Vanlandingham v. Oklahoma City City of

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMay 19, 2023
Docket5:22-cv-00209
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
Vanlandingham v. Oklahoma City City of, (W.D. Okla. 2023).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA

CHARLES KALEB VANLANDINGHAM, ) Administrator for the Estate of Charles ) Lamar Vanlandingham, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) Case No. CIV-22-209-D v. ) ) CITY OF OKLAHOMA CITY, et al., ) ) Defendants. )

O R D E R Before the Court are Motions to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Third Amended Complaint filed by Defendants Kevin D. Rolke, Trevor Lewis, Shawn M. Morton, and Zachary Osten [Doc. No. 48] and Defendant Brandon Lee [Doc. No. 49] under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Defendants Rolke, Lewis, Morton, and Osten (collectively, “Firefighters”) are employees of the Oklahoma City Fire Department, and Defendant Lee is an Oklahoma City police officer, who responded to an emergency call regarding Plaintiff’s decedent, Charles Lamar Vanlandingham (“Mr. Vanlandingham”). In this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Plaintiff claims that Firefighters and Officer Lee violated, conspired to violate, and failed to prevent others from violating, Mr. Vanlandingham’s Fourth Amendment rights to be free from an unlawful seizure and excessive force. By their Motions, Firefighters and Officer Lee assert that the Third Amended Complaint fails to state plausible § 1983 claims against them and that they are entitled to qualified immunity. Plaintiff has filed response briefs [Doc. Nos. 55 and 56], and Defendants have replied [Doc. Nos. 59 and 60]. Thus, the Motions are ripe for decision.

The Court’s consideration of the Motions begins with its prior order granting a motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint without prejudice to amendment. See 10/28/22 Order [Doc. No. 41] (“Order”). That Order sets out the standard of decision and governing law, summarizes Plaintiff’s allegations and arguments, and applies pertinent legal principles to the alleged facts. Briefly stated, the Court found: 1) Plaintiff based his Fourth Amendment claims against Firefighters on a theory that they were acting in a law

enforcement capacity rather than as emergency medical responders, but his pleading lacked factual support for this theory; 2) in any event, Firefighters were entitled to qualified immunity because Plaintiff failed to show their alleged conduct violated clearly established law; and 3) absent a constitutional violation, no conspiracy or failure-to-intervene claim could be stated. The current Motions assert that Plaintiff has not cured these deficiencies

by the amendment of his pleading. Plaintiff’s Allegations1 The Third Amended Complaint revises the events described in prior pleadings and adds new details. To show that Firefighters engaged in law enforcement conduct, Plaintiff now alleges that Firefighters did not arrive on the scene of Mr. Vanlandingham’s

seizure in response to his friend’s 911 call for emergency medical assistance but, instead, responded to a call from paramedics to assist them after Mr. Vanlandingham resisted their

1 Consistent with the standard of decision, the factual allegations of Plaintiff’s pleading are accepted as true, but conclusory allegations without supporting facts are disregarded. treatment efforts. Plaintiff states that Firefighters and Officer Lee both received the paramedics’ call, but Firefighters arrived first and immediately began working to restrain

Mr. Vanlandingham. Plaintiff alleges that, from this time until Mr. Vanlandingham later became unresponsive, Firefighters and Officer Lee were not attempting to provide emergency medical assistance but were responding to his possible assault of the paramedics. Specifically, the Third Amended Complaint relates the following version of events. The paramedics were employed by a private ambulance service, Defendant American

Medical Response Ambulance Service, Inc. (“AMR”), and were first responders to a 911 call for medical help. Mr. Vanlandingham “was in a postictal state” of a grand mal seizure and “was disoriented and confused” but “conscious and verbally responsive.” See 3d Am. Compl. ¶¶ 19-21. A paramedic attempted to restrain Mr. Vanlandingham’s arms behind his back (contrary to medical standards), but he did not want to be restrained and

pulled away. “Paramedics for AMR then called for assistance from Oklahoma City Police Department and the Oklahoma City Fire Department falsely alleging that Mr. Vanlandingham was combative and aggressive with them.” Id. ¶ 27. Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after this call. Immediately upon entering the room where Mr. Vanlandingham was located, they “tackled him to the ground” without

pausing “to assess the situation or speak with any involved parties.” Id. ¶¶ 30-31. Firefighters acted in haste on a mistaken belief that “Mr. Vanlandingham was being physically combative with paramedics for AMR” and he had “committed or attempted to commit some kind of assault and/or battery upon paramedics for AMR.” Id. ¶¶ 33-34. Firefighters worked together to restrain Mr. Vanlandingham in an effort “to incapacitate, detain, and deter [his] movement.” Id. ¶¶ 39-41. They “pin[ned] Mr. Vanlandingham to

the ground facedown” and acting together, “held [his] legs, sat on his lower back while pushing down on [his] upper back, placed a knee on [his] shoulder and neck area, and used their hands to press down on the back of [his] head.” Id. ¶¶ 42-44. Officer Lee arrived after Mr. Vanlandingham was pinned facedown with all four Firefighters on top of him. “The last update Officer Lee heard from his radio when exiting his car was that Mr. Vanlandingham was being ‘combative.’” Id. ¶ 48. Firefighters

immediately asked Officer Lee for handcuffs, and when he produced them, the firefighter sitting on Mr. Vanlandingham’s back “use[d] a law enforcement technique to pry one of Mr. Vanlandingham’s arms behind his back so that handcuffs could be placed on him.” Id. ¶ 55. While Firefighters held Mr. Vanlandingham’s arms behind his back, Officer Lee applied the handcuffs, and he then “radioed that Mr. Vanlandingham was ‘in custody’ and

requested another unit to the scene.” Id. ¶¶ 56-57. Like Firefighters, Officer Lee was acting on a mistaken “belief that Mr. Vanlandingham attacked or attempted to attack paramedics for AMR.” Id. ¶ 58. The prone restraint of Mr. Vanlandingham – under the weight of all four Firefighters pressing down on his legs, hips, back, and head – continued more than ten minutes.

During that time, Mr. Vanlandingham “repeatedly screamed out in pain and attempted to yell for help.” Id. ¶ 76. During the last two or three minutes, Officer Lee had arrived and increased the level of restraint by handcuffing Mr. Vanlandingham and “adding the force and weight from [Officer Lee’s] knee and hand to Mr. Vanlandingham’s upper and lower back.” Id. ¶¶ 72, 83. Also during these two or three minutes, Firefighters and Officer Lee raised Mr. Vanlandingham’s legs “to his butt . . . in a ‘hogtie’ position. This

facedown ‘hogtie’ position, with hands cuffed behind his back, further restrict[ed] Mr. Vanlandingham’s air flow.” Id. ¶¶ 84-85. At no time during the restraint did Mr. Vanlandingham receive a medical assessment or monitoring of his airway or breathing, and instead, the paramedics increased the dangerousness of the situation by administering a sedative drug. Mr. Vanlandingham lost consciousness and went limp. Firefighters and Officer Lee then got off Mr. Vanlandingham’s back, and the group proceeded to discuss

whether to “press charges” against him. Id. ¶¶ 97-98. Plaintiff alleges that the following sequence of events ended the encounter: Seconds after the discussion about seeking charges against Mr. Vanlandingham, paramedics for AMR and the individual Defendants discovered that Mr. Vanlandingham stopped breathing.

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