Sorrell v. County of Nassau

162 F. Supp. 3d 156, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22503, 2016 WL 740434
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 24, 2016
Docket10 CV 49 (DRH) (GRB)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 162 F. Supp. 3d 156 (Sorrell v. County of Nassau) 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
Sorrell v. County of Nassau, 162 F. Supp. 3d 156, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22503, 2016 WL 740434 (E.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

HURLEY, Senior District Judge:

Plaintiffs Georgette Sorrell (“Sorrell”), Juana Rosario (“Rosario”), Machel Williams (‘Williams”), and Donald Moren-cy (“Morency”), (collectively “Plaintiffs”) commenced this action asserting claims against defendants Nassau County (“Nassau” or “County”), Nassau County Police Officer Marissa D. Stork (“Stork”), and Nassau County Detectives Greg M. Arena (“Arena”) and Robert J. Lashinsky (“Lashinsky”) (collectively, “Nassau defendants” or “County defendants”), as well as the Village of Lynbrook (“Lynbrook”), Lynbrook Police Officers Patrick J. Hahl (“Hahl”), Peter R. Festa (“Festa”), Brian Paladino (“Paladino”), Brian R. Cunningham (“Cunningham”), and Eric Bruen (“Bruen”) (collectively, the “Lynbrook defendants”) pursuant to, inter alia, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.1 Presently before the Court are the Nassau defendants’ and the Lynbrook defendants’ motions, made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 56, seeking summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, the Nassau defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part and the Lynbrook defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

The following facts are taken from the parties’ Local Rule 56.1 Statements and are undisputed unless otherwise noted.

Plaintiffs ’ Arrests

Trisha Marcello (“Marcello”) and Tyrell Outlaw (“Outlaw”) claim that on October 11, 2008, at around 8:40 p.m., they were walking in the general vicinity of Sylvester Place and Harding Avenue in Lynbrook, New York when individuals emerged from a car and attacked and robbed them. The parties do not dispute that Hahl ultimately obtained a description of the alleged assailants from Marcello and transmitted the description over the police radio to the other Lynbrook officer defendants. Plaintiffs contend that the description contained in the Lynbrook Police Department Police Blotter is the description that the officers received over the radio. (Pis.’ 56.1 Counter Stmt. ¶¶ 52, 54, 56.) According to the police blotter report, the assailants were a black male and two black females. (Pis.’ Ex. B.) The report also described the assailants as being in their twenties and the male as tall and chubby and wearing all black and a [162]*162black doo-rag. One female was described as wearing a white shirt and jeans and the other as wearing a pink shirt, jeans, and a lot of jewelry, and both were described as having “nappy hair worn up.” That report also states that the assailants emerged from a white four-door “crappy” looking automobile.

After hearing the radio call, Bruen canvassed the area of the alleged assault for a vehicle matching the description from the radio transmission. At approximately 9:12 p.m., Bruen noticed the plaintiffs’ vehicle, a white four-door Honda sedan containing body damage, traveling south on Peninsula Boulevard. He notified the other Lynbrook officers of the vehicle and his location over police radio and stopped the vehicle at the intersection of Peninsula Boulevard and Rockaway Avenue, approximately 1.5 miles away from the alleged robbery. All four plaintiffs were discovered in the vehicle at that point. At around the same time, Detective Arena and Detective Lashinsky were advised of the robbery by the Lyn-brook Police Department and responded to Bruen’s location. Officers Cunningham and Festa also responded to Bruen’s location.

Prior to Detective Arena and Detective Lashinsky’s arrival, at approximately 9:32 p.m., Marcello, having been driven to the scene of the stop by Hahl, participated in a field show-up. There is no dispute that Marcello positively identified Rosario, Sor-rell, and Williams in the show-up, but the parties dispute whether Marcello identified plaintiff Morency. There is also no dispute that at some point after the show-up Arena and Lashinsky were provided with a written statement from Marcello identifying her assailants as Rosario, Sorrell, and Williams. (Pis.’ Ex. N.) This document makes no mention of plaintiff Morency.

After the show-up, Arena and Lashinsky instructed the Lynbrook officers to separate the four plaintiffs and transport them to the Fifth Precinct for further investigation. According to plaintiffs, Rosario, Sor-rell, and Williams were transported in handcuffs, while Morency was not handcuffed until some time after his arrival at the precinct. (Pis.’ 56.1 Counter Stmt. ¶¶ 132-34.)

Lashinsky and Arena also returned to the precinct to continue their investigation, and after preparing a photo array they returned to Lynbrook to meet Outlaw at his home. The photo array consisted of a photograph of plaintiff Williams and five other unrelated black males. When Arena and Lashinsky showed Outlaw the photo array, he-identified Williams as the man who assaulted and robbed him. Additionally, at some point after the arrests, Arena and Lashinsky brought Marcello into the parking lot of the Fifth Precinct where she positively identified the car that plaintiffs had been driving as the one that was driven by the individuals who robbed her.

When she first arrived at the precinct, Sorrell was handcuffed to a bench on the second floor of the Fifth Squad. Rosario was handcuffed to a table in a room she described as an “office” also on the second floor. Williams was placed in a holding cell in the basement, and Morency was seated at a police officer’s desk on the second floor.

At some point after their arrival at the Fifth Precinct, plaintiffs Sorrell and Rosario were taken to a restroom to undergo what plaintiffs describe as a “strip search,” the details of which will be discussed more fully below. Officer Stork, a female police officer, accompanied Sorrell and Rosario into the restroom and performed these searches.

The Prosecution

Plaintiffs were arraigned in Nassau County Court on October 13, 2008, prior to which they were held at Nassau County [163]*163Police Headquarters for 24 hours. Plaintiff Rosario was released on her own recognizance. Plaintiff Sorrell was released on $5,000 bail. Morency was remanded without bail. Williams was unable to make bail and remained incarcerated following the arraignment.

Following the arraignment, Assistant DA Zeena Abdi (“Abdi”) was assigned the case and was contacted by Plaintiffs’ defense counsel regarding an alibi. Counsel informed Abdi that on the night of the alleged robbery, plaintiffs stopped at an Exxon gas station in Holtsville, Suffolk County, approximately 40-42 miles away from the robbery scene in Lynbrook and that the gas station had a surveillance camera. A review of the Exxon surveillance tape showed Morency arriving and departing from the station between 8:20 p.m. and 8:26 p.m. Morency was driving the same four door Honda he was driving at the time of his arrest as well as wearing the same clothes he was wearing at the time of his arrest. ADA Abdi also reviewed the cell phone records of each plaintiff and found that Sorrell had made a phone call from “the vicinity of Holtsville” around 8:27 p.m. and a statement from Williams indicating that the four plaintiffs were in the car together at the gas station.

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

Related

Thomas v. Venditto
E.D. New York, 2023
Bones v. County of Monroe
W.D. New York, 2022
Dash v. Montas
E.D. New York, 2020
Moore v. Jones
D. Connecticut, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 F. Supp. 3d 156, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22503, 2016 WL 740434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sorrell-v-county-of-nassau-nyed-2016.