(PS) Grissom v. Modesto Police Department

District Court, E.D. California·Decided March 23, 2022·No. 1:21-cv-01273·Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 TONY VALENTINO GRISSOM, Case No. 1:21-cv-01273-JLT-SAB

12 Plaintiff, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDING DISMISSING ACTION 13 v. FOR FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM AND FAILURE TO PROSECUTE/OBEY A 14 MODESTO POLICE DEPARTMENT, et al., COURT ORDER

15 Defendants. (ECF Nos. 1, 10)

16 OBJECTIONS DUE WITHIN TWENTY- ONE 17 18 19 20 I. 22 Plaintiff Tony Valentino Grissom, also known as Hawk Silverdragon (“Plaintiff”),1 23 proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, initiated this action in the Sacramento Division of the

24 1 The Court notes that, at various times throughout the complaint and attached documents, Plaintiff refers to himself 25 as both Hawk Silverdragon Trust© and Tony Valentino Grissom Exrel Hawk Silverdragon as “accommodation party” of Hawk Silverdragon Trust©. (See Compl. at 1; see also id. at ¶ 4 (Plaintiff refers to himself as beneficiary of the Tony Valentino Grissom Exrel Hawk Silverdragon Trust©).) It is at times unclear whether Plaintiff purports 26 to be asserting claims on behalf of the trust or himself. However, as Local Rule 183(a) prohibits non-attorneys from representing business entities and Plaintiff, who is proceeding in this matter pro se, has not indicated that he is a 27 practicing attorney and therefore may not represent the Hawk Silverdragon Trust©, the Court presumes for purposes of the instant findings and recommendations that Plaintiff is asserting all claims on behalf of himself as Tony 28 Valentino Grissom aka Hawk Silverdragon. 1 Eastern District of California on August 13, 2021, against Defendants Modesto Police 2 Department, City of Modesto, Officer Tyrell Minnis-Swass, and two Doe Officers. (ECF No. 1.) 3 On August 23, 2021, the case was transferred from the Sacramento Division to this Court. (ECF 4 No. 3.) The Court screened Plaintiff’s complaint and determined that Plaintiff failed to state a 5 cognizable claim. An order issued on February 11, 2022, providing Plaintiff with thirty days in 6 which to file an amended complaint. (ECF No. 10.) In the February 11, 2022 order, Plaintiff was 7 advised that if he failed to file an amended complaint, it would be recommended that this action 8 be dismissed for the reasons stated in the order. (Id. at 31.) More than thirty days have passed, 9 and Plaintiff has not filed an amended complaint or otherwise responded to the November 19, 10 2021 order. For the following reasons, the Court shall recommend the action be dismissed for 11 failure to state a claim and failure to prosecute/obey a Court order. 12 II. 14 A. Failure to State a Claim 15 1. Plaintiff’s Allegations 16 Plaintiff’s original complaint attempts to assert causes of action for false arrest, due 17 process violations, a Brady violation, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit constitutional 18 violations, failure to intervene, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress 19 (IIED), respondeat superior, and indemnification. (ECF No. 1.) 20 Plaintiff alleges he is “one of the people indigenous to this Land of the California 21 Republic.” (Compl. ¶ 4.) On August 22, 2020, around noon, Plaintiff was “traveling from point 22 (a) to point (b) in a private conveyance of his choice,” also referred to by Plaintiff as “his 23 vehicle,” in Modesto, California. (Id. at ¶¶ 8, 11.) As he was “on his way to park his vehicle,” 24 Plaintiff was stopped by Defendant Officer Minnis-Swass “for a suspected traffic violation,” 25 specifically, an expired vehicle registration. (Id. at ¶¶ 8, 28; see also Ex. D, ECF No. 1 at 25–26 26 (traffic citation for violation of Cal. Veh. Code § 4000(A)(1)).) When asked to show his driver’s 27 license, Plaintiff told Minnis-Swass he was not “driving” because he was “not actively engaged in 28 commerce.” (Compl. ¶¶ 9, 11.) Minnis-Swass disagreed with this characterization and informed 1 Plaintiff he needed to see Plaintiff’s driver’s license, or he would have to arrest Plaintiff. (See id. 2 at ¶ 12.) Instead of presenting a driver’s license, Plaintiff handed Minnis-Swass a “Fee 3 Schedule,”2 a “Notice to Arresting Officer,”3 and a “Sovereign Identification.”4 (Id. at ¶ 13; id. at 4 Exs. A–C, ECF No. 1 at 15–24.) At this time, Minnis-Swass called his “superior officer” to 5 verify whether he should arrest Plaintiff for failure to show a driver’s license. (Compl. ¶ 14.) 6 Thereafter, two Doe officers arrived on scene. (Id. at ¶ 15.) Plaintiff concludes the Doe 7 officers “formed a verbal agreement” with Minnis-Swass to arrest Plaintiff for failure to produce 8 a driver’s license but alleges no other facts about the Doe officers. Minnis-Swass then arrested 9 Plaintiff by removing him from his vehicle and placing him in handcuff restraints. (Id. at ¶ 16.) 10 Minnis-Swass searched Plaintiff’s clothes and removed a wallet and a computer thumb drive from 11 Plaintiff’s pockets. (Id. at ¶ 17.) Minnis-Swass put Plaintiff in the back of his police vehicle, 12 then he looked through Plaintiff’s wallet and found Plaintiff’s driver’s license. (Id. at ¶ 18.) 13 Minnis-Swass issued Plaintiff a citation and told Plaintiff he would be released if he signed the 14 citation. (Id. at ¶ 19; see also id. at 26.) Plaintiff claims he signed the citation “under duress, 15 coercion and threat of slavery.” (Id. at ¶ 20.) After Plaintiff signed the citation, unspecified 16 2 Plaintiff appends a copy of the “Notice of Fee Schedule for Protection From Corporate Abuse, False Arrest, 17 Victimless Charges, and Bills of Attainder” he provided to Minnis-Swass as Exhibit A to the complaint. (Ex. A, ECF No. 1 at 15–18.) The notice declares Plaintiff is “a people as recognized in America’s founding documents, 18 including the Magna Carta, The Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the original Constitution for the united states of America,” and asserts Plaintiff’s sovereignty in America apart from the State of 19 California, which Plaintiff declares to be a “corporation,” and all state employees its “employees and franchises . . . [who] lack understanding of Corpus Delecti.” At bottom, the notice declares Plaintiff may not be punished for 20 violating any California regulation or statute that he deems to be undeserving of punishment and sets forth a “fee schedule” by which Plaintiff purports to charge arresting police officers a fee of some to-be-determined weight “in 21 troy ounces of .999 pure gold” per violation of Plaintiff’s “unalienable rights” and/or per hour that Plaintiff is detained or under arrest. 22 3 Plaintiff appends a copy of the “Notice to Arresting Officer with Miranda Warning” he provided to Minnis-Swass 23 as Exhibit B to the complaint. (Ex. B, ECF No. 1 at 19–21.) The notice purports to notify any arresting officer that Plaintiff is “working in the capacity of a Civil Rights Investigator,” warns that any action taken by the officer may 24 result in a civil rights lawsuit being brought against him, and sets forth a list of “demands” that must be satisfied by the arresting officer in connection with any arrest in order to avoid being sued by Plaintiff in civil court. 25 4 The document referred to as Plaintiff’s “Sovereign Identification” and appended to the complaint as Exhibit C is titled “Claim for the Live Life.” (Ex. C, ECF No. 1 at 22–24.) It lists Plaintiff’s birthdate and birth parents’ names, 26 includes illegible signatures and extremely grainy and poor-quality copies of photos that the Court surmises are meant to be of Plaintiff’s headshot, left and right retina, fingerprint, and “DNA,” and identifies Plaintiff by his chosen 27 name, Hawk Silverdragon.

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