Matthew Schantz v. Benny Deloach

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 26, 2021
Docket20-10503
StatusUnpublished

This text of Matthew Schantz v. Benny Deloach (Matthew Schantz v. Benny Deloach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matthew Schantz v. Benny Deloach, (11th Cir. 2021).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 1 of 35

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 20-10503 ____________________

MATTHEW SCHANTZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus BENNY DELOACH, former Sheriff of Appling County, Georgia, in his individual capacity,

Defendant-Appellee. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 2:17-cv-00157-LGW-BWC ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 2 of 35

2 Opinion of the Court 20-10503

Before JORDAN, BRASHER, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges. JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judge: Plaintiff appeals the district court’s order granting qualified immunity to Defendant on Plaintiff’s § 1983 excessive force claim based on Defendant’s use of deadly force during a high-speed chase that Plaintiff initiated when he ran from police on his motorcycle. After granting summary judgment to Defendant on Plaintiff’s § 1983 claim, the district court declined to exercise jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s remaining state claims and dismissed those claims with- out prejudice. Plaintiff appeals both the qualified immunity ruling on his § 1983 claim and the dismissal of his state claims. Having carefully reviewed the record and the briefs, and after oral argu- ment, we find no error and thus affirm the district court. BACKGROUND On the afternoon of June 17, 2016, Plaintiff Matthew Schantz was driving his motorcycle from Perry, Georgia to St. Si- mons Island, where he planned to meet his mother at the beach. Plaintiff smoked marijuana prior to leaving Perry that morning, and he had marijuana on his person as drove from Perry to St. Si- mons. While traveling south on Highway 341 through Appling County on route to St. Simons, Plaintiff passed Appling County po- lice officer Tim Sullivan, who was driving on the opposite side of the highway. Officer Sullivan made a U-turn and began following USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 3 of 35

20-10503 Opinion of the Court 3

Plaintiff. After pacing Plaintiff for a mile or two, Sullivan pulled up behind Plaintiff and activated his blue lights. Plaintiff did not have a registration tag on his motorcycle, but he did not believe he had committed any other traffic violations. Nevertheless, Plaintiff de- cided to take off instead of stopping, in part because he had mariju- ana on him at the time and he did not want to go to jail.1 When Plaintiff accelerated rather than stopping, Officer Sul- livan pursued Plaintiff and a high-speed chase ensued. Several other Appling County officers eventually joined the chase as Plain- tiff continued driving south down Highway 341, away from Sulli- van. Appling County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Eunice became aware of the chase while he was monitoring radio traffic. Soon thereafter, Eunice joined the chase and became the lead pursuit ve- hicle. Eunice recalled that the chase reached speeds well in excess of 100 miles per hour as Plaintiff drove away from the officers pur- suing him through Appling County, and Plaintiff did not dispute that he drove at speeds of up to 130 miles per hour and that he ran a red light in downtown Baxley, Georgia while trying to evade the officers. Plaintiff testified that the officers tried to get him to stop

1 This was not the first time Plaintiff had run from police trying to conduct a traffic or investigatory stop. Plaintiff was arrested after trying to outrun police on a different motorcycle in 2015. Then in April 2016, Plaintiff ran from the Cobb County police on foot to avoid being caught with marijuana. An eluding charge related to that incident was dropped, but Plaintiff served nearly a month in jail and was put on probation for possession of marijuana. USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 4 of 35

4 Opinion of the Court 20-10503

by pulling in front of him on the highway, but that he managed to swerve around and accelerate away from them. The Appling County officers pursued Plaintiff down Highway 341 towards Wayne County until they lost sight of him, at which time they tem- porarily discontinued the chase. At some point during the chase, Wayne County Sheriff’s Captain Kenny Poppell, who was in an unmarked patrol car headed north on Highway 341 towards Odum, Georgia, heard a call over the radio about the chase in Appling County. A few minutes later, Poppell saw a single headlight from a motorcycle driving south on Highway 341 towards him, which he suspected was the motorcycle involved in the chase. Wanting to investigate, Poppell turned onto the southbound lane of the highway and began driving at about 90 miles per hour in the same direction the motorcycle was traveling. Plaintiff, who Poppell testified was laying across the fuel tank of the motorcycle in a “race mode” stance, caught up to and passed Pop- pell. Poppell eventually lost sight of Plaintiff after he passed by on his motorcycle. Assuming Plaintiff had turned off Highway 341 onto a side road, Poppell decided to drive to Odum, to see if he could catch up with Plaintiff there. After he reached Odum, Pop- pell caught sight of Plaintiff again, and this time Poppell saw Plain- tiff cross two large speed bumps at a high rate of speed and while driving only on the rear wheel of his motorcycle. Poppell testified that he then saw Plaintiff turn back onto the northbound lane of Highway 341. Poppell stated that after Plaintiff turned back north USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 5 of 35

20-10503 Opinion of the Court 5

on Highway 341, he drove in the opposing lane of the highway to evade two patrol cars that were pursuing him, running the oncom- ing southbound traffic off the road. However, Plaintiff denied that he encountered any traffic other than patrol cars at this point dur- ing the chase, and we again assume that is true for purposes of this appeal. As Plaintiff’s chase proceeded from Appling into Wayne County and back towards Appling County again, officers from both police departments shared details about the continuing chase over radio traffic. As noted, Wayne County Sheriff’s Captain Pop- pell learned about the chase by listening to radio traffic coming in from Appling County. Likewise, Appling County officers and De- fendant Benny DeLoach, the Sheriff of Appling County at the time 2, learned about Plaintiff’s whereabouts and his activities after he left Appling County by listening to Wayne County radio traffic. Audio excerpts from Appling and Wayne County radio traffic dur- ing the relevant time period report Plaintiff engaging in a number of reckless activities during the chase, including: (1) traveling at a speed of 130 miles per hour, (2) “zipping around some big trucks,” (3) “coming into heavy traffic” and weaving “in and out of traffic,” (4) driving into “oncoming traffic,” (5) doing a “wheelie,” and (6) “not slowing up for anything.” Plaintiff acknowledges that the Appling and Wayne County radio traffic accurately describes some of his conduct during the

2 DeLoach retired from his position as Sheriff on December 31, 2016. USCA11 Case: 20-10503 Date Filed: 10/26/2021 Page: 6 of 35

6 Opinion of the Court 20-10503

chase. Again, Plaintiff did not dispute that he traveled at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour and up to 130 miles per hour and that he had to swerve around and perform other evasive maneuvers to avoid officers who were pursuing him during the chase. In addi- tion, Plaintiff admitted that he “popped wheelies,” drove into the opposing lane of the highway, and ran a red light in downtown Baxley, Georgia.

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Bluebook (online)
Matthew Schantz v. Benny Deloach, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthew-schantz-v-benny-deloach-ca11-2021.