Jill S. N. Schaffer v. Bryan Beringer

842 F.3d 585, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 20766, 2016 WL 6832976
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedNovember 21, 2016
Docket15-3438
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 842 F.3d 585 (Jill S. N. Schaffer v. Bryan Beringer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jill S. N. Schaffer v. Bryan Beringer, 842 F.3d 585, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 20766, 2016 WL 6832976 (8th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

Jill and Callissa Schaffer brought this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against officers of the Vermillion Police Department (“VPD”), alleging that the officers violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights. The district court. 1 granted the officers’ motion for summary judgment, and we affirm.

I.

At approximately 12:15 a.m. on May 30, 2014, Vermillion Police Officer Mark Foley observed a car driving with a broken tail light. Officer Foley followed the car for four blocks, during which he observed no abnormal driving behavior. He-then initiated a traffic stop. Eighteen-year-old Cal-lissa Schaffer was the driver of the car, which belonged to Lee Sappingfield, who was located in the backseat. A third individual, Marilyn Wingo, was in the front passenger seat. . .

Officer Foley first asked to see Callissa’s driver’s license, which she did not have. He then asked for her name and date of birth, which she provided. During this conversation, Officer Foley smelled a strong odor of alcohol emanating from inside the car. Officer Foley contacted dispatch and requested that Officer Bryan Beringer come to his location. Officer Foley then asked Callissa to step out of the vehicle and asked her if she had been drinking, which she denied.

Officer Foley requested that Callissa take a preliminary breath test (“PBT”). Callissa declined the PBT and then called her mother, Jill Schaffer, to the scene. Meanwhile, Officer Beringer had arrived and began talking to Wingo, who admitted consuming several beers earlier even though she was only seventeen years old. Sappingfield also had consumed alcohol, but he was of legal age. Officer Beringer then walked over to Officer Foley and Callissa and observed that Callissa’s face was flushed and that her eyes were watery. Neither officer could determine whether the smell of alcohol was coming directly from Callissa or from the car.

Jill, an attorney, then arrived at the scene. She stood between the officers and Callissa and argued that the officers had no reason to think Callissa had been drinking. Jill also threatened to file a civil rights suit against the officers. Officer Beringer explained to Jill that she was physically and verbally obstructing a police investigation and then called Sergeant Jacy Nelsen to the scene.

Sergeant Nelsen arrived with Officer Jessica Wade. Sergeant Nelsen informed Jill that she needed to either step aside or be arrested, and Jill stepped aside. Callis-sa was again asked whether she would take a PBT and was informed that if she refused she would be detained at the police station while they sought a warrant. Callis-sa again refused the PBT. Callissa and Wingo both were placed in. handcuffs and frisked by Officer Wade before being driven to the VPD.

At the station, Wingo agreed to take the PBT, which revealed a blood alcohol content (“BAC”) "of .21. Meanwhile, Officer Foley prepared an affidavit for a search warrant to force Callissa to take the PBT. Officer Foley included in his affidavit that *591 he could smell alcohol emanating from the car, Sappingfield performed a PBT on scene with a BAC of .05, Wingo had just performed a PBT at the station with a BAC of .21, and he noticed when speaking to Callissa that her eyes were watery and her face was flushed. A magistrate judge signed the warrant. More than two hours after the initial stop, Callissa finally performed the PBT, which revealed a BAC of .00.

, On July 2, 2014, Jill was indicted for violating South Dakota’s obstruction statute, SDCL § 22-11-6. She proceeded to trial and was convicted of obstructing an investigation. She did not appeal this conviction.

On September 4, 2014, Jill and Callissa Schaffer filed the complaint in this case. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, they alleged thirteen counts against the YPD officers for violations of various constitutional rights. The district court held that Officers Foley, Beringer, Wade, and Nelsen were entitled to qualified immunity on all counts and thus granted them summary judgment. The district court likewise held that Police Chief Matt Betzen was entitled to summary judgment on the claims against him in both his individual and official capacities.

On appeal, the Schaffers raise the following arguments: (1) the officers unlawfully arrested Callissa when they handcuffed and detained her; (2) the officers unlawfully searched Callissa when they frisked. Her; (3) Officer Foley purposefully misrepresented facts in the search warrant affidavit; (4) the officers committed retaliatory perjury in Jill’s obstruction trial; and (5) Chief Betzen failed to adequately train the officers. Wé address each of these arguments in turn.

II.

We review the district court’s order granting summary judgment de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Schaffers and drawing all reasonable inferences in their favor. See Joseph v. Allen, 712 F.3d 1222, 1225 (8th Cir. 2013). Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

A.

The Schaffers first argue that the officers violated Callissa’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizures. The Schaffers contend that Cal-lissa was under arrest from the moment she was placed in handcuffs until she was released from the VPD, and they argue that the officers did not have probable cause to support this arrest. The officers assert that they are entitled to summary judgment on grounds of qualified immunity-

Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability unless their conduct “violated a clearly established constitutional or statutory right of which a reasonable official would have known.” Carpenter v. Gage, 686 F.3d 644, 648 (8th Cir. 2012). Thus, the qualified immunity analysis is divided into two prongs: (1) whether the facts alleged establish a violation of a constitutional or statutory right; and (2) whether that right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation, such that a reasonable official would have known that his actions were unlawful. Keil v. Triveline, 661 F.3d 981, 985 (8th Cir. 2011). “If the answer to either question is no, then the [officials] are entitled to qualified immunity.” Id. Furthermore, “we may exercise our sound discretion in deciding which of the two prongs of the qualified immunity analysis should be ad *592 dressed first.” Mead v. Palmer, 794 F.3d 932, 936 (8th Cir. 2015) (quotation omitted).

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842 F.3d 585, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 20766, 2016 WL 6832976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jill-s-n-schaffer-v-bryan-beringer-ca8-2016.