Rabin v. Cook County

837 F. Supp. 2d 949, 2011 WL 5979371, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136596
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 29, 2011
DocketNo. 09 C 8049
StatusPublished

This text of 837 F. Supp. 2d 949 (Rabin v. Cook County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rabin v. Cook County, 837 F. Supp. 2d 949, 2011 WL 5979371, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136596 (N.D. Ill. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ELAINE E. BUCKLO, District Judge.

Plaintiff Scott Rabin sued Officers Flynn, Knepper, and Quinlan, Cook County and Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart for violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 along with various state law claims. Defendants have moved for summary judgment, purportedly on all claims,1 while plaintiff has moved for partial summary judgment on Counts II and III against Flynn, Knepper and Quinlan. For the reasons that follow, both motions are granted in part and denied in part.

I.

The majority of the facts in this matter are not in dispute. On December 14, 2009, plaintiff was self-employed as a private detective. Plaintiffs duties include serving process and doing investigative work for lawyers and law firms. Plaintiff was previously employed as a Chicago Police Officer from 1987 to 1997. On December 14, 2009, plaintiff went to 750 West Lake Cook Road to serve an “Order Appointing Receiver” at that location. Deputy Flynn, who was assigned to the Civil Process Division for the Sheriffs Office, served process at that same location. Flynn observed plaintiff walk into the building with what appeared to be a gun holstered on his side. Flynn informed his dispatch that he observed a man with a gun walking into an office building. Plaintiff was wearing a blue shirt, a turtleneck and jeans and he had his gun holstered toward the back of his hip. As plaintiff exited the building, he had a bulge in the area where his gun and holster were located. Flynn asked plaintiff if he was armed and plaintiff admitted he was. Plaintiff told Flynn that he was a private detective and that he had a TAN card2. Flynn did not know what a TAN card was. Flynn contacted his dispatch to [953]*953make further inquiries regarding plaintiffs TAN card.

Officers from Buffalo Grove soon arrived on the scene. Officer Knepper was assigned to Civil Process and heard over the radio that Flynn had a man with a gun. After Knepper arrived at the scene, he observed Flynn standing next to plaintiff and asked if plaintiff was the armed man and Flynn replied yes. Knepper placed handcuffs on plaintiff. Flynn removed a handgun from plaintiffs holster. Flynn and Knepper unloaded the handgun, which was fully loaded. Plaintiff was then moved from the sidewalk area to Knepper’s vehicle. Officer Quinlan also went to the scene to assist. Knepper brought plaintiff to Quinlan’s squad car and plaintiff was placed in Quinlan’s squad car. Plaintiff remained handcuffed in Quinlan’s car for about fifteen minutes.3 Plaintiffs handcuffs were then removed and he was placed in a Buffalo Grove squad car. Plaintiff was driven by Officer Derken to the Buffalo Grove Police Department where his credentials were photocopied and his belongings were returned to him. Plaintiff was not processed for any kind of criminal charge.

II.

Summary judgment is appropriate if “the movant shows 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). Once the moving party shows that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the burden of proof shifts to the nonmoving party to designate specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 330, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

A. Section 1983: False Arrest

In Count II, plaintiff asserts a § 1983 claim against Flynn, Knepper and Quinlan for false arrest. Plaintiff alleges that his constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated because he was arrested without probable cause. “To prevail on a claim of false arrest, the plaintiff must show that there was no probable cause for his arrest.” Jackson v. Parker, 627 F.3d 634, 638 (7th Cir.2010). “Probable cause exists if an officer reasonably believes, in light of the facts known to [him] at the time, that a suspect had committed or was committing an offense.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). “[T]he probable cause inquiry is an objective one; the subjective motivations of the officer do not invalidate a search otherwise supported by probable cause.” Carmichael v. Village of Palatine, Ill., 605 F.3d 451, 457 (7th Cir.2010).

In response, defendants raise two arguments — that the arrest was supported by probable cause or, in the alternative, that the officers engaged in a Terry stop. I reject defendants’ alternative argument, raised only in response to plaintiffs motion (and which appears nowhere in defendants’ own motion for summary judgment), that plaintiffs detention was merely a lengthy Terry stop. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d [954]*954889 (1968). There is no bright line separating an investigative detention from a formal arrest; the distinction hinges on the intrusiveness of the detention and involves a highly fact-intensive inquiry. See Jewett v. Anders, 521 F.3d 818, 823 (7th Cir.2008). As an initial matter, both sides agree that the initial stop' and questioning of plaintiff was reasonable and proper, given the fact that plaintiff was carrying a concealed weapon. However, with respect to the detention of plaintiff, I conclude that the defendant officers’ suspicion of plaintiff was objectively unreasonable. “[I]f police have a reasonable suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts, that a person they encounter was involved in ... a completed felony, then a Terry stop may be made to investigate that suspicion.” U.S. v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 229, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985).

While the initial stop may have been reasonable, there quickly came a point when any continued detention was no longer reasonable. As explained more fully in the probable cause analysis, plaintiff provided the officers with all the information they needed in order to conclude that he was lawfully permitted to carry a gun. Thus, once the officers understood that plaintiff was a licensed private detective with a TAN card, it was no longer reasonable for them to continue to detain plaintiff. Therefore, I reject defendants’ argument that the detention was proper under Terry. Instead, I agree with plaintiff that he was arrested at the scene. To determine whether a seizure is an arrest, I look at the totality of the circumstances surrounding the seizure, focusing on the extent and duration of any restraint on the suspect’s movement. See Kaupp v. Texas, 538 U.S. 626, 629-30, 123 S.Ct. 1843, 155 L.Ed.2d 814 (2003). A suspect is under arrest when “a reasonable person in the suspect’s position would have understood the situation to constitute restraint on the freedom of movement of the degree which the law associates with a formal arrest.” Sornberger v.

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Related

Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Harlow v. Fitzgerald
457 U.S. 800 (Supreme Court, 1982)
United States v. Hensley
469 U.S. 221 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Malley v. Briggs
475 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Graham v. Connor
490 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Kaupp v. Texas
538 U.S. 626 (Supreme Court, 2003)
Pearson v. Callahan
555 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Carmichael v. Village of Palatine, Ill.
605 F.3d 451 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Jackson v. Parker
627 F.3d 634 (Seventh Circuit, 2010)
Mary Pritchard v. Hamilton Township Board of Trustees
424 F. App'x 492 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
Frank Humphrey v. Norbert Staszak
148 F.3d 719 (Seventh Circuit, 1998)
Linda Williams v. Allen Jaglowski and Ronald Kelly
269 F.3d 778 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)
David Haywood v. City of Chicago
378 F.3d 714 (Seventh Circuit, 2004)
Sornberger v. City Of Knoxville
434 F.3d 1006 (Seventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Demarco L. McDonald
453 F.3d 958 (Seventh Circuit, 2006)
Stainback v. Dixon
569 F.3d 767 (Seventh Circuit, 2009)
Jewett v. Anders
521 F.3d 818 (Seventh Circuit, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
837 F. Supp. 2d 949, 2011 WL 5979371, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rabin-v-cook-county-ilnd-2011.