Grandstaff v. City of Borger

767 F.2d 161, 54 U.S.L.W. 2132
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedAugust 5, 1985
DocketNos. 84-1241, 84-1337
StatusPublished
Cited by220 cases

This text of 767 F.2d 161 (Grandstaff v. City of Borger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grandstaff v. City of Borger, 767 F.2d 161, 54 U.S.L.W. 2132 (5th Cir. 1985).

Opinions

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

The City of Borger police mistook James C. Grandstaff for a fugitive and killed him. The estate and family of Grandstaff sued and recovered $1,430,000, together with attorneys fees and expenses, from four of the officers as well as the City. We uphold the liability of the officers on both the federal and state claims and the damages award because of Texas law; we sustain the 42 U.S.C. § 1983 liability of the City but modify the damages recovered against it.

[165]*165I. The Events of August 11, 1981

Shortly after 4:00 a.m. two Borger policemen signaled the driver of a pickup truck to stop because, according to them, they saw the vehicle veer across the street’s center stripe and they identified it as one thought to be driven by Lonnie Cox. Cox was not known to the officers, but they had received reports that day of his involvement in some difficulty and they expected notification of a warrant that would justify his arrest. Cox was actually the one driving the pickup and had no passenger with him, although the officers could not have then known this to be so. When Cox refused to stop, three police patrol cars gave chase at high speeds, and gunfire erupted. No bullet struck the police cars, but many did strike the Cox vehicle and Cox was wounded. About seven miles east of Borger, Cox suddenly turned from the highway and went through a fence onto the 6666 Ranch. He drove south into the ranch and then turned to the east. The police officers came to an entrance into the ranch and drove across the cattle guard and on a caliche road for a distance of about 100 yards. The first three police units were quickly joined by two more.

The Cox vehicle had crossed the caliche road and stopped some 75 yards to the east near a cross fence. Down the caliche road about 200 yards further stood a house, although the officers said that they could not see it at the time of their arrival in the rainy darkness. When Cox left his pickup, there was more gunfire. Again, no bullets struck the police cars, but one police bullet did strike the ranch house.

In the house James C. Grandstaff and his family were awakened by the noise. James Grandstaff was the 31 year old foreman in charge of the north portion of this large ranch. His family included his wife, Lois Sharon Grandstaff, his minor daughter, Jo Cheryl Grandstaff, and two stepsons, Randy Glen and Charles Robert Gatlin. Grandstaff went to the window, saw the flashing lights of the police cars, and heard commands being shouted over a loud speaker. He quickly dressed and drove his own pickup down the caliche road to investigate the problem, no doubt thinking himself safe in the presence of so many law enforcement people. After he reached the police cars, saw the Cox pickup to the east and heard the call on the police loudspeaker for the one addressed being ordered to come out with his hands up, James Grand-staff drove back to his house to warn his family that the police were after someone who could possibly reach the area of the home. He left a gun with his oldest stepson, told him to lock the doors and let no one in the house, and then returned in his pickup to assist the police officers. As his pickup reached the patrol cars the second time, officers opened fire upon him from two sides. He managed to get out of his pickup but was shot in the back with a. high powered rifle. Grandstaff was dead before he could be taken to a hospital. An hour later the wounded Lonnie Cox surrendered at the highway, after having hidden in an outbuilding near the Grandstaff home.

The dispatcher at Borger police headquarters made the following entries on her police radio log:

Time Nature of Transaction

4:23 [3 units in pursuit] Chief advised subject firing

4:29 Left pickup in pasture . . . firing on them

4:33 Car coming out from house Don’t know if it will be people

4:35 Vehicle backing up going back to house

4:40 Light just came on inside house Light now gone off

4:43 At present everything quiet Vehicle leave house again

4:47 Firing, man down, send ambulance

At the time of the firing there were five police cars in a line on the caliche road manned by six Borger policemen, composing the entire night shift of the force. All of the officers were heavily armed.

The plaintiffs sued four of the officers and the City seeking damages for a civil rights violation under § 1983 as well as for state tort claims. After a two week trial, the jury found that the four officers were reckless in their gunfire, consciously dis[166]*166regarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk and that the use of that deadly force was maliciously, wantonly, or oppressively done. The jury further found that the City of Borger was grossly negligent in failing to properly train its police officers and that there was serious incompetence or misbehavior general or widespread throughout the City police force. The following damages were awarded:

1. To the estate $100,000 for the pain and suffering of James Grandstaff prior to his death.
2. To the widow, Lois Sharon Grand-staff, $250,000 for her pecuniary loss and $250,000 for her loss of society and mental anguish.
3. To the minor daughter, Jo Cheryl Grandstaff, $200,000 for her pecuniary loss and $250,000 for her loss of society and mental anguish.
4. To the father, Joe H. Grandstaff, $200,000 for his loss of society and companionship and for his mental anguish.
5. To Lois Sharon Grandstaff $100,000, to Randy Gatlin $25,000 and to Robert Gatlin $25,000, for their emotional injury sustained as the result of seeing the circumstances surrounding the shooting and death of James Grandstaff.
6. Punitive damages were awarded against the four officers — $3000 to Lois Sharon Grandstaff against each, $3000 to Jo Cheryl against each, and $1500 to Joe Henry Grandstaff against each.

Peace officers stand at the front of law and the ordering processes of society. They restrain the violator, protect the compliant, and represent constituted authority in the scenes of both peace and turbulence of community life. We depend heavily upon their skill and disposition. They deserve and require the understanding and support of judges as well as of all citizens. Where any officer fails — whether for lack of courage, judgment, integrity, or humaneness — all the community suffers. We suffer because vested authority has failed to prevent some harm or because authority has been sullied and- abused. With any abuse of authority the entire ordering process is weakened. The public trusts the entire process less, and antagonism to all figures of authority rises. No one should be more alert to the cost of failure than responsible law enforcement officers and we who work in the courts. We must do what we can to avoid the failures, to prevent their reoccurrence, and — at all times— stay true to the requisites of honesty and accountability imposed upon all who are at once representative of the law and subject to it.

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Bluebook (online)
767 F.2d 161, 54 U.S.L.W. 2132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grandstaff-v-city-of-borger-ca5-1985.