SHIRLEY v. RABERSTEIN

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 31, 2022
Docket1:19-cv-04111
StatusUnknown

This text of SHIRLEY v. RABERSTEIN (SHIRLEY v. RABERSTEIN) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SHIRLEY v. RABERSTEIN, (S.D. Ind. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

HENRY SHIRLEY, ) ) Plaintiff ) ) Cause No. 1:19-cv-4111-RLM-MJD v. ) ) OFFICER RABERSTEIN, OFFICER ) BAKER, JOHN PERKINS, MICHAEL ) ANTONELLI, AND WILLIAM WOGAN, ) ) Defendants )

ORDER Henry Shirley, representing himself, has sued members of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department—Sergeant John Perkins and Officers Lee Rabensteine, Michael Antonelli, Christopher Baker, and William Wogan— claiming that they violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures by using excessive force when they arrested him. The defendants have moved for summary judgment. The record before the court discloses no genuine issue of material fact, and the defendants have shown that on these facts, they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The court grants summary judgment to the defendants.

I. BACKGROUND Consistent with the procedures that govern summary judgment rulings, the following facts are drawn from a view of the summary judgment record as generous as reasonably possible to Mr. Shirley (as the motion’s opponent), with all factual disputes resolved, and all reasonable inferences drawn, in his favor. The court is hampered in that effort by the absence of much factual content in Mr. Shirley’s summary judgment response and the lack of any designation of

evidence in support of that response. Mr. Shirley’s encounter with the defendant IMPD officers took place on January 25, 2019. Four days before that, an IMPD detective had advised all IMPD officers that Mr. Shirley was suspected of a violent attempted home invasion robbery with shots fired from the day before, and that Mr. Shirley had an active arrest warrant for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. On January 25, an IMPD officer pulls Mr. Shirley over for a traffic stop and approaches the car. Mr. Shirley speeds off. The officer chases him, lights and

sirens engaged, as Mr. Shirley drives through several residential yards. Mr. Shirley finally stops and enters a house that he doesn’t own or live in. A handgun falls from the car as he gets out. A woman and her children are evacuated from inside the house. IMPD dispatch notifies the defendants of the chase and the defendants go to the house that Mr. Shirley entered. Mr. Shirley has barricaded himself in the attic. The attic’s floor is comprised of spaced apart wooden beams laying horizontally across the house. Drywall is installed on the underside of the beams,

which constitutes the ceiling of the main floor directly beneath the attic. Loose insulation is between the beams. Mr. Shirley is hiding between two beams and has covered himself with insulation. Drywall bears the weight of his body. Negotiators call Mr. Shirley’s cell phone, but the calls went straight to voicemail. Police use a P.A. system to announce the presence of a SWAT team and order Mr. Shirley several times to come out with his hands up. Mr. Shirley

doesn’t appear. After several minutes of announcements, SWAT officers deploy flashbangs outside the front and back of the house. No Mr. Shirley. SWAT officers deploy tear gas into the house a few minutes later. Still no Mr. Shirley. About ten to twenty minutes after the gas was deployed—and some two hours after Mr. Shirley was first ordered to come out—SWAT officers enter the house. Sergeant Perkins is among the officers who entered the house, but he leaves quickly after the first floor is cleared. Mr. Shirley hears the officers enter, but he says nothing. The officers order

Mr. Shirley to come out from the attic; he doesn’t comply. Officers deploy tear gas into the attic; Mr. Shirley doesn’t come out and stays quiet.1 Officer Baker is wearing SWAT hearing protection that amplifies noise that would allow him to hear any attempted communications from Mr. Shirley. At this point, the drywall on which Mr. Shirley was laying cracks near the lower part of his body. The officers below hear the crack and watch as the ceiling slowly begins to drop. A large piece of drywall finally gives way and falls, exposing Mr. Shirley’s leg. Officers order Mr. Shirley to come down (more than a dozen

times); Mr. Shirley doesn’t come down. In Mr. Shirley’s recollection, he extends his wrists to signal that he was surrendering because the opening is too small

1 Officer Rabensteine later attested that he had been exposed to tear gas during training, that it’s extremely unpleasant, and that it takes a very dedicated person to withstand it. for him to come down from the attic. Mr. Shirley remembers saying, “I give up”; but Officers Rabensteine, Baker, Wogan, and Antonnelli remember silence. Officer Rabensteine fires a beanbag round that hits Mr. Shirley in the leg.

Mr. Shirley retreats up into the attic, repositioning himself across the wooden beams so as not to fall through the drywall. Officer Rabensteine orders Mr. Shirley (multiple times) to come down, but Mr. Shirley doesn’t comply, so Officer Rabensteine fires another beanbag round at Mr. Shirley’s left hip. Mr. Shirley falls from the attic on to the floor of the room beneath. Mr. Shirley is rolling from side-to-side on his back, punching, kicking, and screaming.2 The officers fear that Mr. Shirley might have another weapon but can’t get control of Mr. Shirley to put handcuffs on him. Rather than comply with

commands to stop resisting and to put his hands behind his back, Mr. Shirley rolls over and tries to stand up. Officer Baker yells “taser, taser, taser” but Mr. Shirley doesn’t surrender, so Officer Baker deploys his taser. Mr. Shirley still doesn’t surrender. He grabs towards his waistband as if trying to pull the taser prongs out of his clothing. Officer Baker yells “taser, taser, taser” and deploys his taser again; still Mr. Shirley doesn’t surrender. Officer Wogan orders Mr. Shirley to stop resisting and kicks Mr. Shirley’s right thigh, 3 but Mr. Shirley doesn’t surrender. Officer Wogan

2 Officer Rabensteine compared Mr. Shirley’s behavior to a toddler that doesn’t want to have his pants put on.

3 IMPD officers are trained to target the common peroneal nerve, located on the outside of the upper leg, to temporarily disable the leg. Kicking the common peroneal nerve causes temporary loss of motor control of the leg. kicks Mr. Shirley twice more in the same spot while ordering Mr. Shirley to stop resisting. Mr. Shirley still doesn’t surrender. Officer Antonelli yells “taser, taser, taser,” and deploys his taser when Mr.

Shirley doesn’t surrender. When that taser strike doesn’t subdue Mr. Shirley, Officer Antonelli tries to tase him again. Mr. Shirley moves to stand up just as Officer Antonelli deploys his taser, and the probe hits Mr. Shirley in the cheek, rendering Mr. Shirley unconscious. The officers finally handcuff him. Officers Wogan and Rabensteine carry Mr. Shirley outside where a doctor immediately treats him. Mr. Shirley regains consciousness in the ambulance. Mr. Shirley is arrested for two counts of possession of a handgun by a serious violent felon based on the outstanding arrest warrant, and for felony resisting

law enforcement. Mr. Shirley filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against defendants for violation of his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures because he says that the defendants used excessive force when they arrested him. He seeks $10,000,000 in compensatory damages and $20,000,000 in punitive damages. The defendants have moved for summary judgment.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“Summary judgment . . . is proper only if the pleadings, discovery materials, disclosures, and affidavits demonstrate no genuine issue of material fact such that [the movant] is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Protective Life Ins. Co. v.

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SHIRLEY v. RABERSTEIN, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shirley-v-raberstein-insd-2022.