Krout v. Goemmer, No. 08-2781.
Facts
At approximately 1:20 a.m., Sarah Lowrey walked into a Russellville gas station and asked the clerk to call the police because the man she was with, Bobby Joe Rylee, was agitated, needed sleep, and had a knife. Lowrey told the clerk Rylee had not threatened her. She returned to the truck Rylee was driving. The clerk called 911. A Russellville Police Department (“RPD”) officer, Lee Goemmer, heard the 911 dispatch, observed a truck matching the description, and signaled for the truck to pull over. Rylee pulled into an Exxon gas station, which was adjacent to a Waffle House.
As Goemmer approached the truck, Rylee began to reverse. Goemmer yelled for him to stop, which he eventually did. Goemmer then told Rylee to exit the vehicle, but he refused. Goemmer attempted to arrest Rylee. When he attempted to gain control of Rylee’s left hand, the men began to scuffle. Another RPD officer, Bobby Stevens, arrived to assist Goemmer in arresting Rylee. When the two officer could not pull Rylee from the truck, Stevens performed a “hip toss” maneuver, causing all three men to fall to the ground. While on the ground, the two officers tried to gain control of Rylee’s hands. At approximately the same time, two more RPD officers, Keith Spears and Terry Cobb, arrived, followed by Arkansas Tech security officer Greg McCuin and RPD officer Todd Winesburg.
Once Rylee was on the ground and no longer resisting arrest, several patrons and employees of Waffle House saw two officers assault him. The two officers repeatedly (1) kneed Rylee in the back, (2) punched him in the back, and (3) punched him in the head area. The witnesses confirmed that Rylee was not moving or resisting arrest. They also noted that several other officers watched the assault and did not attempt to stop it. The altercation lasted approximately five minutes.
Spears and McCuin then transported a limp Rylee to Cobb’s patrol car, and Cobb transported him to the Pope County Detention Center. Once there, Cobb removed Rylee from the patrol car and deposited him face down on the floor of the entryway. Two correctional officers, Chris Ketcherside and Kevin Hill, offered to lift Rylee up, but he told them he could not stand up, his legs were broken, and he could not feel his legs. As they picked Rylee up to move him inside, they noted a cut on his right eye, a bump on his face, and blood in his right ear.
Luke Sawdy, the correctional supervisor at the time, noticed Rylee as he was brought inside and heard him say he could not stand up and his legs were broken. Sawdy believed he was being uncooperative by refusing to stand up. He instructed Ketcherside and Hill to place Rylee in an isolation cell and to check on him every fifteen minutes. They took Rylee to a cell, removed his handcuffs, and left him lying on the floor on his stomach. Rylee stated his back was hurting, but refused a doctor when Ketcherside offered. At fifteen minute intervals, Ketcherside visited Rylee. Although Rylee never moved from his original position, when asked, he told Ketcherside he was fine and his arms were feeling better.
At approximately 3:00 p.m., Spears arrived at the detention facility to photograph Rylee. Spears asked him if he wanted medical treatment or to visit the hospital, and Rylee said no. After photographing Rylee, Spears suggested to Sawdy that Rylee be examined by emergency medical services (“EMS”) personnel who were located nearby. At approximately 4:00 a.m., Rylee was transported by wheelchair to the booking area for EMS observation. He sat slumped in the wheelchair with his head down.
EMS technicians, Richard Haley and Chris Vick, examined Rylee in the booking area and noticed an abrasion and some bruising on his face and a small amount of dried blood in his right ear. Rylee stated his neck hurt, but Haley did not notice anything unusual about Rylee’s neck other than some minor tenderness. He also did not find any abnormalities in his neuromuscular function. Rylee refused offers to take him to the hospital, and Haley and Vick subsequently left the detention center.
At approximately 5:30 a.m., Rylee asked for assistance lifting his head, and a correctional officer helped Rylee reposition his neck three times so that he could breathe more easily. Rylee again refused medical assistance. At approximately 7:15 a.m., Sawdy noticed Rylee was having difficulty breathing and asked Ketcherside to help reposition Rylee in the wheelchair to prop his head up. At approximately 8:00 a.m., Sawdy, Ketcherside, and several other officers observed that Rylee was breathing.
Just after 8:30 a.m., another correctional officer noticed that Rylee was not breathing and called for someone to call 911. Chris Johnston, who was also on duty at the time, called EMS. The EMS dispatcher offered to lead someone in performing CPR, but both officers refused. When EMS technicians Haley and Pam Logan arrived, they began CPR. Rylee had no pulse and was in the last stages of cardiopulmonary arrest. They restored Rylee’s pulse and transported him to the hospital. Rylee never regained consciousness and died five days later. The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries with complications. The principal factor was a neck fracture and spinal cord injury.
Procedural History
Sandy Krout, individually and as administratrix of Rylee’s estate, filed a 42 USC § 1983 against Goemmer, Stevens, Cobb, Winesburg, Sawdy, Hill, Ketcherside, and Johnston. She alleged that the police officers used excessive force against Rylee or allowed others to use excessive force against him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. She also alleged that the correctional officers deprived Rylee of adequate medical care when they knew or should have known that he was in critical condition at the detention center in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
All of the defendants filed motions for summary judgment, arguing that, among other things, they were entitled to qualified immunity. The trial court denied all of the motions.
Appeal
Because the motions dealt with denial of qualified immunity, the Eighth Circuit of Appeals had limited authority to review the trial court’s decision under the collateral order doctrine. In order to prove qualified immunity, each of the defendant officers must establish that (1) he did not violate any of Rylee’s constitutional or statutory rights and/or (2) a reasonable officer would not have known his actions were unlawful.
Goemmer and Stevens argued on appeal that Rylee’s death was caused by the hip thrust, which was an objectively reasonable use of force under the Fourth Amendment. The court noted it had no jurisdiction to review an appeal related to causation and dismissed their appeals.
Spears, Cobb, and Winesburg, however, argued only that there was no evidence to suggest they had ever administered any force against Rylee. The court pointed out that Krout had also asserted that they had a duty to intervene to stop the allegedly unconstitutional use of force they witnessed. The court reaffirmed it’s previous holdings that
one who is given the badge of authority of a police officer may not ignore the duty imposed by his office and fail to stop other officers who summarily punish a third person in his presence or otherwise within his knowledge.
The court noted there was sufficient evidence to suggest Spears, Cobb, and Winesburg witnessed other officers’ use of excessive force. Accordingly, the court affirmed the trial court’s denial of summary judgment.
As to Sawdy, Hill, Ketcherside, and Johnston, they argued that there was no evidence to suggest that they had violated any of Rylee’s constitutional or statutory rights because they never showed deliberate indifference to his medical needs. To establish deliberate indifference, the court noted Krout would need to show that the officers (1) recognized that a substantial risk of harm existed and (2) knew that their conduct was inappropriate in light of that risk. The court noted that there was sufficient evidence in the record to support a finding that the officers recognized that a substantial risk of harm existed. Nevertheless, by monitoring Rylee’s condition, offering him medical attention, and having him assessed by EMS personnel, Sawdy, Hill, Ketcherside, and Johnston responded appropriately. Consequently, the court reversed the trial court’s denial of summary judgment as to qualified immunity.
