McDaniel v. Green

755 So. 2d 942, 1999 WL 1259262
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 1999
Docket99-1087
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 755 So. 2d 942 (McDaniel v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDaniel v. Green, 755 So. 2d 942, 1999 WL 1259262 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

755 So.2d 942 (1999)

Karl Coty McDANIEL, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Ernest GREEN, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 99-1087.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

December 22, 1999.
Writ Denied March 24, 2000.

*944 Richard W. Vidrine, Ville Platte, for Karl Coty McDaniel.

John Fayne Wilkes, III, Lafayette, for Ernest Green et al.

Before COOKS, PETERS, and PICKETT, Judges.

PETERS, J.

Karl Coty McDaniel brought this action to recover damages for injuries he sustained in a May 7, 1997 altercation with Ernest Green, a Ville Platte, Louisiana City Policeman. In his suit, McDaniel named Green and the City of Ville Platte as defendants. The trial court's rejection of McDaniel's demands gave rise to this appeal. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court's judgment in all respects.

DISCUSSION OF THE RECORD

On the evening of May 7, 1997, McDaniel and three other teenage friends, Travis Odom, Joseph Arnaud, Jr., and Shannon Guillory were riding around Ville Platte in Odom's blue pickup truck. Before leaving Guillory's house where they had met up, the young men placed two ice chests containing beer in the bed of the truck. At the time, McDaniel, Odom, and Arnaud were seventeen years of age, and Guillory was eighteen.

Sometime during the evening, Pierre Vidrine was also driving in Ville Platte and had stopped at a traffic signal. As he waited in his vehicle for the light to change to green, an occupant of a blue pickup truck threw a beer bottle, striking Vidrine's vehicle. Vidrine and his passengers then found Officer Green stopped in a parking lot and reported the bottle-throwing incident. As they were making their complaint to Officer Green, Odom's pickup truck passed the parking lot, and Vidrine and his passengers pointed it out as being the truck involved. Officer Green then immediately proceeded to stop Odom's truck. The traffic stop occurred at approximately 11:00 p.m.

Prior to being stopped by Officer Green, the four men in Odom's truck had been driving around Ville Platte and drinking beer for a number of hours. All four men were occupying the truck's cab with McDaniel sitting next to Odom, Arnaud next to McDaniel, and Guillory occupying the position next to the passenger door. It is undisputed that as the young men drove around and drank beer, one of them threw a bottle out the window. However, they all denied that anyone had hit the Vidrine vehicle.

After stopping the Odom vehicle, Officer Green approached it on the driver's side and promptly informed the young men he was investigating a report that someone in a pickup truck containing four white males had thrown a bottle at a car. Almost immediately after Officer Green stopped the vehicle, Lt. Michael Johnson of the Ville Platte Police Department also arrived on the scene. As Lt. Johnson approached the pickup truck on the driver's side, he detected the odor of alcohol coming from inside the cab. The officers then ordered Odom out of the truck, and Odom complied. Lt. Johnson then proceeded to have Odom perform a field sobriety test.

While the exact sequence of events is in conflict, Officer Green testified that sometime early in the investigation, he inquired of the truck occupants as to the ownership of the beer in the truck. No one responded except McDaniel, who denied any wrongdoing on the part of the group and questioned Officer Green's authority to stop them. According to Officer Green, he informed McDaniel that he was not accusing them of doing anything wrong but simply investigating a complaint. This explanation did not satisfy McDaniel, who continued to express his view of the situation in no uncertain terms. When McDaniel refused to keep quiet after being told to do so by Officer Green, the officer felt *945 McDaniel's vocal involvement was interfering with his ability to ascertain the facts concerning the bottle-throwing incident, and he asked McDaniel to exit the vehicle.

McDaniel did not dispute Officer Green's version of the verbal exchange which took place while he was in the truck. In fact, McDaniel admitted that when Officer Green told him to keep quiet, he did not comply with that instruction. Rather, he continued to inform the officer that they were not involved in the bottle-throwing incident and that the officer had no right to stop them. According to McDaniel, after he exited the vehicle, he again professed their innocence to Officer Green, who became angry and grabbed his left arm without warning. McDaniel testified that he stiffened up and attempted to pull away from the officer, and as he did, Officer Green then began hitting him with a flashlight. McDaniel asserted that, after the first blow, he fell to the ground, and Officer Green struck him at least four more times. Once Officer Green stopped hitting him, he handcuffed McDaniel, placed him in a patrol car, and transported him to the hospital.

Officer Green testified that as he attempted to question the occupants of the truck, McDaniel was belligerent, continuously interrupted him, denied any involvement in the bottle-throwing incident, and stated that Officer Green's actions in stopping them were "b___ s___." According to Officer Green, when McDaniel exited the truck, he "began to get loud and belligerent once again" and repeated that he had done nothing wrong and that the officer's actions were "b___ s___." Despite continued instructions from Officer Green to be quiet and warnings that he would be arrested if he did not stop interfering with the investigation, McDaniel continued his verbal tirade. Officer Green testified that he then informed McDaniel he was under arrest "for interfering with the duties of a police officer." The officer ordered McDaniel to turn around and put his hands on the truck. According to Officer Green, when McDaniel failed to comply, the officer grabbed McDaniel's right arm and attempted to turn him around so he could place handcuffs on him. As he attempted to handcuff him, McDaniel "jerked away," pushed him, and yelled a racial obscenity.

By this time, Officers Gab Guillory and Kent Vidrine of the Ville Platte Police Department had arrived on the scene. Officer Green testified that when McDaniel "jerked away," he stepped back, and Officer Guillory grabbed McDaniel from behind. According to Officer Green, McDaniel then pulled away from Officer Guillory, came toward him, and attempted to hit him. As McDaniel approached him, Officer Green removed his police baton from his belt loop and attempted to strike McDaniel on the shoulder in self-defense. He missed McDaniel's shoulder and struck him on the head instead. Both Officer Guillory and Officer Vidrine then grabbed McDaniel, handcuffed him, and placed him in a patrol unit. Because McDaniel was bleeding from the wound inflicted by Officer Green, the officers transported him to the Ville Platte Medical Center.

Officer Guillory testified that when he and Officer Vidrine arrived, McDaniel was already outside the truck with Officer Green. According to Officer Guillory, every time Officer Green attempted to speak, McDaniel interrupted him, getting progressively louder. When Officer Green finally informed McDaniel that he was placing him under arrest, Officer Green had not yet touched McDaniel.

Officer Guillory's testimony was basically the same as that of Officer Green, concerning what happened next.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
755 So. 2d 942, 1999 WL 1259262, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdaniel-v-green-lactapp-1999.