Hill v. City of Chicago

61 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2014 WL 3748513, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104172
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 30, 2014
DocketNo. 12 CV 9513
StatusPublished

This text of 61 F. Supp. 3d 778 (Hill v. City of Chicago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. City of Chicago, 61 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2014 WL 3748513, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104172 (N.D. Ill. 2014).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion AlND Order

MANISH S. SHAH, United States District Court Judge

Chicago Police Officers Profirió Santiago and Ruben Reynoso suspected that Michael Hill had been involved in a hand-to-hand drug deal. They approached and detained Hill. Reynoso handcuffed him, hurting Hill’s wrist in the process, and searched Hill. The officers released Hill ten to thirty minutes later without charging him with any crime. In this case, Hill alleges that Santiago and Reynoso violated his constitutional rights by unreasonably seizing and searching him, and by using excessive force in handcuffing him. His claims are based on 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The City of Chicago is named as a defendant by virtue of the indemnification provisions of Illinois state law. Defendants move for summary judgment, Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, and argue that there is no factual dispute as to either substantive liability or their qualified immunity defense. For the reasons discussed below, I grant the defendants’ motion.

Summary judgment is appropriate only if there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and the defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). I view the facts — and draw any reasonable inferences from those facts — in the light most favorable to Hill.

I. The Facts

The Initial Surveillance and Police Activity

A longtime, reliable informant for the Chicago Police Department told Officer [781]*781Martin Obrecki that a middle-aged black man, of average weight and between 5’9? and 6’1? tall, dealt drugs in the morning-to-midday timeframe in the vicinity of 712 W. Diversey in Chicago. The informant said that the drug dealer came out of the building at 712 W. Diversey with drugs on his person and sold the drugs in hand-to-hand deals on the street or in people’s cars. [75] at ¶¶ 3-4.1 The structure at 712 W. Diversey is a nine-story apartment complex. [76] at ¶ 2.

Shortly after getting this tip on the morning of June 13, 2012, the police set up an operation near 712 W. Diversey. Defendants Santiago and Reynoso were part of the operation, with Obrecki conducting covert surveillance and relaying information to the other officers. [75] at ¶¶ 3, 6-9. Around 11:22 a.m., Obrecki saw a hand-to-hand drug deal take place in a car. A man matching the informant’s description of the drug dealer got into a car, and the driver gave the man cash in exchange for something. The man got out of the car and went into the building at 712 W. Diversey. Obrecki relayed this information to the other officers. [75] at ¶¶ 10-11. Officers stopped the car, recovered crack cocaine from the driver, and relayed this information to the rest of the enforcement team, ' including Reynoso and Santiago. [75] at ¶¶ 12-13.

The Stop of Hill

At 11:30 a.m., Obrecki saw a man come out of 712 W. Diversey. Obrecki thought the man both fit the informant’s description of the drug dealer and was the man who did the hand-to-hand deal in the car a few minutes earlier. Although Obrecki saw only the back of the drug dealer’s head during the hand-to-hand deal, he believed the man coming out of the building was the same man because he fit the description and was the only person to come out of the building. See [75] at ¶ 14.2 Hill lived in an apartment at 712 W. Diversey, walked out of that building at 11:30 a.m., and fit the description provided by the informant. [75] at ¶¶ 15-17.3

Sometime after 11:30 a.m., Reynoso and Santiago heard Obrecki say over the radio that he now saw the man he had previously seen sell drugs. Obrecki said that this man was walking westbound on Diversey, and was wearing tan pants. Obrecki instructed the enforcement cars to stop this person. Reynoso and'Santiago saw Hill by the intersection, wearing tan pants. Officer Obrecki confirmed to Reynoso and Santiago that Hill was the correct person. [75] at ¶¶ 26-27.

[782]*782The parties dispute the details of the initial interaction between the defendants and Hill, so I accept Hill’s version for purposes of this motion. Reynoso and Santiago drove up to Hill. Hill saw them and froze. One of the defendants told Hill to put his hands on the officers’ car. According to Hill, he immediately complied (although Hill also testified that he initially froze and first asked the defendants why they were stopping him). [75] at ¶¶ 30-32.4 Hill put his hands on the car, but it was hot, so he immediately lifted his hands off the car. Reynoso told Hill again to put his hands on the car, and Hill complied. [75] at ¶¶ 34-35.

The Search and Handcuffing of Hill

Reynoso initiated a search of Hill. He lowered the waistband of Hill’s pants, and felt around the seams of the waistband. [75] at ¶¶ 37-38. Reynoso patted the groin area on the outside of Hill’s pants (he did not make skin-to-skin contact with Hill’s genitals). [75] at ¶42. Reynoso also patted down the length of Hill’s pants, and ran his fingers inside Hill’s socks. [75] at ¶ 50. Reynoso patted Hill down from his collar, chest, and arms down to Hill’s ankles. [75] at ¶ 51. Reynoso felt an object inside one of Hill’s pants pockets, reached into the pocket, and retrieved a cell phone charger and Hill’s identification. [75] at ¶ 52.

Hill testified that during the search of his waistband, Reynoso rolled Hill’s pants in a manner that exposed two to three inches of Hill’s buttocks. See [54-5] at 9 (Hill Deposition at p. 106,11. 1-4); see also

at ¶¶40^1. Defendants argue that this testimony is inconsistent with Hill’s testimony that he was wearing boxer-style underwear with an elastic waistband, and his underwear was not lowered. [75] at ¶ 40. Hill did testify that Reynoso left his ■ underwear in place, but I find that the testimony is not so inconsistent that the two statements are mutually exclusive. When discussing the details of the search, Hill repeatedly said his buttocks were exposed, and viewing the entirety of his deposition in the light most favorable to him, I find that Hill may have meant that his underwear was not lowered entirely and was largely left in place, while still exposing the relatively small amount of skin (two to three inches) that Hill said was bared.

During the search, Hill pulled his hands away from the police car and grabbed his pants to prevent them from falling down. [75] at ¶ 43. Reynoso ordered Hill to put his hands back on the car, but Hill froze. [75] at ¶ 44. Reynoso then took Hill’s right wrist, and pulled it behind Hill’s back in order to handcuff him. [75] at ¶ 45. Reynoso twisted Hill’s wrist to bring it up, Hill felt a pop, and it.hurt. Id. Before Reynoso put the handcuffs on Hill, Hill told Reynoso that Reynoso was hurting Hill. [75] at ¶ 46. Reynoso told Hill not to cry like “a bitch or like a baby ...; it was a B-word.” [54-5] at 15 (Hill Deposition at p. 134,11. 7-9); see also [75] at ¶ 61. Reynoso handcuffed both of Hill’s wrists. [75] at ¶ 47.5 Hill’s demonstration of the [783]*783manner in which Reynoso handcuffed him was video-recorded at Hill’s deposition and is part of the record. [54] Exh. 11.

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Bluebook (online)
61 F. Supp. 3d 778, 2014 WL 3748513, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-city-of-chicago-ilnd-2014.