak to my attorney.
B: Did that say I wasn’t going to? I don’t think that’s what I said.
L: Okay.

Lorenz then drove Bailey to the hospital. At around 3:00 a.m., Lorenz spoke with the on-call judge and “swore to the facts of the warrant.” The on-call judge then authorized the search warrant. A nurse conducted a blood draw, which indicated that Bailey’s blood-alcohol level was .07. At some point during the evening, Lorenz also confiscated Bailey’s driver’s license and issued him a temporary driving permit.

As a result of the night’s events, Bailey was charged with operating while impaired, operating without insurance, driv[594]*594ing on the wrong side of a divided highway, having, expired license plate tabs, and refusing the preliminary breath test. The prosecutor later dropped the charges of operating while impaired, driving on the wrong side of. a divided highway, and refusing the preliminary breath test in exchange for Bailey’s plea of guilty to the added charge of careless driving and to the charges of having expired license plate tabs and operating without insurance.

On November 9, 2011, Michigan Secretary of State Hearing Officer Steve S. Bandy held a hearing “for the purpose of determining whether [Bailey’s] driver’s license ...

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643 F. App'x 589, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/christopher-bailey-v-city-of-howell-ca6-2016.