Joseph De Vincenzi v. City of Chico

MEMORANDUM

Joseph De Vincenzi filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Officers Travis Dyke and Mike Frakes (“the officers”), and the City of Chico, alleging civil rights violations for failing to find and remove from his person a butane lighter during their brief search incident to arrest, and for ignoring his cries for help for a period after he had set himself on fire. The officers, in turn, filed a Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) motion seeking the protection of qualified immunity. The district court denied their motion to dismiss, and this interlocutory appeal followed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Construing all facts in the light most favorable to De Vincenzi at this stage of the case, see Frudden v. Pilling, 742 F.3d 1199, 1202 (9th Cir.2014), the amended complaint alleges that the officers knew De Vincenzi was inebriated, “had a history of psychiatric illness, had on several occasions attempted suicide, and had a history of being [institutionalized by state authorities] for being a danger to himself and others.” Despite an awareness of this history, the officers either failed to locate or decided not to remove a butane cigarette lighter from De…