Queen v. Prince George's County

188 F. Supp. 3d 535, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68981, 2016 WL 3017242
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 26, 2016
DocketCase No.: PWG-14-2941
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 188 F. Supp. 3d 535 (Queen v. Prince George's County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Queen v. Prince George's County, 188 F. Supp. 3d 535, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68981, 2016 WL 3017242 (D. Md. 2016).

Opinion

[537]*537MEMORANDUM OPINION

Paul W. Grimm, United States District Judge

Defendant Christopher May, who at the time was a police officer with Prince George’s County (the “County”), responded to two noise complaints early on January 19, 2014, along with other County police officers, and found Plaintiff Deme-trious Queen at the scene both times, alone, yelling loudly. The second time, they handcuffed Queen but then released him when he calmed down. Both times, they decided not to arrest him.- But, about fifteen minutes later, May arrested Queen, striking him in the face with the heel of his palm when he resisted efforts to place him under arrest.

Queen retained counsel and filed suit against May and the County, claiming that “Officer May and other Prince George’s County Police Officers hit plaintiff with their fists and a baton seven to eight times and dragged him down seven flights of stairs despite the fact that plaintiff had not committed a crime and despite the fact that plaintiff had not tried to escape or resist arrest.” Am. Compl. ¶ 7, ECF No. 17-1. His Amended Complaint includes claims for assault, battery, false arrest, and section 1983 claims based on arrest without probable cause and use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. ¶¶ 13-32. I granted the County’s unopposed Motion to Bifurcate, ECF No. 11, bifurcating the claims against May from the claims against the County for purposes of trial, with the claims against May to be considered first, and staying discovery as to the County’s liability. ECF No. 26. Queen’s counsel withdrew his appearance, and Queen now proceeds pro se. ECF Nos. 33, 36.

Now pending is May’s Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 45. Although it is unopposed, and the time for filing an opposition has passed, see Loe. R. 105.2(a), I find that the materials in the record show that genuine disputes exist as to material facts.1 Therefore, I will deny May’s motion and appoint pro bono counsel to represent Queen at trial, and this case will proceed to trial on the claims brought against May.

Standard of Review

Summary judgment is proper when the moving party demonstrates, through “particular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations ..., admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials,” that “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a), (c)(1)(A); see Baldwin v. City of Greensboro, No. 12-1722, 714 F.3d 828, 833 (4th Cir.2013). If the party seeking summary judgment demonstrates that there is no evidence to support the non-moving party’s case, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to identify evidence that shows that a genuine dispute exists as to material facts. See Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

When May stated his intention to move for summary judgment, ECF No. 40, the Court scheduled a pre-motion conference call and notified Queen, ECF No. 43, but Queen did not participate in the call, ECF No. 44. May then filed his motion, and the Court informed Queen of his right to respond to the motion, ECF No. 46, but he did not respond. Under these circumstances, “those facts established by the motion” are “uncontroverted.” Custer v. Pan Am. Life Ins. Co., 12 F.3d 410, 416 (4th Cir.1993). Nonetheless, Queen’s “fail[538]*538ure to respond ... does not fulfill the burdens imposed on moving parties by Rule 56,” which “requires that the moving party establish, in addition to the absence of a dispute over any material fact, that it is ‘entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.’ ” Id. (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). Thus, “the court, in considering a motion for summary judgment, must review the motion, even if unopposed, and determine from what it has before it whether the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.” Id,

Significantly, what is before the Court includes not only May’s motion but also the exhibits he attached. ECF Nos. 45-1-45-5. Moreover, on a motion for summary judgment, although “[t]he court need consider only the cited materials,” it “may consider other materials in the record.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(3). And, I am cognizant that Queen is unrepresented, even if the principle that “[a] document filed pro se is ‘to be liberally construed,’ and ‘a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held'to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers,’” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S.Ct. 2197, 167 L.Ed.2d 1081 (2007) (quoting Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976)), is inapplicable, given that Queen had counsel at the time he filed suit, ECF No. 1, and amended his complaint, ECF No. 17, and has not filed any documents independently. In this case, I have considered not only the cited material that May selected to support his motion, but all of the materials in the record, which includes transcripts from the depositions of Keona Singletary (Exhibit 1), Shearda Gerald (Exhibit 2), and May (Exhibit 3), as well as the Affidavit of Pofc. Christyal Boone (formerly Officer Rood) (Exhibit 4), and Queen’s medical records (Exhibit 5).

Factual Background2

In the early morning hours of Sunday, January 19, 2014, Prince George’s County police officers responded to two 911 calls from Burnside Road in Palmer Park, Maryland, the.first reporting a vehicle theft, May Dep. 4:20-6:9, and the second reporting a fight on the front lawn, Gerald Dep. 21:5-22:3. May was one of the responding officers on the first call. May Dep. 5:20-6:11. When he first arrived, he found Dem-etrious Queen “pacing back and forth in front of the house, ,.. talking to himself.” Id. at 6:22-25. Queen and his girlfriend Keona Singletary were attending a party at that location. Singletary Dep. 11:4— 12:13. Queen had started Singletary’s car to warm it up and left it unattended, at which time it was stolen. Id. at 4:13, Sin-gletary recalled that she was “angry” and “kind of got upset with him about the incident, why did he have the car running, things of that nature,” but Queen “really wasn’t upset. He just said that, you know, he didn’t intend for [her] car to get stolen or whatever.” Id. at 19:1-8.

The police returned when “two gentleman that were at the party or out in front of the party had some words with Demetrious or something of that nature ..., [A] verbal exchange took place.” Singletary Dep. 21:9-12. The scene escalated to involve about twenty people “fighting and yelling” outside. Id. at 22:20-23:2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 F. Supp. 3d 535, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68981, 2016 WL 3017242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/queen-v-prince-georges-county-mdd-2016.