(PC) Price v. Pacheco

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJanuary 25, 2024
Docket2:22-cv-01610
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
(PC) Price v. Pacheco, (E.D. Cal. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JoANN PRICE, et al., No. 2:22-CV-1610-DAD-DMC-P 12 Plaintiffs, 13 v. ORDER 14 ARTURO PACHECO, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiffs, who are proceeding with retained counsel, brings this civil rights action 18 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs are the estate and successor-in-interest of Ronnie Price, 19 who is deceased. Pending before the Court is Plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a third amended 20 complaint, ECF No. 107. Defendants have filed oppositions, ECF Nos. 111 and 122. Plaintiffs 21 have filed a reply, ECF No. 112. Defendants have filed objections to Plaintiffs’ reply, ECF No. 22 113. 23 The parties appeared for a hearing before the undersigned via Zoom on January 24 10, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Ryann Hall, Esq., appeared for Plaintiffs. Ryan Gille, Esq., Dianna 25 Albini, Esq., and Derek Ulmer, Esq., appeared for various Defendants. After discussions with 26 counsel, the matter was submitted. 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 I. PLAINTIFFS’ ALLEGATIONS 2 This action currently proceeds on Plaintiffs’ second amended complaint. See ECF 3 No. 36. Plaintiffs name the following as defendants: (1) Arturo Pacheco; (2) Ashley Aurich; (3) 4 Jeffrey Bigney; (4) Arturo Luna; (5) Dorian Lopez; (6) Brenda Villa; (7) Jeffrey Lynch; and (8) 5 David Baughman. See id. at 2-4. All Defendants are alleged to be employees of the California 6 Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). See id. 7 Plaintiffs allege that the CDCR Health Care Department Operations Manual, 8 section 2.1.19, requires the prison warden or his/her designee to notify an inmate’s next of kin 9 within 24 ours of the death, serious illness, or serious injury of the inmate. See id. at 6. 10 According to Plaintiffs, Mr. Price was assaulted on September 15, 2016, by Defendant Pacheco as 11 Mr. Price was being escorted between buildings by Pacheco and Defendant Aurich. See id. Mr. 12 Price was being moved from Building 6A to Building 7A on instructions from Defendant Villa. 13 See id. Mr. Price asked to be taken to Administrative Segregation rather than move to Building 14 7A to be housed with a new cellmate. See id. at 6-7. Mr. Price agreed to be handcuffed and 15 escorted to Administrative Segregation. See id. at 7. Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Luna and 16 Officer Roger Lynch were present for this conversation. See id. While Defendants Pacheco, 17 Aurich, and Luna escorted Mr. Price, Officer Lynch remained behind to collect Mr. Price’s 18 belongings. See id. 19 As Mr. Price was being escorted, Defendant Pacheco informed him that he was 20 being taken to his new cell in Building 7A instead of Administrative Segregation. See id. Upon 21 being so informed, Mr. Price stated he was not going to a new cell and stopped walking. See id. 22 According to Plaintiffs:

23 31. Defendant Pacheco squatted down, placed his shoulder on Mr. Price’s buttock area, grabbed Mr. Price’s quadriceps and pushed Mr. Price 24 forward with his body weight. Mr. Price still had his hand handcuffed behind his back. Defendant Pacheco’s unjustified use of force caused Mr. 25 Price to fall violently forward onto his face impacting the concrete floor.

26 Id. 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 Plaintiffs contend that the impact of Mr. Price’s head striking the floor caused him 2 to break his jaw and several teeth, as well as injure his right shoulder. See id. Plaintiffs further 3 contend that Defendants Aurich and Luna made no attempts to prevent Defendant Pacheco from 4 slamming Mr. Price to the concrete floor. See id. Plaintiffs also assert that Defendant Bigney 5 would have been able to see what happened had he not violated CDCR policy by covering his 6 windows. See id. 7 Plaintiffs allege that, after Mr. Price crashed face-first into the concrete floor, 8 Defendant Aurich sounded the alarm, and Defendants Villa, Bigney, and Lopez were among the 9 first to respond. See id. Defendant Villa instructed Defendant Aurich to get a camera and take 10 photos. See id. Defendant Lopez and Officer Todd Jones relieved Defendant Pacheco and 11 escorted Mr. Price to the medical clinic where it was immediately determined that Mr. Price 12 would need to be sent to UC David Medical Center for emergency medical attention. See id. at 8. 13 On the day of the incident, Defendant Villa sent an email to Defendants Bigney, 14 Aurich, Luna, Lopez, as well as Officer Jones, with the subject line IR 0824.” Id. The email 15 included a document titled “IR Price 0824.doc.” Id. The email contained the phrase “Resisting a 16 Peace Officer Resulting in the UOF (Physical).” Id. Although required to do so, Defendant Villa 17 did not submit a report about the September 15, 2016, incident. See id. Nor did Defendant Villa 18 collect a report from Defendant Luna, who was present during the entire incident. See id. 19 According to Plaintiffs, after responding officers left the scene, Defendant Villa spoke with 20 Defendants Pacheco, Aurich, Lopez, and Bigney “regarding who was going to be documented in 21 the incident reports.” Id. Plaintiffs allege that “[t]here was an agreement between defendants 22 Villa, Pacheco, Lopez, Aurich and Bigney not to include references to defendant Luna in the 23 incident report.” Id. According to Plaintiffs, Defendant Luna was omitted from any incident 24 report after Defendant Villa instructed Defendant Aurich to “keep it between the Block,” 25 referring to the fact that Defendant Luna worked in a different building. Id. Plaintiffs contend 26 this was an “act of engaging in a code of silence and encouraging staff to do the same.” Id. 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 Plaintiffs allege that Defendant Villa received reports from Defendants Lopez, 2 Aurich, Pacheco, Bigney, and Officer Jones. See id. According to Plaintiffs, Defendant Villa 3 made substantive changes to several of these reports, removing factual information and adding 4 specific details which did not accurately reflect the events of September 15, 2016. See id. at 9. 5 Defendants Lopez, Aurich, Pacheco, and Bigney signed the allegedly falsified reports. See id. 6 Though Defendant Luna initially drafted a report, this report was not submitted despite a 7 requirement that he do so, allegedly on instruction from Defendant Pacheco. See id. Plaintiffs 8 allege that, later, Defendant Luna acknowledged that he knew Defendant Pacheco had used 9 excessive force against Mr. Price and failed to report this wrongful conduct. See id. 10 Plaintiffs state that Defendant Luna was interviewed by CDCR’s Office of Internal 11 Affairs (OIA) on two separate occasions. See id. At the first interview, Defendant Luna denied 12 having written a report about Defendant Pacheco’s use of excessive force against Mr. Price. See 13 id. Plaintiffs claim that, at the second OIA interview, Defendant Luna “lied about not having 14 drafted a report, claiming he should have done so, until he was confronted with a copy of the 15 report he drafted but did not submit.” Id. Plaintiffs also claim that “Defendant Luna lied in his 16 reports and during the OIA interviews in an attempt to cover his and his codefendants’ wrongful 17 conduct.” Id. 18 Plaintiffs state that Defendant Bigney wrote a report about the September 15, 19 2016, incident. See id. According to Plaintiffs, this report involved several drafts but the final 20 version contained “material misrepresentations designed to hide the fact defendant Luna was 21 present during the assault.” Id. Plaintiffs further contend that Defendant Bigney lied during two 22 OIA interviews concerning his conduct and the conduct of other officers. See id. Plaintiffs claim 23 this was doe in an attempt to cover his and his codefendants’ wrongful conduct. See id. at 10. 24 Plaintiffs similarly allege with respect to Defendants Lopez, Pacheco, Aurich, and Villa. See id. 25 at 10-11.

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(PC) Price v. Pacheco, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pc-price-v-pacheco-caed-2024.