Salgado v. City of West Miami

85 F. Supp. 3d 1332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13250, 2015 WL 500490
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 4, 2015
DocketCase No. 12-24458-cv
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 85 F. Supp. 3d 1332 (Salgado v. City of West Miami) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salgado v. City of West Miami, 85 F. Supp. 3d 1332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13250, 2015 WL 500490 (S.D. Fla. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JAMES LAWRENCE KING, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the Court upon Defendants Myrna Lopez and Raul Baron’s Motion for Summary Judgment (DE 113) (the “officers’ motion”) and the City of West Miami’s Motion for Summary Judgment (DE 104). The motions are fully briefed. Plaintiffs, in their Consolidated Response to both West Miami’s and the officers’ motions for summary judgment (DE 131),1 voluntarily dismissed their § 1983 claim against the City (Count XII). Plaintiffs’ remaining Counts are I, III, IV, VII, and VIII — the § 1983 claims against Baron and Lopez and the Florida Wrongful Death claims against all remaining Defendants.2 In this Order, the Court addresses Baron and Lopez’s defense of qualified immunity from Plaintiffs’ § 1983 claims and reserves ruling on Plaintiffs’ Wrongful Death claims (except as to Defendant Lopez).

I. Background

The relevant undisputed material facts are as follows. On April 12, 2012, Israel Rodriguez was visiting his friend, Maritza Lopez, for lunch at her efficiency apartment. DE 112, ¶ 1 n. 2. Rodriguez answered a knock at Maritza’s door to find two people standing outside: Maritza’s next-door neighbor, Amanda Nazario,3 and [1335]*1335an entirely nude Jorge Salgado.4 Id. See also DE 132-4, at 82:6-8. Salgado, sweating and with bulging eyes, asked Rodriguez for marijuana or cocaine. DE 132-4, at 32:14, 35:16-18. Rodriguez stepped outside, closed the door behind him, and told Salgado that he must go indoors because he cannot be naked outside. DE 112, ¶ 1 n. 2. At that, Salgado attacked Rodriguez. He clawed at him, tried to bite him and knock him to the ground, tore at his clothes, and grappled with him. Id. Naza-rio fled. DE 132-4, at 37:21-22. Rodriguez, who was 70 years old at the time, managed to trip Salgado,5 escape back into Maritza’s apartment, and call the police. Id. at 38:21-23, 42:6.

Officer Raul Baron and Sergeant Myrna Lopez of the City of West Miami were nearby. DE 112, ¶ 1. They responded as back-up units to a dispatched call for Miami-Dade County officers who were not as near to the scene. Id. The dispatched call reported a naked man beating a female. Id. Additional information was relayed that the naked man also attacked another victim by trying to bite him. Id. Lopez arrived at the scene and met Rodriguez, who had ventured out of Maritza’s apartment once again to meet the arriving police officers near the street.6 Id.' at ¶ 2. Lopez observed redness from Rodriguez’s chin down to his throat, and could see through his torn clothing. Id. Soon Baron arrived, and Rodriguez led the two officers down a pathway on the side of the house to the back of the property, where the efficiencies are. Id. at ¶ 3. He warned them that Salgado might attack. Id. at ¶ 2. The officers unholstered their tasers as they reached the open door of Nazario’s apartment. DE 132^4, at 48:1-5.

Baron stood in front of the doorway and Lopez stood against the wall, hidden from Salgado’s view. Id. at 48:9-13. Baron saw that Salgado was naked, sweating profusely, pacing back and forth, and highly agitated; he shouted and growled. DE 112, ¶¶ 3-4; DE 131, ¶ 10. Baron repeatedly told Salgado to calm down, but Salgado charged at Baron through the doorway. DE 112, ¶¶4-7. Baron and Lopez deployed their tasers at Salgado in probe mode. Id. at ¶ 8.7 The probes from Baron’s taser struck and attached to Sal-gado in his upper torso, close to his heart. DE 131, ¶ 14. Lopez’s taser struck Salga-do on his right side. Id. Salgado got within three to five feet of Baron before the taser prongs struck. DE 112, ¶ 9.

Salgado fell to the ground outside of the apartment. Id. at ¶ 10. After Baron’s first five-second taser cycle concluded, he discharged his taser four more times in probe mode. According to the taser download report, each discharge constituted one five-second-long cycle. The second cycle began three seconds after the first; the third cycle began one second later; the fourth cycle began two seconds later; and the fifth cycle began 43 seconds after that. DE 132-10. Baron insists that during the fifth discharge, one of the two prongs had dislodged from Salgado’s chest, thereby decreasing the effectiveness of the taser. DE 132-1, at 72-73. Plaintiffs do not genuinely dispute this; however, the taser [1336]*1336download reports do not distinguish between cycles where both prongs are connected to a person and those where only one prong is-connected. DE 112, ¶ 10 n. 6. Lopez tried to discharge her taser only one more time after her initial deployment, but it malfunctioned. Id. at ¶ 11.

Taken in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, Salgado turned face down on his stomach when Baron told him to do so. DE 132-4, at 55:12-15. From the first taser deployments to Baron’s fifth discharge, Salgado became incapacitated during the taser discharges and then moved again. He convulsed, hit his head against the ground, rolled around, and crawled as far as from one corner of the outdoor courtyard to the other. DE 132-4, at 55, 106, 128. Baron shouted further commands at Salgado (to keep still, to put his arms behind his back) to no avail.

Up to this point, Rodriguez observed everything that has been described.8 Then two Miami-Dade police officers and two West Miami police officers arrived. Id. at 57:24-25. One of the officers led Rodriguez away. Rodriguez neither saw nor heard any further uses of force against Salgado. Id. at 81.

With the other officers arrived and Rodriguez gone, Baron moved in to handcuff Salgado. DE 112, ¶ 16. But Salgado, who at this point had been tased in probe mode at least five times already, stood up, faced Miami-Dade officer Diaz, and charged at him. Id. Baron deployed his taser at Sal-gado in probe mode (for the sixth time) but missed. Id. Miami-Dade officer Morales deployed his taser in probe mode and hit Salgado, who fell before he reached Diaz. Id. at ¶ 17. As Salgado fell, Baron punched and kicked him. Id. With Salga-do on the ground again, Baron and other officers struggled to handcuff Salgado. Id. at ¶ 19. Officer Morales repeatedly discharged his taser — eight times (at five-second cycles each) in just over two minutes, according to the download report. DE 132-10. Salgado rolled on the ground and tried to bite Baron’s leg. DE 112, ¶ 18. He managed to stand up again and was again taken down. DE 132-1, at 85:18-86:19. Baron tried to tase Salgado a seventh, eighth and ninth time, these times in drive stun mode. Id. Baron believes that these last three uses of his taser did not make contact with Salgado because Salgado was rolling and avoiding the taser strikes. Id. But Plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. John Marraccini, identifies one drive stun marking on Salgado’s leg. DE 132-5, at 49; DE 108-2, at 8.9

With multiple officers struggling and holding Salgado down (including Lopez, who held Salgado’s legs), Miami-Dade officer Cairo managed to put Salgado in handcuffs. DE 112, ¶¶ 19-20. In addition to struggling, Salgado spit and shouted incoherently. Id. at ¶ 20.

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Bluebook (online)
85 F. Supp. 3d 1332, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13250, 2015 WL 500490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salgado-v-city-of-west-miami-flsd-2015.