Sayan-Resto v. Berrios

933 F. Supp. 2d 252, 2013 WL 1225399, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45994
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedMarch 27, 2013
DocketCivil No. 10-1562 (ADC)
StatusPublished

This text of 933 F. Supp. 2d 252 (Sayan-Resto v. Berrios) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sayan-Resto v. Berrios, 933 F. Supp. 2d 252, 2013 WL 1225399, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45994 (prd 2013).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

AIDA M. DELGADO-COLÓN, Chief Judge.

Adaliz Sayán-Resto (“Sayán” or “plaintiff’) filed the present complaint against several defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983”) for violations of her rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments. ECF No. I.1 Plaintiff also sought this Court’s supplemental jurisdiction over violations to Sections 1, 4, 7, and 8 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth’s tort statutes, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 31, §§ 5141 et seq. Id. Now before the Court is co-defendants’ José Figueroa-Sancha, Emilio Díaz-Colón, José Caldero-López, David Ortiz-Echevarria, Daniel Rosa-Bonilla and Aníbal Martínez-Martínez’ (collectively “co-defendants”) motion to dismiss the fourth amended complaint (ECF No. 146) and plaintiffs opposition thereto (ECF No. 147). For the reasons discussed herein, co-defendants’ motion (ECF No. 86) is [258]*258GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.

1. Factual Background

Plaintiff brings suit against Emilio DiazColón (“Díaz-Colón”); José Figueroa-Sancha (“Figueroa-Sancha”); David OrtizEchevarría (“Ortíz-Echevarría”); José Caldero-López (“Caldero-López”), Mary Doe, and their Conjugal Partnership; Daniel Rosa-Bonilla (“Rosa-Bonilla”), Flo Doe, and their Conjugal Partnership; Angel Berrios (“Berrios”), Jane Doe, and their Conjugal Partnership; Aníbal Martínez-Martínez’ (“Martinez”), Flo Doe, and their Conjugal Partnership; and ABC Insurance Co.2 ECF No. 146. Unless otherwise noted, the relevant allegations, which are assumed to be true, are derived from plaintiffs fourth amended complaint. Id.

Plaintiff is legally married to Mr. Victor Narváez (“Narváez”); yet they have been separated since November 27, 2009. Id. at ¶ 3.1. On the afternoon of February 24, 2010, plaintiff took Narváez (to a medical appointment because he did not have a means of transportation. During a discussion on the way back to his house from the appointment, Narváez assaulted plaintiff, hitting her face with his fists, and bruising and cutting one of her cheekbones. Id. at ¶ 3.2. During the assault, construction workers, who were close to the car, opened the car door and dragged Narváez out, at which point plaintiff was freed from his grasp.

Moments later, plaintiff received a call on her personal mobile phone from codefendant, Sergeant Berrios, calling from Puerto Rico Police Headquarters. Berrios informed plaintiff that Narváez had filed an assault complaint against her under Law 54 and ordered her to appear at headquarters. Sergeant Berrios threatened plaintiff that if she did not report promptly to headquarters, he would order her arrest. Id. at ¶ 3.3. During this conversation, plaintiff tried to explain that she was the one assaulted by her husband and that he had cut her face. Plaintiff also told Sergeant Berrios that she urgently needed medical assistance to suture her face. Berrios refused to listen to plaintiff, threatened her, and once again ordered her to appear at police headquarters. Id. at ¶ 3.4. Plaintiff immediately drove to police headquarters and reported to Berrios who, after looking at plaintiff and her medically unattended face, locked her inside a cell for approximately five hours without any medical assistance. Id. at ¶ 3.5. Berrios ordered a female agent to search plaintiff and ordered plaintiff to take off her shoes and turn in her belongings. At approximately 5:30 p.m., Sergeant Berrios locked plaintiff in a cell. Id. at ¶ 3.6.

Berrios did not show plaintiff the complaint filed against her and he did not give her any information regarding the same. He did not allow her to file her own complaint or declaration. Id. at ¶ 3.7. While plaintiff remained in the cell, Berrios did not provide her with a phone call, water, food or even something to clean the blood off her face. Moreover, he did not read plaintiff her rights or advise her of her right to an attorney. Id. at ¶ 3.8. A couple of hours later, police personnel from the Puerto Rico Police Department’s Law 54 division in Carolina arrived at headquarters to process the alleged Law 54 complaint against plaintiff. When the Law 54 policewoman saw the blood and bruises [259]*259on plaintiffs face, she refused to file charges or process the case, stating that it was evident that plaintiff was the one assaulted. Id. at ¶ 3.9.

The Law 54 policewoman questioned Sergeant Berrios as to whether plaintiff had received any medical assistance, to which he responded that no female agents were present to take plaintiff to the hospital. However, plaintiff alleges that there was a female agent present, who searched her when she was incarcerated. The Law 54 policewoman left headquarters without processing the case against plaintiff. Id. at ¶ 3.10. Plaintiff later received a visit from a friend who was in charge of her children while she was detained. However, Berrios did not allow plaintiffs friend to visit her and remarked that she should arrange to visit plaintiff at the Women’s Prison in Vega Alta “because she was going to be there for a very long time.” Plaintiffs friend left. Id. at ¶ 3.11.

Several hours later, plaintiff was still in pain and detained in the cell, without any provisions. She screamed desperately, asking for a pain reliever or to be taken to the hospital. At that moment, a policewoman, Agent Gonzalez, appeared and asked plaintiff what was wrong and inquired about her injuries. Plaintiff relayed the events of the day. Apparently, Berrios had left headquarters when his shift ended, and left plaintiff in her cell. Id. at ¶ 3.12.

Agent González left the reception area to investigate the complaint filed against plaintiff. When she came back to plaintiffs cell, Agent González stated that she did not find any complaint filed against her, nor did she find any entries in the precinct logbook related to her case. She let plaintiff out of the cell to take her to the hospital at approximately 10:30 p.m. Id. at ¶ 3.13. In order to follow procedure,Agent González created a blank complaint, explaining that she could not take plaintiff to a hospital without a complaint number. She took plaintiffs statement at 10:30 p.m. Id. at ¶ 3.14.

Agent González took plaintiff to the University of Puerto Rico’s Hospital in Carolina at approximately 11:10 p.m. However, the emergency room doctor informed plaintiff that, due to the amount of time that had elapsed, he was unable’to suture the cut on her face. He cleaned her face and gave her pain medication's. By the time plaintiff left the hospital, it was past midnight. Id. at ¶ 3.15.

Agent González then took plaintiff to the Law 54 Division headquarters in Carolina to investigate and/or process the alleged complaint filed against plaintiff. Agents in headquarters informed Agent González, in plaintiffs presence, that the matter had been badly managed in the Iturregui Avenue headquarters and that plaintiffs rights had been violated. The agents in the Law 54 Division refused to process any complaint against the plaintiff and requested she come back the following day to speak to a supervisor. Id. at ¶ 3.16. Plaintiff was released at approximately 2:00 a.m. Id. at ¶ 3.17.

Plaintiff was fearful of.going back to police headquarters.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth
408 U.S. 564 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Rizzo v. Goode
423 U.S. 362 (Supreme Court, 1976)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. Jacobsen
466 U.S. 109 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill
470 U.S. 532 (Supreme Court, 1985)
O'CONNOR v. Ortega
480 U.S. 709 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Anderson v. Creighton
483 U.S. 635 (Supreme Court, 1987)
West v. Atkins
487 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Graham v. Connor
490 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Albright v. Oliver
510 U.S. 266 (Supreme Court, 1994)
Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A.
534 U.S. 506 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Brosseau v. Haugen
543 U.S. 194 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Pearson v. Callahan
555 U.S. 223 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Sepúlveda-Villarini v. Department of Education
628 F.3d 25 (First Circuit, 2010)
Maldonado-Denis v. Castillo-Rodriguez
23 F.3d 576 (First Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Sealey
30 F.3d 7 (First Circuit, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
933 F. Supp. 2d 252, 2013 WL 1225399, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sayan-resto-v-berrios-prd-2013.