Content v. Curran

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 22, 2022
Docket7:20-cv-05444
StatusUnknown

This text of Content v. Curran (Content v. Curran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Content v. Curran, (S.D.N.Y. 2022).

Opinion

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Plaintiff. DECISION AND ORDER -against- 20 Civ. 5444 (PED) POLICE OFFICER SHANE M. CURRAN and POLICE OFFICER JONATHAN FISHER, Defendants, pee ee eee ee Ke PAUL E. DAVISON, U.S.M.J.

Plaintiff Donald Content alleges claims for false arrest and excessive force, pursuant to 42 U.S.C, §1983, arising from his encounter on September 1, 2018 with two Orangetown police officers, defendants Shane Curran and Jonathan Fisher. Dkt. #24 (Amended Complaint). This

case is before me for all purposes on the consent of the parties, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §636(c). Dkt. #30. Presently before this Court are (1) defendants’ motion for summary judgment (Dkt. #39) and (2) plaintiff’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment on his false arrest claim □□□□ 44).! For the reasons set forth below, plaintiff's motion is DENIED and defendants’ motion is GRANTED IN PART.

I. BACKGROUND The following facts are gathered from the parties’ statements pursuant to Local Civil Rule 56.1 of the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York,

' Plaintiff did not file a Notice of Motion; rather, his cross-motion is incorporated within his Memorandum of Law in Opposition to defendants’ motion.

from the pleadings and from affidavits, affirmations and exhibits submitted by the parties in

support of their contentions. Any disputes of material fact are noted.’ On September 1, 2018 at approximately 1:53 a.m., the Orangetown Police Department (“OPD”) received a call complaining about a group of people playing loud music in a parking lot

at the subsidized housing complex known as Nyack Plaza. Nyack Plaza was known to the OPD

as a high-crime area. OPD Officers Curran and Fisher (in separate police vehicles) were dispatched; within five minutes, both officers arrived at Nyack Plaza at approximately the same

time. They drove their vehicles into the rear parking lot off of Hudson Avenue, on the south side

of Nyack Plaza. Both officers observed two males (Donald Content and Martel Warren) about 50-100 feet away, standing on a grassy patch next to the sidewalk between the apartment building and the rear parking lot. There were no other people inthis area. Officers Curran and Fisher exited their vehicles and approached Content and Warren.

Officer Curran recognized Mr. Content from two prior arrests in 2017 and 2018. The officers told the two men about the noise complaint; the men denied playing loud music. The officers observed a small, portable table located near the two men: Mr. Content was closest to the table,

2 Certain factual allegations in the parties’ 56.1 statements, whether disputed or undisputed, have been omitted from the factual recitation because they are not germane to the issues presently before the Court, Additionally, undisputed facts drawn from the parties’ 56.1 statements reflect facts either admitted by the opposing party or those deemed admitted due to the opposing party’s failure to dispute them with citations to admissible evidence. See Local Civil Rule 56.1 (“Each numbered paragraph in the statement of material facts set forth in the statement required to be served by the moving party will be deemed to be admitted for purposes of the motion unless specifically controverted by a correspondingly numbered paragraph in the statement required to be served by the opposing party.”). See also Sanchez v. Karen Gardens Apartment Corp., No. 20 Civ. 4694, 2021 WL 2434317, at *1 n.2 (E.D.N.Y, June 15, 2021) (“[A] party’s statement that it can neither admit nor deny an adversaty’s statement based upon the factual record is not a sufficient response to establish a disputed fact[.]”) (citation omitted),

about two to six feet away from it. The officers saw a black, collapsible baton on the table, partially extended open about six to eight inches. Both officers recognized the baton as a police- style baton similar to the ones they carried. Officer Curran was aware that the baton constituted a

per se weapon under New York Criminal Procedure Law § 265.01(1) (Criminal Possession ofa

Weapon in the Fourth Degree). Officer Curran picked up the baton and asked the two men who

it belonged to; both men said they did not know. At approximately 2:07 a.m., Officer Curran

arrested Content and Warten for criminal possession of the weapon. The men were handcuffed, searched and placed in the officers’ vehicles (Mr. Content with Officer Fisher and Mr. Warren

with Officer Curran). Officer Fisher believed that Mr. Content was intoxicated because his eyes

were droopy and he lacked coordination and swayed a little as he walked to the officer’s vehicle.

At approximately 2: i 1 am., the officers radioed OPD that they were leaving Nyack Plaza en

route to the police station with Mr. Content and Mr, Warren in custody. It was a six- or seven-minute drive from Nyack Plaza to OPD. Plaintiff asserts that, during the trip, he told Officer Fisher that he was claustrophobic and could not breathe, and

asked the officer to roll down the window. Dkt. #44-2, at 68-693 Plaintiff claims that Officer

Fisher, in response, told him “to just sit back and shut up” and did not roll down the window. Jd.

at 69, According to Officer Fisher, during the trip, he partially opened his driver’s side window

(because he likes the cold) and, after Mr. Content stated he was claustrophobic, Fisher also fully opened the rear passenger side window. Dkt, #44-5, at 68-69. Upon arrival at OPD, Officer Fisher pulled into the “sally port” at the rear of the precinct

3 Unless otherwise noted, citations to specific page numbers reflect document (not ECF) pagination, -3.

via one of two bay doors. The “sally port” was a large, open, well-lit space. Fisher entered immediately after Officer Curran, who had entered via the other bay door. The bay doors closed behind them. According to plaintiff, upon arrival at OPD, he asked Officer Fisher if he would please remove the handcuffs. Dkt. #44-2, at 69-70. Then, according to plaintiff, Officer Curran exited his vehicle and came over to Fisher’s vehicle; Fisher got out of the car. Jed. at 70. Plaintiff

asserts: Officer Shane [Curran] was playing with something in the front, I didn’t know what it was until I felt the heat blasting. And I’m like, oh, man, he turned the heat on and the heat was like it got like 2,000 degrees inside the car, So then Pm screaming help me, please, let me out, [ can’t breathe. I said it like two or three times, like two times and then I felt like a million pins and needles in my eyes and | felt like a Boa Constrictor choking my neck and my heart felt like it was about to jump out of its chest. My heart was just beating so fast and hard, and then I remember secing black dots and then I just remember waking up in the morning shackled to a bed butt naked with catheters and 1.V.s and whatever the fuck happened, Id. Plaintiff claims that he sat in the back seat of the car for an hour and a half, while Officer Fisher “kept wiping the sweat off my forehead because he knew I was in distress.” Jd. at 71, Fisher asserts that, upon arrival at OPD, he turned off his vehicle and waited while Officer Curran brought Mr. Warren into the booking area. Dkt. #44-5, at 73-74. Fisher claims he left the

rear passenger window open. /d. at 74. According to Fisher, Mr. Content complained that he

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