Raffaele v. City of New York

242 F. Supp. 3d 152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38244, 2017 WL 1040369
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedMarch 16, 2017
Docket13-CV-4607(KAM)(VVP)
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 242 F. Supp. 3d 152 (Raffaele v. City of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Raffaele v. City of New York, 242 F. Supp. 3d 152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38244, 2017 WL 1040369 (E.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

MATSUMOTO, United States District Judge:

Plaintiff Thomas D. Raffaele (“plaintiff” or “Judge Raffaele”) commenced this lawsuit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986 in connection with police activity at the intersection of 37th Road and 74th Street in Jackson Heights, New York, in the early morning hours on June 1, 2012. Presently before the court is a motion by defendants the City of New York, Sergeant Jon-Kristian Rzonca, Police Officer Luis Samot, Police Officer Russell Lawry, Police Officer Moses Lee, Lieutenant Car-on Jo Addesso, Sergeant David Taormina, Police Officer Aníbal Martinez, and Police Officer Nicholas Gigante (together, the “defendants”)1 for partial summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons set forth below, the defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment is grantéd.

BACKGROUND

Rule 56.1 of the Local Civil Rules of the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York (“Local Rule 56.1”) requires a party moving for summary judgment to submit a statement of the undisputed material facts as to which there is no genuine issue to be tried, together with citation to the admissible evidence of record supporting each such fact. See Local Rule 56.1(a), (d). The facts described below have been taken from the defendants’ Rule 56.1 statements. (See Defendants’ Rule 56.1 Statement (“Defs.’ 56.1”), ECF No. 110.). Plaintiff did not submit an opposing Rule 56.1 statement, as required, and, therefore'the facts set forth in defendants’ Rule 56.1 statement are deemed admitted. Giannullo v. City of N.Y., 322 F.3d 139, 140 (2d Cir. 2003) (“If the opposing party then fails to controvert a fact so set forth in the moving party’s Rule 56.1 statement,, that fact will be deemed admitted.”) (citing Local Rule 56.1(c) (“Each numbered paragraph in the statement .of material facts set forth in the statement required .to be served by the moving party will be deemed to be admitted for purposes of the motion unless specifically controverted by a correspondingly numbered paragraph in the statement required to be served by the opposing party.”)); see also DeRienzo v. Metro. Transp. Auth., 237 Fed.Appx. 642, 644 (2d Cir. 2007) (A district court has “broad discretion” to refuse to consider “what the parties fail to point out in their Local Rule 56.1 statements.”) (internal quotation marks omitted). Citations to the record are provided where a fact, although not admitted in the parties’ papers, is uncontrovert-ed by record evidence. The court resolves all conflicts in the evidence and draws all reasonable inferences in favor of plaintiff, the nonmoving party. See Smith v. Cnty. of Suffolk, 776 F.3d 114, 121 (2d Cir. 2015) (“We resolve all ambiguities and draw all permissible factual inferences in favor of the party against whom summary judgment is sought.’”) (quoting Lederman v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Parks & Recreation, 731 F.3d 199, 202 (2d Cir. 2013)).

[155]*155Shortly after 12:00 a.m. on June 1, 2012, Judge Raffaele encountered Officer Samot near the intersection of 37th Road and 74th Street in Queens, New York. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 1.) In addition to Officer Samot and Judge Raffaele, there was also a crowd of people, some of whom were uniformed police officers near the intersection of 37th Road and 74th Street. (See Compact Disk Containing Video Footage of the underlying Incident (“Video Footage”), Annexed to the Declaration of Brian Fran-colla, dated June 10, 2016 (“Francolla’s Deck”) as Exhibit (“Ex”) C.) Plaintiff testified at his deposition that he was pushed and hit by Officer Samot, and that two seconds elapsed between the push and the hit. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 2; Francolla’s Decl., Ex. B (Deposition of Judge Raffaele on September 11, 2014 (“PI. Dep.”), ECF No. 112-2 at 125:18.)) The Video Footage of the incident from that night shows that the interaction between plaintiff and Officer Samot took place within three seconds. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 4; Video Footage, Ex. C at 9 second to 12 second mark.)

According to plaintiff, the force used by Officer Samot was unprovoked and it occurred while plaintiff was standing on a public street doing nothing unlawful. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 5; Pl. Dep., ECF No. 112-2 at 126:2-8.) The only other individual defendant plaintiff recalled seeing during his encounter with Officer Samot was Sergeant Rzonca. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 6; Pl. Dep., ECF No. 112-2 at 131:23-133:7.) Plaintiff estimated that Sergeant Rzonca was standing approximately four to six feet away from him when he was hit by Officer Samot. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 7; Pl. Dep., ECF No. 112-2 at 132:21-23.) Plaintiff could not recall where the other police officers were when he and Officer Samot approached one another. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 8; Pl. Dep., ECF No. 112-2 at 123:21-25.) According to plaintiff, Officer Samot was moved away by other police officers immediately after he hit plaintiff. (Defs.’ 56.1 at ¶ 9.)

The Video Footage of the incident shows a police officer walking toward a lamppost followed by two other officers approximately ten feet behind the first. (Video Footage, Francolla Decl., Ex. C.) As the officer approached a street sign at the corner, a man in a white short-sleeved shirt, identified by plaintiff as himself, walked toward the officer who is seen walking and pushing three bystanders back. (Id.; Memorandum of Law by Plaintiff Thomas D, Raffele in Opposition To Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (“Pl. Opp.”), ECF No. 113 at 5-6.) When plaintiff and the officer reached the lamppost from opposite directions, the officer appears to push plaintiff and immediately hit plaintiff.. (Video Footage, Francolla Decl., Ex. C.) The plaintiff claims the other officers were six to .ten feet away.. (Pl. Opp., ECF No. 113 at 5-6.) After the push and the hit, the officer turned away and walked away from plaintiff toward the right of the screen. (Video Footage, Fran-colla Decl., Ex. C.).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

I. Motion for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is proper only when, construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant, “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); see also Redd v. N.Y. Div. of Parole, 678 F.3d 166, 174 (2d Cir. 2012); Doninger v. Niehoff, 642 F.3d 334, 344 (2d Cir. 2011). The role of the court is not “to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial.” Cioffi v. Averill Park Cent. Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., 444 F.3d 158, 162 (2d Cir. 2006) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
242 F. Supp. 3d 152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38244, 2017 WL 1040369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raffaele-v-city-of-new-york-nyed-2017.