Leibel v. City of Buckeye

364 F. Supp. 3d 1027
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJanuary 30, 2019
DocketNo. CV-18-01743-PHX-DWL
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 364 F. Supp. 3d 1027 (Leibel v. City of Buckeye) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leibel v. City of Buckeye, 364 F. Supp. 3d 1027 (D. Ariz. 2019).

Opinion

Dominic W. Lanza, United States District Judge *1033Pending before the Court is Defendants' motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). (Doc. 16.) As explained below, the motion will be granted in part and denied in part.1

BACKGROUND

A. The Incident

The complaint was filed on June 6, 2018 (Doc. 1) and re-filed on June 7, 2018 at the direction of the Court (Doc. 7).2 The following summary assumes the truth of all allegations contained therein.

On July 19, 2017, C.L.-a 14-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder-was playing at a public park in Buckeye, Arizona. (Doc. 7 ¶¶ 1, 13, 16, 17.) C.L. was "stimming" with a piece of string. (Id. ¶ 21.) "Stimming," or "self-stimulatory behavior," is the repetition of physical movements and sounds or the repetitive movement of objects. (Id. ¶ 22). Stimming is common in individuals with developmental disabilities, as it provides a sense of calm and helps them cope with their surroundings. (Id. ¶¶ 22, 23.) It is a well-known and common symptom of autism. (Id. ¶ 24.)

Defendant David Grossman ("Officer Grossman")-a police officer and drug recognition expert employed by the Buckeye Police Department-approached C.L. after seeing C.L. stimming. (Id. ¶¶ 9, 20, 25, 27, 29.) Officer Grossman claims that he mistook C.L.'s stimming for illegal drug use. (Id. ¶ 25.) Officer Grossman asked C.L. what he was doing. (Id. ¶ 33.) C.L. responded, "Me? Good." (Id. ¶ 34.) Grossman again asked C.L. what he was doing. (Id. ¶ 35.) C.L. answered, "I'm stimming." (Id. ¶ 36.) Officer Grossman responded, "What?" (Id. ¶ 37.) C.L. then stated, "I stim with this," as he held up a piece of string for Officer Grossman to see. (Id. ¶ 38.) Officer Grossman responded, "What is that?" and commanded C.L. to "stop walking away from me." (Id. ¶ 39.)

C.L. stopped walking and answered, "It's a string," and again held the string up for Officer Grossman to see. (Id. ¶ 40.) Officer Grossman then responded, "Ok. So why are you bouncing around that way," and asked C.L. if "he had any ID on him." (Id. ¶ 41.) C.L. answered, "No" and turned to leave. (Id. ¶ 49.) Officer Grossman immediately grabbed C.L.'s right wrist and began bending C.L.'s right arm behind C.L.'s back, telling him: "Don't go anywhere." (Id. ¶ 50.) Officer Grossman then grabbed both of C.L.'s arms, forced them behind C.L.'s back, and began to handcuff him. (Id. ¶ 51.) C.L. began screaming and tried to move away from Officer Grossman. (Id. ¶ 52.)

C.L.'s reaction was predictable, given that people with autism often have hypersensitivity to sounds or touch, a condition known as tactory or sensory defensiveness. (Id. ¶ 53.) Even a slight touch can cause those with autism to suffer great anxiety, discomfort, and even physical pain. (Id. )

Officer Grossman then slammed C.L. against a tree, wrestled him to the ground, and pinned C.L. with his full body weight.

*1034(Id. ¶ 56.) C.L. continued to scream, repeatedly saying to himself, "I'm ok, I'm ok." (Id. ¶ 57.) C.L. then told Officer Grossman, "I need help," and "I can't breathe." (Id. ¶ 58.) Officer Grossman asked, "Why are you acting like this, C.L.?" (Id. ¶ 59.)

At this point, C.L.'s caregiver, Ms. Craglow, arrived at the park after running errands and informed Officer Grossman that C.L. is autistic. (Id. ¶ 60.) Initially, Officer Grossman ignored the statement and told Ms. Craglow that C.L. was "doing something with his hands." (Id. ¶ 61.) Ms. Craglow explained, "He's stimming," to which Officer Grossman responded "Yeah. I don't know what that is." (Id. ¶¶ 61, 62.) Ms. Craglow further explained, "It's when you have autism. It's his nerves." (Id. ¶ 63.) Officer Grossman uttered, "Uh huh, okay," and, despite the explanation, continued to pin C.L. to the ground with his full body weight. (Id. ¶ 64.) Ms. Craglow then informed Officer Grossman that C.L.'s hand was "turning white." (Id. ¶ 67.) Officer Grossman continued to hold down C.L. forcefully. (Id. ¶ 68.)

When another officer arrived on the scene, Officer Grossman allowed C.L. to get off the ground and sit with Ms. Craglow. (Id. ¶¶ 70, 71.) Officer Grossman told the other officer that he had detained C.L. because C.L. "started backing away from me while I was identifying him and trying to figure out what was in his hand." (Id. ¶ 71.)

C.L. suffered significant injuries resulting from his encounter with Officer Grossman. (Id. ¶ 73.) He suffered scratches, cuts, and bruises to his face, back, and arms and a serious ankle injury that has required numerous draining procedures with a heavy gauge needle as well as a surgical intervention. (Id. ¶¶ 74, 75.) C.L. also suffered emotional damage. (Id. ¶¶ 77-80.)

B. Post-Incident Conduct

Following the incident, C.L.'s parents filed a complaint against Officer Grossman with the Buckeye Police Department ("BPD"). (Id. ¶ 83.) In response, the BPD admitted that Officer Grossman "has not been trained in handling special needs people or mentally ill persons." (Id. ¶ 84.) Nevertheless, the BPD concluded that Officer Grossman "acted within the law and did not abuse his power as a sworn officer and was not negligent as an officer during this incident." (Id. ¶ 85.)

In a press conference following the incident, the BPD justified Officer Grossman's actions as those of "an officer who encountered a subject who was displaying behavior that he believed may have been of a subject who was under the influence of an inhalant." (Id. ¶ 86.) In that same press conference, the BPD stated that Officer Grossman's actions were justified because Officer Grossman "had reasonable suspicion" to "detain the juvenile" and "the juvenile began to walk away." (Id. ) The BPD made those statements despite knowing that C.L. had twice showed Officer Grossman the piece of string in his hand and had informed Officer Grossman that he was "stimming." (Id. )

The BPD didn't discipline Officer Grossman despite his track record of past misconduct. (Id. ¶¶ 87-89.) Officer Grossman had been disciplined at least four times in the seven years preceding the incident, including for illegally arresting a suspect, filing false reports, failing to act, and abandoning his duty as a police officer. (Id. ¶¶ 89-94.) In addition to those events, the BPD also knew that Officer Grossman had in the past (1) deployed excessive force without legal justification, (2) seized "brass knuckles" despite them not being illegal, (3) written defective police reports, and (4) engaged in reckless driving. (Id. ¶¶ 95-99.)

*1035Officer Grossman's supervisors-Lieutenant Charles Arlak ("Lieutenant Arlak") and Chief of Police Larry Hall ("Chief Hall")-have enabled Officer Grossman's illegal behavior by actively protecting him and minimizing and covering up his illegal behavior. (Id. ¶ 101.) Lieutenant Arlak is Officer Grossman's brother-in-law and is a close friend of Chief Hall. (Id.

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Bluebook (online)
364 F. Supp. 3d 1027, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leibel-v-city-of-buckeye-azd-2019.