Davis v. City of New York

959 F. Supp. 2d 324, 2013 WL 1288176, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45601
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 28, 2013
DocketNo. 10 Civ. 0699(SAS)
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 959 F. Supp. 2d 324 (Davis v. City of New York) 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
Davis v. City of New York, 959 F. Supp. 2d 324, 2013 WL 1288176, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45601 (S.D.N.Y. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION & ORDER

SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION.......................................................332

II. BACKGROUND.........................................................335

III. LEGAL STANDARD FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT........................337

IV. MONELL LIABILITY...................................................337

V. DISCUSSION...........................................................339

A. Fourth Amendment Claims Against the City.............................339

1. Plaintiffs’ Claim of an Unconstitutional Policy........................342

a. Plaintiffs’ Motion.............................................343

i. Plaintiffs’ Challenge to 10 23 Arrest Policy.................344

[332]*332ii. Plaintiffs’ Challenge to 10 23 Stop Policy...................345

b. The City’s Motion.............................................347

2. Plaintiffs’ Claim of an Unconstitutional Custom and Practice...........349

a. Widespread Practice..........................................351

i. Documentary and Testimonial Evidence ...................351

ii. Dr. Fagan’s Analysis....................................352

b. Deliberate Indifference........................................355

B. Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Claims Against the City.........359

C. Title VI Claims Against the City.......................................364

D. Section 1981 Claims Against the City...................................366

E. FHA Claims Against the City .........................................367

F. NYSC Article I Section 12 Claims Against the City.......................368

G. Race Discrimination Claims Against NYCHA............................369

H. USHA Claims Against NYCHA........................................370

VI. CONCLUSION..........................................................373

I. INTRODUCTION

This case, filed in 2010, is one of three cases currently before this Court challenging aspects of the City of New York’s “stop and frisk” practices.1 What distinguishes this case from the other two is its focus on stop and frisk practices at public housing properties owned and operated by the New York City Housing Authority (“NYCHA”). Plaintiffs argue that the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) uses unlawful stops, searches, and arrests to enforce the prohibition against trespassing in NYCHA buildings.2 According to plaintiffs, the NYPD’s practices violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure ... against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Plaintiffs also argue that the NYPD’s practices are based on racial discrimination against African Americans and Latinos, and thus violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees “the equal protection of the laws.”

As the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly affirmed, “the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness.’ ”3 In Ter[333]*333ry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court held that under the Fourth Amendment, it is constitutionally reasonable for the police to “stop and briefly detain a person for investigative purposes if the officer has a reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts that criminal activity ‘may be afoot,’ even if the officer lacks probable cause.”4 This form of investigative detention is now known as a Terry stop.5

In the years since Terry, the Supreme Court and the Second Circuit have developed and refined the balance under the Fourth Amendment “ ‘between the public interest and the individual’s right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers.’ ”6 The long line of cases concerning “the power of the police to ‘stop and frisk’ ... suspicious persons” has frequently presented a conflict between individual liberty and dignity on the one hand, and public safety on the other.7

This case illustrates the tensions between liberty and security in particularly stark form, because it deals with police practices in and around the home, where the interests in both liberty and security are especially strong.8 The gravity of the alleged injuries to plaintiffs’ liberty is reflected in the testimony of Reginald Bowman, President of the Citywide Council of Presidents, a NYCHA resident leadership group:

[Wjhenever I have an opportunity to talk to someone in law enforcement who might listen, my question to them is: Suppose I came into your neighborhood tonight and you were in civilian attire and you were on your way to the store to get milk and cookies for your kids, and I stopped you the way that some of [334]*334your personnel do, what would you do? How would you feel about that?
When this type of practice is instituted and done to people on a regular basis ... I use the term “penal colony,” it’s almost like we have been colonized for a decade.9

At the same time, many NYCHA tenants have expressed a desire for greater security services from the police, including “more officers on foot patrol like we used to have when officers walked around, knew residents and built relationships with them.”10 As I noted in an earlier opinion in this case, there is a long and often underappreciated history of anti-crime activism by NYCHA tenant organizations: “ ‘The activists, most of whom were women, ... believed that securing their fair share of municipal services, including police protection, was a fundamental right ' " 11

This case is solely concerned with whether the NYPD’s trespass enforcement practices in NYCHA buildings violate the Constitution, or other laws. If so, the practices must stop, no matter how effective they may be. As the Supreme Court recently noted, “the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table.”12 Just as public schools face constitutional constraints on religious expression that do not apply to private schools, and public employers face constitutional restrictions that do not apply to private employers, so public security in public housing must operate within constitutional limitations that would not apply in a purely private context. NYPD officers on patrol in NYCHA buildings are members of the City’s police force. As a result, they must operate in accord with constitutional rules that would not apply to private security in a private building. The NYPD may not, for example, forcibly stop and question every person who enters a NYCHA building, as a doorman in a private building is free to do.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 F. Supp. 2d 324, 2013 WL 1288176, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-city-of-new-york-nysd-2013.