Little v. City of Saginaw

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 29, 2024
Docket1:21-cv-11104
StatusUnknown

This text of Little v. City of Saginaw (Little v. City of Saginaw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Little v. City of Saginaw, (E.D. Mich. 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN NORTHERN DIVISION

DAVID WILLIAM LITTLE,

Plaintiff, Case No. 1:21-cv-11104

v. Honorable Thomas L. Ludington United States District Judge CITY OF SAGINAW, et al.,

Defendants. ________________________________________/ OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S CROSS-MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

In January 2020, Saginaw Police Officers Steven Lautner and Jordan LaDouce were investigating broken windows when they discovered footprints in the snow, which they allege led to the front door of David Little’s apartment. The officers knocked on Little’s door around 7:00 PM, and Little answered soon after. As Little turned his body into his one-bedroom apartment, the officers followed immediately behind, entering Little’s apartment without consent and without a warrant. The officers immediately saw a pair of Little’s shoes drying next to a fan across the room. Within seven seconds—before comparing the shoes to the footprints in the snow—the officers arrested Little for malicious destruction of property. The officers then seized Little’s shoes. Little was confined for five days and, although county prosecutors filed criminal charges, all charges were dismissed after prosecutors discovered eyewitness testimony that the window-breaking suspect was a different race than Little. Little sued Officer Lautner, Officer LaDouce, and the City of Saginaw for depriving his Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unlawful entry, unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution, and unreasonable seizures. Little also alleged Officers Lautner and LaDouce committed several torts under Michigan law: assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unlawful imprisonment. In May 2023, this Court granted summary judgment for Plaintiff on two of his four Fourth Amendment claims and his Monell claim against the City of Saginaw. Plaintiff waived his intentional-infliction-of-emotional-distress and assault-and-battery claims. Currently before this

Court are the Parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment on Plaintiff’s remaining claims: (1) Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure; (2) Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution; and (3) tortious unlawful imprisonment. For the reasons discussed below, summary judgment will be granted to Plaintiff on the first and the third, and summary judgment will be granted to Defendants on the second. I.

A.

Plaintiff David William Little, a 48-year-old white man, lived in a one-bedroom apartment in a Saginaw, Michigan halfway house. See ECF Nos. 1 at PageID.3; 29-12 at 11:50–11:53 [hereinafter “LautnerCam 4”].1 Although the halfway house assisted recent parolees in re-entering the community, Plaintiff himself only worked at the halfway house as a groundskeeper and had no criminal history. ECF No. 29-6 at PageID.425; LautnerCam 4 at 12:00–06.

1 Plaintiff electronically filed Officer LaDouce’s and Officer Lautner’s January 5, 2020 bodycam footage. See ECF Nos. 29-12; 29-13; 30. Plaintiff attached four recordings from Officer Lautner’s bodycam. The first, LautnerCam 1, shows Officer Lautner’s initial response to the broken windows outside of the Saginaw law firm. The second, LautnerCam 2, captures Officer Lautner’s phone call with the firm’s owner. The third, LautnerCam 3, shows Officer Lautner’s actions inside the firm, investigating the broken windows. The fourth, LautnerCam 4, captures Office Lautner’s actions at Plaintiff’s apartment, including the arrest. Plaintiff also attached two recordings from Officer LaDouce’s body camera. The first, LaDouceCam 1, shows Officer LaDouce assisting Plaintiff into the police car and the second, LaDouceCam 2, captures Officer LaDouce driving Plaintiff from his apartment to the Saginaw County Jail. But this changed on January 5, 2020. That evening, Saginaw Police Officers Steven Lautner and Jordan LaDouce2 responded to dispatch calls reporting broken windows at a Central Michigan University (CMU) facility and a local law firm. ECF Nos. 26 at PageID.100; 26-4 at PageID.203–04, 208; 29-2 at PageID.321; LautnerCam 1 at 0:00–1:00. Notably, the person who called the Saginaw Police Department to report the law firm’s broken windows described the

suspect as a Black man wearing a tan coat. See ECF Nos. 29-2 at PageID.321; 29-4 at PageID.374. Approximately one inch of snow covered the ground that night, and the officers claim they saw footprints and a bike tire trail leading from the broken windows to Plaintiff’s apartment, over four blocks away. See ECF Nos. 26-4 at PageID.209–11, 231–34; 29-5 at PageID.406, 408. Around 7:00 PM, Officers Lautner and LaDouce knocked on Plaintiff’s door. See ECF Nos. 1 at PageID.3; 29-2 at PageID.326; 29-6 at PageID.437. Plaintiff answered the door and apologized to the officers for his delay in answering, noting he was asleep. LautnerCam 4 at 0:36–0:40. Officer Lautner immediately asked Plaintiff “where’s your bike at?” Id. at 0:42–0:43. Plaintiff told the officers his bike was inside the apartment and asked, “what happened?” Id. at 0:43–49. Officer

Lautner told Plaintiff that the officers were investigating broken windows. Id. at 0:50–1:00. Plaintiff responded that he knew nothing about broken windows and was “at [his] boyfriend’s all day.” Id. at 1:00–1:03. Officer Lautner told Plaintiff that he and Officer LaDouce had traced footprints from the broken windows to Plaintiff’s door, and asked Little if he recently wore shoes outside. Id. at 1:03–1:09. Plaintiff, still standing at the door, turned his body toward the inside of his apartment. Id. at 1:09. As Plaintiff began to walk inside, Officer Lautner followed immediately behind, entering Plaintiff’s apartment without his consent. Id. at 1:09–1:11.

2 Officer LaDouce resigned from the Saginaw Police Department in August 2021. ECF No. 29-5 at PageID.401. From across the room, Officer Lautner saw shoes drying on the floor of Plaintiff’s apartment on a towel next to a fan and said “yeah, those shoes right there!” Id. at 1:14–15; ECF No. 29-5 at PageID.411 (noting Plaintiff’s shoes were five-to-ten feet away). Less than seven seconds after entering Plaintiff’s apartment, Officer Lautner arrested Plaintiff and told him to put his hands behind his back. See LautnerCam 4 at 1:15–1:20. Plaintiff complied, and Officer Lautner

handcuffed him. Id. at 1:22–1:33. Plaintiff asked if he could put some shoes on and Officer Lautner turned to the shoes drying on the floor and said “well, those aren’t going to be yours anymore because I’m taking those.” Id. at 2:42–2:47. Officer Lautner then picked up one of the shoes, looked at its sole, and asked Plaintiff if he was drying the shoes. Id. at 3:42–47. Plaintiff responded “yeah, like I said, I just came from my boyfriend’s.” Id. at 3:47–3:50. Officer Lautner then picked up the second shoe, held both up to Plaintiff, and said “pretty expensive windows got broken [by] someone who has a shoeprint really similar to that,” noting an oval shape near the heel of the sole of Plaintiff’s shoes was “very very prevalent” in the snow prints. Id. at 3:53–4:10, 9:52–57. After this “eyeball observation,” Officer Lautner told Plaintiff the officers had probable

cause to arrest, read Plaintiff his Miranda rights, and asked Plaintiff if he wanted to talk. Id. at 4:34–5:56; see also ECF Nos. 29-4 at PageID.380, 382; 29-5 at PageID.413; 29-9 at PageID.467. Plaintiff said he was “stunned,” id. at 5:10–5:11, and denied involvement. Id. at 5:56–6:00 (“How in the heck can I do something if I wasn’t even there?”), 7:45–47 (“I wasn’t even there . . . I was at my boyfriend’s.”). Plaintiff did not speak with the officers aside from sharing his belief that he was “falsely being arrested . . . for something [he] didn’t even do.” Id. at 8:30–42.

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Little v. City of Saginaw, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/little-v-city-of-saginaw-mied-2024.