Parish v. Lansdale

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided September 30, 2019·No. 4:17-cv-00186·Unknown

Opinion

WO Miles Parish, No. CV-17-00186-TUC-JGZ Plaintiff, ORDER v. Troy Lansdale, et al.,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Miles Parish brings this civil rights action against Tucson Police Department (TPD) Officers Troy Lansdale and Bradley Kush, the City of Tucson, and TPD Chief of Police.1 Parish alleges that while Officers Lansdale and Kush were investigating a complaint about a loud party, they illegally entered his home and pulled him outside, taking him to the ground, where Officer Lansdale struck him. Currently pending before the Court are three motions for summary judgment. Parish seeks summary judgment on Officers Lansdale and Kush’s affirmative defenses of qualified immunity and state law defenses, and seeks partial summary judgment on his state law claims. (Doc. 63.) Officers Lansdale and Kush seek summary judgment on Plaintiff’s civil rights and state law claims. (Doc. 64.) The City of Tucson and Chief of Police request summary judgment asserting that the City did not maintain policies condoning unconstitutional police conduct. (Doc. 66.) The motions were heard on August

1 Parish’s Complaint originally named TPD Chief Roberto Villasenor, the TPD Chief on the incident date. Chief Chris Magnus has since replaced Chief Villasenor. (Doc. 66 at 1.) Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d), Chief Magnus is automatically substituted for Defendant Villasenor for official capacity claims. 20, 2019. For the following reasons, the Court will grant parts of and deny parts of the motions. I. Factual Background2 On December 13, 2015, at around 12:40 a.m., Officer Lansdale and other officers responded to a report of a loud party with yelling and screaming in Parish’s neighborhood near the University of Arizona. (Doc. 42, ¶ 14; Doc. 52, p. 4, ¶ 14; Doc. 53, p. 4, ¶ 14; Doc. 65 at ¶ 1; Doc. 66, p. 2 n.2.) Upon arriving in the area, Officer Lansdale was able to identify Parish’s residence as the source. Lansdale described the music as overwhelming. (Doc. 65, ¶ 2.) Officer Lansdale rang the doorbell and knocked on Parish’s front door. (Id.) He could hear people inside yelling “Oh shit, the cops are here. Turn the music off. Just be quiet.” (Doc. 65-1, Ex. 1, p. 4.) He used his flashlight to look through a window where he saw “people begin to scatter and run into different rooms of the house . . . .” (Id. at pp. 3– 4.) The music was turned off after Officer Lansdale had been knocking for 30 seconds to a minute. (Doc. 42, ¶ 20; Doc. 52, p. 4, ¶ 20; Doc. 53, p. 5, ¶ 20.) Some minutes later, the house became dark inside other than the flashing DJ-style lighting. (Doc. 42, ¶ 17; Doc. 52, p. 4, ¶ 17; Doc. 53, p. 5, ¶ 17.) Officer Lansdale continued knocking and asking for a resident to open the door.3 2 Numerous statements of facts and controverting statements of fact were filed by the parties in support of and in opposition to the motions. The Court culled through these filings and some of the underlying documents to identify those facts that were disputed and those that were not. 3 According to Officer Lansdale, one of the officers called out that they were there for a loud party and announced that if someone did not come to the door, “they were gonna get a red tag” as the officers had determined from looking through the blinds that there were more than five people inside. (Doc. 42-3, p. 5.) “Red tag” refers to a civil citation for violating Tucson’s “unruly gathering” ordinance, which carries a $500 fine. Tucson City Code § 16-32. Section 16-32, defines an “[u]nruly gathering” as “a gathering of five (5) or more persons on any private property . . . in a manner which causes a disturbance of the quiet enjoyment of private or public property by any person or persons. Such disturbances include, but are not limited to, excessive noise . . . the service of alcohol to minors or consumption of alcohol by minors, fighting, disturbing the peace . . . .” Tucson City Code § 16-32(a). “A peace officer may abate an unruly gathering by reasonable means including, but not limited to, citation or arrest of violators under applicable ordinances or state statutes, and dispersal of the persons attending the gathering.” Id. (Doc. 42 at ¶ 24; Doc. 52, p. 5, ¶ 24; Doc. 53, p. 5, ¶ 24.) After about four minutes, Parish opened the door just wide enough to lean out his head and part of one shoulder. (Doc. 42, ¶¶ 24, 28; Doc. 52 , p. 5, ¶¶ 24, 28; Doc. 53, 6, ¶¶ 24, 28; Doc. 65, ¶2.) At some point, Officer Kush arrived and joined Officer Lansdale on the front porch. (Doc. 42, ¶¶ 21, 23; Doc. 52, p. 4, ¶¶ 21, 23; Doc. 53, p. 5, ¶¶ 21, 23.) Officer Lansdale told Parish that the officers were there for a loud party complaint and advised him that if he could get everybody out of the party, he would not be given a red tag. (Doc. 42, ¶ 31; Doc. 52, p. 5, ¶ 31; Doc. 53 p. 7, ¶ 31.) According to Officer Lansdale, Parish was initially apprehensive and uncooperative, saying that he would only cooperate if he didn’t get a red tag. (Doc. 65, ¶ 7.) Parish agreed to disperse the party but insisted on closing his front door. (Doc. 42 at ¶¶ 32, 33; Doc. 52, p.5, ¶¶ 32, 33; Doc. 53 at 6–7, ¶¶ 32, 33.) While speaking to Parish, Officer Lansdale placed his foot on the threshold of the doorway to prevent Parish from closing the door.4 (Doc. 42, ¶ 30; Doc. 52, p. 5, ¶ 30; Doc. 53, p. 6, ¶ 30; Doc. 65, ¶ 10.) Parish yelled at Officer Lansdale that he “was entering his f[]ing house without a warrant and that [Lansdale] needed to get the f[] out and the only reason [Lansdale] was coming in was because [Parish] was black.”5 (Doc. 65, ¶ 10.) The parties dispute at what point Officer Lansdale placed his foot in the door. Officer Lansdale states he placed his foot

at § 16-32(b).

4 The parties dispute where precisely Officer Lansdale placed his foot. In his response to Plaintiff’s statement of facts, Officer Lansdale admits only that he placed his boot “onto the threshold.” (Doc. 53, p. 7, ¶ 34.) In Officer Lansdale’s statement of facts, he claims that he “positioned his foot so that it was on the threshold only and not inside the house.” (Doc. 65, ¶ 11.) However, Officer Lansdale also admits that Parish was unable to shut the door because of Officer Lansdale’s foot, and that Officer Lansdale placed his boot on the threshold in that manner for the express purpose of preventing Parish from closing the door. (Doc. 42, ¶ 30; Doc. 52, p. 5, ¶30; Doc. 53, 6, ¶ 30; Doc. 65, ¶ 10.) It is implausible that Officer Lansdale could prevent Parish from closing the door unless his foot extended into Parish’s home. Moreover, at oral argument, defense counsel conceded that when Lansdale placed his boot on Parish’s threshold, he made entry into Parish’s home. Importantly, although it is not now disputed whether Officer Lansdale entered Parish’s house, the extent of the entry is still at issue. Parish testified that Officer Lansdale placed his entire foot inside the house, parallel to the threshold and blocking the door. (Doc. 42, Ex. 5, pp. 111–13.)

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