Wedgeworth v. Harris

592 F. Supp. 155, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17466
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedApril 19, 1984
Docket83-C-76-2-S
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 592 F. Supp. 155 (Wedgeworth v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wedgeworth v. Harris, 592 F. Supp. 155, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17466 (W.D. Wis. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SHABAZ, District Judge.

Before the Court are separate motions for summary judgment on behalf of, respectively, defendant Charles Harris and the City of Madison, along with unnamed officers, agents and employees of the City. Plaintiff brought this action against the defendants, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for an alleged deprivation of constitutional rights. The questions presented by the motions are, first, whether a sexual assault by an on-duty police officer constitutes a violation of constitutional rights, and second, whether, under the facts of this case, the officer’s employer, the City, and its supervisory law enforcement personnel, can be held liable for the violation.

FACTS

The plaintiff, Cassandra Johnson Wedge-worth, is a female, adult resident of Arizona. During the early morning hours of July 18, 1982, while in Madison visiting her family, she alleges that she was sexually assaulted by defendant Charles Harris, an on-duty police officer for the City. The precise details of the assault need not be detailed here except to note that plaintiff was allegedly threatened with prosecution if she did not consent to sexual intercourse with Harris, and that she allegedly feared for her personal safety if she refused his advances. Harris was convicted in State court for sexual assault and is now serving a sentence in a Wisconsin correctional facility.

*157 Harris’ employment history, as submitted by the plaintiff and the City, appears as follows: 1

Officer Harris was hired by the City of Madison Police Department in August, 1975, after a reasonably thorough background check. Interviews were conducted with prior employers and neighbors. Aside from an apparent habit of abusing sick leave, his prior employment history was uneventful. His record includes two traffic citations. Also, the record disclosed that Harris had been accused of battery on two occasions but the cases were not prosecuted because of lack of witnesses. The complainants did not sign the complaints. The latest of these complaints was on September 6, 1973.

He held the rank of Police Officer throughout his tenure on the Department and was assigned to the Patrol Division until July 2, 1982, shortly before the incident involving the plaintiff. At that time, he was assigned to the Neighborhood Response Unit.

Periodic performance evaluations were prepared by superiors. From the beginning, these reports noted the need to improve knowledge of policy, statutes and ordinances. In 1979, the reports noted that he may have been abusing sick leave, and that reporting was sloppy.

Two incidents of sick-leave abuse resulted in disciplinary investigations. Because of his prior abuse of sick leave, Harris was, in September, 1981, required to provide a doctor’s verification of his illness before he could receive pay for days he was absent. On September 18, 1981, Harris left work six hours early on the ground that he was ill. No doctor’s verification was supplied by Harris. On September 25, 1981, Harris called the station to inform his superiors that he would be an hour late for work. When he failed to report after several hours, a sergeant visited him at his home and determined that Harris was intoxicated. He was suspended without pay for two days for these actions. Harris’ superiors unsuccessfully attempted to convince him to seek alcohol counseling.

Harris again failed to report to work on March 27 and 28, 1982. On March 27, 1982, Harris called in and stated that he would not report to work that day for personal reasons. Two sergeants visited his home that evening and found him in an apparently intoxicated state. When Harris called in and reported that he would not be in to work, again for personal reasons, on March 28, 1982, a sergeant called him and determined that he was intoxicated. He was apparently upset about marital problems and was somewhat threatening. The investigating sergeant’s report quoted Harris as stating, “if someone comes out here, someone is going to get hurt — I’m real scared — I’m scared to come back to work.” As a result of a meeting between police supervisors and the City Attorney, a proposal to impose a six-day suspension was rejected because it was apparent to the City Attorney that Harris’ refusal to come to work would have been justified by Harris’ mental and emotional state. In other words, he would not, or should not, have been allowed to work even if he had reported. An attempt to leverage Harris into seeking alcoholic counseling by the threat of disciplinary action was largely unsuccessful. Harris attended one perfunctory counseling session, where he denied he had an alcohol problem. No disciplinary action was taken by supervisory personnel because they concluded, when faced with the City Attorney’s opinion, that Harris’ absences would be considered excused by his depression.

*158 Another incident where no disciplinary action resulted occurred in August 1981. An officer of the Town of Madison (an unincorporated area adjacent to the city) reported Harris’ patrol vehicle unattended in the Town of Madison. Later in the same evening, he allegedly threatened the Town of Madison officer who had made the report with bodily harm. An investigation of this incident resulted in no disciplinary action, apparently because Harris’ explanation of the unattended vehicle was plausible and because Harris’ threatening of the other officer was un verifiable.

Two allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Harris came to the attention of supervisory personnel.

In November 1979, D.H. accused Harris of sexual assault. In the accusation, D.H., a white female who had been in Madison only a short time, alleged that Harris, in the course of an investigation of a juvenile complaint which had been filed by D.H.’s boyfriend, made suggestive comments to her and then forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. The Police Department investigated the complaint by interviewing apparently all parties who could have any relevant information to offer, and by collecting physical evidence which was analyzed by the State crime lab. Harris denied any sexual contact with the woman whatsoever, and stated that the woman had made a racist comment toward him. D.H. submitted to a lie detector test which resulted in a finding that her answers concerning the incident were deceptive. The physical evidence provided no support for her story of the event. Police records indicated that D.H. had filed another sexual assault complaint in January, 1979. This complaint was investigated and the investigators concluded that the sexual contact at that time had been consensual, a conclusion which was subsequently confirmed by D.H. With regard to the investigation against Harris, the investigators sought and received records of a sexual assault complaint filed by D.H. in Omaha, Nebraska. The Omaha police investigation of this complaint was inconclusive. The suspect in that ease was a fugitive and fled from Omaha.

This information was presented to the Dane County District Attorney, who declined to prosecute Harris for sexual assault and also declined to prosecute D.H. for filing a false police report.

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Bluebook (online)
592 F. Supp. 155, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17466, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wedgeworth-v-harris-wiwd-1984.