Ragland v. City of Milwaukee

104 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51530, 2015 WL 1781919
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedApril 20, 2015
DocketCase No. 13-C-1118
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 104 F. Supp. 3d 958 (Ragland v. City of Milwaukee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ragland v. City of Milwaukee, 104 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51530, 2015 WL 1781919 (E.D. Wis. 2015).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

LYNN ADELMAN, District Judge.

Devin Ragland claims that three officers of the Milwaukee Police Department— Amy Bartol, Stephanie Seitz; and Douglas Anderer — subjected him to unreasonable searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and are hable for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.1 In addition to suing these officers, Ragland sues the City of Milwaukee for municipal liability under § 1983. Before me now is the defendants’ motion for [962]*962summary judgment.2 I must grant the motion if the defendants show 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). When considering a motion for summary judgment, I take the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and may grant the motion only if no reasonable juror could find for that party. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

I. BACKGROUND

On June 23, 2011, sometime between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Officers Stephanie Seitz and Amy Bartol were on patrol in a squad car in Milwaukee’s seventh police district when they encountered a vehicle in which Ragland was a passenger. The parties have different views of the facts surrounding this encounter.

A. Defendants’ Version

According to the officers, while they were on patrol they observed the vehicle in which plaintiff was a passenger “driving recklessly,” Def. Prop. Findings of Fact (“PFOF”) ¶ 9. They began to follow the vehicle and felt that the driver of the vehicle “was trying to elude police by making several different turns.” Id. ¶ 10. Eventually, the officers observed the vehicle pull into an alley and park in a parking stall behind a residence. The neighborhood in which the residence was located is a high-crime area. One of the car’s occupants exited the vehicle, which for reasons the officers do not explain they interpreted as “an attempt to flee.” Id. ¶ 13. At some point, a tenant of the building approached the officers with a child and told them that she did not know the occupants of the vehicle and that “they should not be there.” Id. ¶ 14. Bartol also observed either the driver of the vehicle or the front passenger “leaning inward towards the center area of the vehicle,” which for reasons she does not explain she deemed “suspicious.” Id. ¶ 15. By this point, Bar-tol and Seitz had decided to conduct a stop of the vehicle. They called for backup and then approached the vehicle.

Ragland was seated in the rear passenger seat, behind the driver. Quamari Carr, Ragland’s cousin, was the driver of the vehicle, and Tevin Johnson, Ragland’s brother, was in the front passenger seat. During a discussion with these young men, Officer Seitz observed what she thought was synthetic or “K2” marijuana in the middle front compartment of car’s interior, between the driver and the front-seat passenger. Eventually, Officer Bartol asked the driver to exit the vehicle, and he complied. Bartol then conducted a patdown search of the driver. At some point, she also conducted a patdown search of the passenger. During these searches, Bartol found a single bullet and some marijuana.

Having found the bullet but no firearm, Bartol felt that Ragland might be armed. For this reason, she decided to pat him down. According to Bartol, she performed the search with a “bladed hand technique” over Ragland’s clothing. Def. PFOF ¶¶26, 35. Before she began the search, she asked for Ragland’s identification and learned that he was under the age of eighteen. During the search, she discovered a pack of cigarettes in Ragland’s outer pocket. Because Ragland was under eighteen, his possession of cigarettes amounted to an ordinance violation. Also during the search, Bartol thought she felt a hard object in Ragland’s crotch. She did not know what it was so she continued with her search from the other side using her [963]*963bladed hand. Id. ¶37. Bartol informed Seitz that she may have found something but that she was not sure. Bartol asked Seitz whether she wanted to do a patdown search of Ragland to see if she could locate a weapon. Seitz does not recall whether she performed her own patdown search.

At this point, Officers Anderer and Car-sky arrived on the scene in response to the call for backup. Carsky took one of the individuals back to the police wagon. Bar-tol informed Anderer that a bullet and marijuana had been found during the searches of the driver and front passenger. She also informed Anderer that while a gun had not yet been recovered, she felt a hard object with the back of her hand during her search of Ragland. Anderer does not recall whether he searched Rag-land. Eventually, the officers decided to arrest Ragland for being a minor in possession of cigarettes.

B. Plaintiffs Version

According to Ragland, on the evening he was searched, he and Johnson and Carr were out driving for about an hour before they encountered the police. Carr was the driver, and according to Ragland, Carr was not driving erratically, recklessly, or in excess of the speed limit. Eventually, the three young men arrived at Carr’s aunt’s house and parked the vehicle in the driveway off of the alley. Prior to pulling into the driveway, Ragland was unaware of any police vehicles in the area and had not observed any police lights or heard any sirens. Carr exited the vehicle and began walking toward the back of his aunt’s house; Ragland and Johnson remained in the vehicle. Ragland Deck ¶ 8.

While Carr was on his way to the door of his aunt’s house, Bartol and Seitz pulled up in a marked squad car, exited the squad with weapons drawn, and ordered Carr to return to the vehicle.- Carr complied. Bartol then approached Carr, searched him, and recovered marijuana and a single bullet. She handcuffed Carr and placed him in the back of the squad car. Next, Seitz ordered Johnson out of the car. When Johnson complied, Bartol searched him and put him into the squad car.

Bartol and Seitz then ordered Ragland to get out of the car, and he complied. The officers ordered him to put his hands on the trunk of the car and spread his legs, and he complied. Bartol conducted a pat-down search of Ragland’s arms, torso, legs, and buttocks area, and removed a pack of cigarettes from his front pants pocket. According to Ragland, the officers then ordered him to pull down his jeans. Ragland was wearing jeans over a pair of basketball shorts, and underneath the basketball shorts he was wearing a pair of boxers. Plaintiff complied with the order and pulled his jeans down to his ankles. The basketball shorts and boxers remained up. Bartol then searched plaintiff a second time. During this search,' she grabbed the plaintiffs testicles over his basketball shorts and boxers and squeezed them approximately five times. Ragland Dep. at 47-49. Ragland heard Bartol .tell Seitz that she thought she felt something, and then Seitz searched the plaintiff by squeezing his testicles approximately three times. Id. at 50-52. The officers did not find any weapons or additional contraband during these searches.

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Bluebook (online)
104 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51530, 2015 WL 1781919, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ragland-v-city-of-milwaukee-wied-2015.