Vondrak v. City of Las Cruces

535 F.3d 1198, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 16543, 2008 WL 2967656
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 5, 2008
Docket07-2148, 07-2159
StatusPublished
Cited by114 cases

This text of 535 F.3d 1198 (Vondrak v. City of Las Cruces) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vondrak v. City of Las Cruces, 535 F.3d 1198, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 16543, 2008 WL 2967656 (10th Cir. 2008).

Opinions

BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

This is an action brought by plaintiff John Vondrak under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Officer Cindy McCants, Officer Nathan Krause, and the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico (collectively, “Defendants”). Vondrak has alleged claims against McCants and Krause for illegal arrest, excessive force, and inadequate medical attention, and Vondrak has included similar claims against the City for its failure to train its police officers adequately. The district court granted summary judgment to all Defendants on the inadequate medical attention claim, and to Krause on the illegal arrest claim. The district court denied summary judgment to Defendants on Vondrak’s other claims, holding that McCants was not entitled to qualified immunity on either the illegal arrest or the excessive force claim, and Krause was not entitled to qualified immunity on the excessive force claim. All Defendants appeal, and Vondrak has filed a cross-appeal. We have jurisdiction over McCants’ appeal and Krause’s appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we reverse the denial of qualified immunity on the illegal arrest claim and affirm the denial of qualified immunity on the excessive force claim. We dismiss the City’s appeal and Vondrak’s cross-appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction.

I.

On August 18, 2003, the Las Cruces Police Department established a sobriety [1201]*1201checkpoint at the corner of Valley Drive and Hayner Avenue in Las Cruces, New Mexico. At approximately 10:10 p.m., John Vondrak approached the checkpoint in his 1994 Mercury Cougar, and an unidentified police officer asked Vondrak if he had consumed any alcohol that evening. Vondrak responded that he bought a beer about three or four hours earlier, and consumed approximately one-third of it. The officer directed Vondrak to pull his car over to the side of the road.

Officer McCants approached Vondrak’s car and asked, “You’ve admitted to drinking today?” Transcript, Def. ROA, at 56.1

Vondrak responded, “I had one beer three hours ago.” Id.

McCants explained to Vondrak that she was going to conduct field sobriety tests:

Officer McCants:
Officer McCants: Since you have admitted to drinking, we’re going to give you a field sobriety test, okay?
(Indiscernible radio traffic.)
Dr. Vondrak: I can handle that.
Officer McCants: Do you want to take the test?
Dr. Vondrak: Absolutely.
Officer McCants: Okay. Let’s go over here where it’s flat. Go ahead and stand right here facing me. Do you have any physical ailments that cause you any problems in walking, standing?
Dr. Vondrak: I have no problems.
Officer McCants: You’re in fairly good health?
Dr. Vondrak: I’m in excellent health.

Id. at 56-57.2

McCants first described the “one-legged stand test” to Vondrak, which required him to lift one of his legs six inches above the ground, point his toe, and count to thirty. Vondrak responded that he “probably couldn’t even do that if [he’d] never had a drink.” Transcript, Def. ROA, at 57. McCants believed that Vondrak’s statement was a preemptive attempt to justify failing the test. During the test, Vondrak swayed and put his foot down several times. McCants concluded that Vondrak had failed the test.

McCants next described the “walk and turn test” to Vondrak, which required him to walk nine steps, heel to toe, down an [1202]*1202imaginary line, and then turn around and walk nine steps back. Vondrak had trouble with the test, and McCants concluded that he had failed it. Vondrak claims that he did not understand McCants’ instructions.

Finally, McCants administered the “horizontal gaze nystagmus test,” which required Vondrak to follow a pen with his eyes without moving his head. McCants concluded that Vondrak had failed this test as well.

Because Vondrak had admitted consuming alcohol and had failed the field sobriety tests, McCants believed that Vondrak had committed the crime of Driving While Under the Influence. McCants placed him under arrest and handcuffed him. Pursuant to police department policy, McCants double-locked the handcuffs.

Officer Nathan Krause observed McCants administer the field sobriety tests. After McCants placed Vondrak in handcuffs, Krause performed a pat-down search of Vondrak and inventoried Vond-rak’s car. Vondrak requested that the officers take him to a hospital immediately, so that he could “take ... an alcohol test.” Transcript, Def. ROA, at 62.

According to McCants, Vondrak did not complain about the handcuffs when she first placed them on him. McCants also claims that “[n]othing that occurred over the course of the evening would have led me to believe that Dr. Vondrak would suffer injury from the handcuffs.” McCants Aff., Def. ROA, at 51, ¶ 11. Likewise, Krause claims that Vondrak never complained about the handcuffs during the pat-down search or while Krause was on the scene. Vondrak claims, in contrast, that he told the officers “[a] half dozen times” that the handcuffs were too tight and that his wrists were hurting and going numb. Vondrak Dep., PL ROA, at 57. He claims that, although he did not “cry out,” he told McCants “that [his] wrists hurt immediately when she put [the handcuffs] on ..., when she clamped down hard on both of them.” Id. at 58-59.3 He also claims that he told McCants in the patrol car on the way to the police station that “the handcuffs were too tight, and that they ... felt like ... they were bleeding, that they were too tight, cutting into my wrists.” Id. at 58.

McCants drove Vondrak to the police station. After they arrived, McCants administered two IR-5000 tests on Vondrak, both of which produced a blood-alcohol content reading of 0.00. She then asked another officer to perform an RBT test, which produced a blood-alcohol content reading of 0.00. After the officers tested Vondrak, they held him for another one- and-a-half hours. During this time, Vond-rak made several requests for someone to loosen his handcuffs because his wrists were hurting; all requests were ignored. At some point, a police department employee photographed Vondrak’s wrists. In the photographs, Vondrak’s wrists appear red, but they do not appear cut or scraped. Eventually, the officers charged Vondrak with Driving While Under the Influence to the Slightest Degree, and they released him on his own recognizance. The charge against Vondrak was later dropped.

Following his release, Vondrak went to the emergency room at Mountain View Regional Medical Center. According to a toxicology screening report, Vondrak tested negative for drugs or alcohol. Dr. Scot Martin, who treated Vondrak, observed “multiple superficial abrasions and eechy-mosis” on both wrists. Martin Diagnosis, [1203]*1203Def. ROA, at 143. He diagnosed Vondrak with neurapraxia in both wrists, and a soft tissue sprain of the right wrist.

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535 F.3d 1198, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 16543, 2008 WL 2967656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vondrak-v-city-of-las-cruces-ca10-2008.