Pace v. Bowles

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedFebruary 5, 2024
Docket4:23-cv-01561
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Pace v. Bowles, (E.D. Mo. 2024).

Opinion

EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION

DAKOTA PACE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 4:23-CV-1561 RLW ) JEREMY BOWLES, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on the filing of an amended complaint by self-represented plaintiff Dakota Pace, an inmate currently housed at the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center.1 ECF No. 7. For the reasons discussed below, the Clerk of Court will be directed to issue process on plaintiff’s individual capacity claims against defendants Officer Jeremy Bowles, Sergeant Tim Harris, Deputy Vincent Jablonowski, and Deputy Ryne Scherffius, for excessive force and failure to intervene. The Court will, however, dismiss plaintiff’s remaining claims for failure to state a claim and/or legal frivolity under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e). Background Plaintiff initiated this prisoner civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by filing a complaint drafted on thirty-four pages of notebook paper. ECF No. 1. He brought this action against Officer Jeremy Bowles, a police canine named Teo, Sergeant Tim Harris, Deputy Unknown Scherffius, Deputy Unknown V. Jablonowski, four unknown sheriff deputies, and four unknown Farmington police officers. Id. at 3-9. Plaintiff indicated he was suing all defendants in their official and individual capacities.

1At the time of filing his original and amended complaints, plaintiff was confined at the St. Francois County Detention Center, but has since been transferred to the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Missouri. See ECF No. 8. Plaintiff alleged defendant Bowles caused his police canine, Teo, to attack him “several times”

while plaintiff was restrained by officers on the scene. Id. at 10. Plaintiff claimed the canine Teo had an altered titanium tooth, which caused injury to plaintiff’s left leg and right thigh. Id. at 11, 17, 27. He asserted defendant Bowles acted with excessive force under the supervision of defendants Harris and Jablonowski. Id. Plaintiff alleged defendants Bowles, Harris, and Jablonowski subsequently tried to conceal their wrongdoing by preventing him from speaking privately to medical professionals until defendant Scherffius later transported him to Parkland Health Center Emergency Department. Id. at 12-13. As to the “unknown” deputies and officers, plaintiff indicated they violated his constitutional rights by acting in concert with the identified defendants. Id. at 21-25. It was unclear from the factual allegations what exactly the “unknown”

defendants did or failed to do in order to violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights. On December 21, 2023, the Court reviewed plaintiff’s complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e) and determined it was subject to dismissal. ECF No. 4. First, plaintiff’s complaint was defective because it was not drafted on a Court-provided form. Second, the official capacity claims failed because the complaint was devoid of allegations to support a municipal liability claim against St. Francois County. Third, plaintiff’s complaint did not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), which requires a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief against each defendant. Specifically, it was unclear how some of the defendants were personally involved in or directly responsible for the alleged violations. Lastly, the complaint did not contain allegations sufficiently specific to permit the identity of “unknown” deputies and

police officers. In consideration of plaintiff’s self-represented status and the serious nature of his allegations, the Court permitted him to amend his complaint. Plaintiff timely filed an amended complaint on a Court-provided form. ECF No. 7. He

narrows the defendants to four employees of the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department – Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Bowles, Sergeant Mathew Timothy Harris, Deputy Vincent Jablonowski, and Deputy Ryne Scherffius – and police canine Teo. Id. at 3-4. Plaintiff indicates he is bringing this action against all defendants in their official and individual capacities. Id. at 1. Plaintiff provides his Statement of Claim on thirty-three pages of notebook paper. Id. at 6- 39. He alleges defendant Bowles used excessive force on January 13, 2022 while effectuating plaintiff’s arrest by ordering police canine, Teo, to attack him twice after he was placed in handcuffs and while he was restrained by defendant Harris. Id. at 6-7, 11-12, 28, 34. Defendant Harris allegedly “had Dakota Pace face down on the ground” when plaintiff was attacked by Teo.

Id. at 18, 28. Plaintiff also indicates defendant Bowles ordered Teo to attack before giving plaintiff “any verbal command,” which is against the Sheriff Department’s “standard operating procedures and policies.” Id. at 14. Plaintiff alleges Teo has a titanium tooth and, as a result of defendant Bowles’s commands, he sustained two dog bites on his right thigh and left leg. Id. at 7, 15. Plaintiff alleges defendants Harris, Jablonowski, and Scherffius witnessed the attacks, but did nothing to stop them. Id. at 18, 28, 34. Plaintiff suggests the defendants tried to conceal the second bite by not referencing it in the police report. Id. at 8-9, 21, 23. Plaintiff asserts this concealment was in violation of Missouri Revised Code 575.020.2 Id. at 10, 23, 31, 37.

2To the extent plaintiff seeks to bring a claim pursuant to Missouri Revised Code § 575.020, he lacks standing to do so. The statute establishes the crime of “concealing an offense,” and a private party cannot prosecute a criminal action. See Hubbard v. Missouri Dep’t of Mental Health, 2019 WL 1141782, at *2 (W.D. Mo. Mar. 12, 2019) (citing Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 619 (1973) (“[I]n American jurisprudence at least, a private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution . . . of another.”); Jones v. Clinton, 206 F.3d 811, 812 (8th Cir. 2000) (finding a private party has no standing to prosecute a criminal action)). Harris, Jablonowski, and Scherffius attack him “with a hard blunt object.” Id. at 7, 19, 29-30. As

a result of the alleged physical assault, plaintiff states he suffered from headaches, two avulsions and several abrasions to his forehead, a nasal septal deviation, swelling, and chest pains. Id. at 8, 11, 20, 30. Lastly, plaintiff alleges defendants subjected him to “medical neglect” because they “failed to call medical professionals for transport” to a hospital. Id. at 10, 13, 22-23, 27, 32, 38-39. Plaintiff claims his “health and well-being” were at risk because he did not receive “proper transportation by professionals trained to care for injured patients, who have experienced head trauma.” Id. at 13, 27, 32, 38-29. Plaintiff does not, however, allege a specific additional injury caused by the manner in which he was transported to the hospital. Although plaintiff complains about the mode of

transportation, he confirms he did receive treatment at BJC Parkland Health Care for the two dog bites and head injuries, as he repetitively refers to his treatment records throughout the complaint. Id. at 6, 8, 12, 14, 16-21, 25-26, 29-31, 34-36. For relief, plaintiff seeks monetary damages. Id. at 40-46. Legal Standard on Initial Review Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915

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