Drakeford v. County of Orange

213 F. App'x 542
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided December 14, 2006·No. Nos. 04-57002, 05-55133·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM *

David Drakeford appeals the district court’s grant of qualified immunity to several sheriffs deputies and 911 operators in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. He also appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment on his claims of municipal liability, supervisory liability and failure to train. The County of Orange interlocutorily cross-appeals the district court’s denial of its summary judgment motion on Drake-ford’s negligence claim. We affirm. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recount them here.

I. Qualified Immunity

Qualified immunity analysis consists of two questions. First, “[tjaken in the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury, do the facts alleged show the officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right?” Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). Second, if a violation occurred, was the right clearly established? Id. “The relevant, dispositive inquiry in determining whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted.” Id. at 202, 121 S.Ct. 2151. As the Supreme Court has explained, this second step must be analyzed “in light of clearly established law and the information the ... officers possessed.” Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 641, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987) (emphasis added). Thus an officer whose actions in fact violate clearly established law may nonetheless be entitled to qualified immunity if those actions are reasonable in light of the information the officer had at the time of the arrest. See Dias v. Elique, 436 F.3d 1125, 1131 (9th Cir.2006) (“If the right was clearly established, we must determine whether the official’s actions were the result of a reasonable mistake of fact or law.”); Franklin v. Fox, 312 F.3d 423, 437-38 (9th Cir.2002).

We affirm the district court’s ruling that the arresting officers acted reasonably “in light of the information [they] possessed.” The officers received a Priority One dispatch urging all units to respond to possible bank robbery suspects connected to a high-profile crime spree. The tip came from an off-duty police officer, Sergeant Barr, who later provided an on-scene identification of Drakeford’s vehicle. Although the officers erred in concluding that Barr had established probable cause to support the arrest, their reliance upon the dispatches was not unreasonable. United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 231-32, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985); Motley v. Parks, 432 F.3d 1072, 1082 (9th Cir.2005).

Similarly, we agree that Sergeant Barr’s actions were reasonable. Barr did not order, nor did he participate in, Drake-ford’s arrest. While Drakeford seemingly faults Barr for failing to intervene once he discovered an arrest was in progress, he cites no law establishing that Barr had a constitutional duty to do so. See Ting v. United States, 927 F.2d 1504, 1511 (9th Cir.1991).

Finally, the district court correctly ruled that no clearly established constitutional doctrine put 911 operator Murphy and dispatcher Fry on notice that their actions would result in a violation of constitutional rights. We reject Drakeford’s contention that Murphy and Fry are not [545] entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law. Qualified immunity protects those government officials “who are required to exercise their discretion, and who routinely make close decisions in the exercise of the broad authority that necessarily is delegated to them.” Meyers v. Redwood City, 400 F.3d 765, 770 (9th Cir.2005) (internal quotations and citations omitted). Murphy’s and Fry’s duties bring them within the scope of the doctrine. See Beltran v. City of El Paso, 367 F.3d 299, 303-04 (5th Cir.2004).1

II. Drakeford’s Additional Claims

We affirm the grant of summary judgment for defendants on Drakeford’s claim of municipal liability. See Monell v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 690-91, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). Drakeford has failed to establish a municipal policy because he fails to show any alleged policy was adopted by a policymaker with final decisionmaking authority. City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 123, 108 S.Ct. 915, 99 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988). Although Drakeford claims that Murphy and Fry constitute decisionmakers for Section 1983 purposes, he offers no state law delegating power to such employees to determine county policy regarding arrest procedures. Gillette v. Delmore, 979 F.2d 1342, 1349-50 (9th Cir.1992). Drakeford also fails to establish a municipal custom, as he fails to show any of the customs he alleged occurred at any time other than his arrest or resulted in the unconstitutional arrest of anyone other than himself. See Thompson v. City of Los Angeles, 885 F.2d 1439, 1443-44 (9th Cir.1989); see also Lewis v. Sacramento County, 98 F.3d 434, 446-47 (9th Cir.1996), rev’d on other grounds, 523 U.S. 833, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998).

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Drakeford v. County of Orange, 213 F. App'x 542 (9th Cir. 2006).

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