Loggervale v. County of Alameda

District Court, N.D. California·Decided October 4, 2021·No. 3:20-cv-04679·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8

10 AASYLEI LOGGERVALE, AASYLEI HARDGE-LOGGERVALE, and 11 AAOTTAE LOGGERVALE, No. C 20-04679 WHA

12 Plaintiffs,

13 v. ORDER RE CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 14 COUNTY OF ALAMEDA, STEVEN HOLLAND, MONICA POPE, KEITH 15 LEEPER, ANTHONY DESOUSA, CAMERON GALLOWAY, and DOES 16 1-50, inclusive, 17 Defendants.

18 19 INTRODUCTION 20 In this Section 1983 action for unlawful conduct by sheriffs’ deputies, defendants move 21 for summary judgment on almost all claims. Plaintiffs have moved for summary judgment on 22 the unlawfulness of the searches and seizures. To the extent stated below, both sides’ motions 23 are GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. 24 STATEMENT 25 The following facts are uncontroverted. In the morning of September 20, 2019, plaintiffs 26 Aasylei Loggervale (Ms. Loggervale), Aasylei Hodge-Loggervale (Aasylei), and Aaottae 27 Loggervale (Aaottae), parked at a Starbucks in Castro Valley, California. Aaottae, then 1 students. All three were African-American. The three had driven through the night from Las 2 Vegas so Aayslei could take a college math test at nine a.m. in Berkeley. Their pause at 3 Starbucks would have been a rest before the final stretch. Ms. Loggervale parked in a 4 handicapped parking space, with a visible placard hanging from the rear-view mirror (DeSousa 5 Decl. Exh. H at 00:00–20:16; Holland Decl. Exh. A at 00:30–01:30). 6 Deputies’ body-cameras captured the following events. Alameda County Sheriff’s 7 Deputies Steven Holland and Monica Pope were on patrol. In separate vehicles, they parked 8 nearby and observed the Loggervales’ silver, four-door Cadillac for “several minutes.” After 9 running the plate, they determined it was a rental. They approached the vehicle. Deputy 10 Holland walked up to the driver’s window, and Deputy Pope stood on the passenger side of the 11 car. Turning on the engine, Ms. Loggerale rolled down her window to speak to Deputy 12 Holland (then shut off the engine). Deputy Holland told Ms. Loggervale that they were 13 investigating early-morning break-ins. She thanked him for informing them. Next, Deputy 14 Holland asked Ms. Loggervale for her identification. Ms. Loggervale initially reached for her 15 purse, but then refused. She stated that she did not believe she was required to produce it. An 16 argument with Deputy Holland ensued about his reasons for continuing to question her. He 17 insisted on seeing her identification. Ms. Loggervale instructed one daughter to start filming 18 with her cell phone and another to call Ms. Loggervale’s cousin (Pope Decl. Exh. E at 00:27– 19 04:50; Holland Decl. Exh. A at 00:30–05:00). 20 Aayslei and Aaottae also began arguing with the deputies. One called 911. All three 21 repeatedly denied any involvement with automobile crimes. Aaottae began videoing. When 22 Aasylei exited the vehicle to use the bathroom, her door hit Deputy Pope’s leg. Deputy 23 Holland said, “Hold on.” Aayslei asked her mother to pop the trunk. Deputy Holland said, 24 “We’re not doing that,” and “Everyone in the car’s detained.” He told Aasylei to sit in the car. 25 She did not. Deputy Holland told Ms. Loggervale to exit the car. Approximately 26 simultaneously, she started the engine, but did not move the car. 27 Deputy Holland then took hold of Ms. Loggervale’s left arm and struggled with her, 1 extracted Ms. Loggervale, handcuffed her, and seated her in a patrol vehicle. Deputy Keith 2 Leeper arrived shortly after Aasylei had exited the car. Then Aaottae exited the vehicle. 3 Deputy Holland told both to reenter the car, which they did not do. To Deputy Leeper, Deputy 4 Holland said, “They don’t want to listen, so let’s . . . detain these two,” meaning the daughters. 5 As Deputy Leeper tried to handcuff Aasylei, she batted his hand. He said, “You grab my hand 6 again, you’re gonna get dropped.” Deputy Leeper finished handcuffing her and escorted her to 7 a squad car. Aayslei kept her cell phone, which she then used to call 911. Meanwhile, Deputy 8 Pope held Aaottae against the car. Deputy Leeper returned to the Loggervales’ car and helped 9 Deputy Pope to handcuff Aaottae (Leeper Decl. Exh. F at 00:14–01:20; Holland Decl. Exh. A 10 at 00:30–6:33; Pope Decl. Exh. E at 04:30–09:00). 11 Deputies Leeper and Pope escorted Aaottae to a vehicle, where she sat on the seat but 12 refused to put her feet inside the car. All three argued for several moments. Deputy Leeper 13 put Aaottae’s feet into the vehicle, but she removed them immediately. He went around to the 14 opposite door, opened it, and pulled Aaottae fully into the car using her right arm. Deputy 15 Pope shut the other side’s door (Pope Decl. Exh. E at 10:00–13:00). 16 At several points, all three women expressed that their handcuffs were too tight and were 17 causing either numbness or pain (id. at 13:00–20:00.). 18 Deputies Holland and Pope returned to the rental and searched the front seat, back seat 19 (on the side Aayslei had been sitting), and the trunk. They also searched Aaottae and Ms. 20 Loggervales’ purses. Deputy Pope could not initially find Aaottae’s purse, so asked her where 21 her identification was. Aaottae explained that she had just graduated high school, was 17, and 22 did not have a (state) identification card, but that her student card was in her purse in the trunk. 23 Deputy Pope searched there next. Deputies neither asked for nor received permission to search 24 (Holland Decl. Exh. A at 10:30–17:00; Pope Decl. Exh. E at 13:00–20:00). 25 At some point, Deputy Cameron Galloway arrived along with non-defendant Deputy S. 26 Eng. 27 Aasylei informed Deputy Leeper she needed to use the bathroom, but he did not allow 1 Deputy Leeper swiftly opened the squad car’s rear door next to Aayslei and removed her 2 phone from her lap (Pope Decl. Exh. E at 21:41– 23:00). 3 Lieutenant Anthony DeSousa arrived sometime after the women were seated inside 4 squad cars. The record does not reflect that he immediately instructed anyone to halt a search 5 or to release plaintiffs. After approximately an hour, plaintiffs were allowed to leave. 6 Deputies issued no citations and no charges have been filed as of this order. 7 An internal affairs investigation followed. It found no wrongdoing. Alameda County 8 Sheriff Gregory Ahern was briefed and hand-wrote this on the report: “Briefed. No further 9 action required” (May Decl. 2, Exh. AA). 10 ANALYSIS 11 Summary judgment is proper where the admissible evidence demonstrates that there is 12 “no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter 13 of law.” FRCP 56(a). 14 1. SECTION 1983. 15 A Section 1983 analysis proceeds in two steps where a defendant asserts qualified 16 immunity. First, a district court determines whether a violation of a constitutional right 17 occurred. Second, if so, the court determines whether the plaintiff’s right to be free from 18 official action “was clearly-established.” Orn v. City of Tacoma, 949 F.3d 1167, 1178 (9th Cir. 19 2020). If not, qualified immunity shields the official defendants. 20 Here, plaintiffs assert four theories. First, plaintiffs argue that the deputies lacked 21 reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop and so the eventual arrests were 22 unlawful. Second, they argue that the vehicle search violated the Fourth Amendment. Third, 23 they argue the deputies used excessive force. Fourth, they argue that race discrimination 24 motivated the other violations. The next section discusses each theory below. 25 A. SEIZURE.

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