Mejia
Mejia v. City of Sacramento
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Plaintiff Rick J. Mejia appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against the City and County of Sacramento and its employees.
Probable Cause to Search
Defendants had probable cause to believe that Marty resided at 6805 San Joaquin Street. Officer Hinz ran a PF-2 check, a check through the Department of Motor Vehicles, and an LOCS check. All of those inquiries pointed to the 6805 San Joaquin home as being Marty’s residence. Mejia’s (rather than Marty’s) name appeared only once, on the PF-2 check, but was merely an indicator of police contact and as such did not outweigh the remaining evidence.
The officers’ alleged disregard for police manual procedures concerning the confirmation of a suspect’s residence—such as performing a walk-by or drive-by, running the license plates on the cars outside, or checking utility and property registration information—is of no moment. Probable cause can exist outside the boundaries of procedures not mandated by the Fourth Amendment.
United States v. Harper, 928 F.2d 894, 896 (9th Cir.1991), and Watts v. County of Sacramento, 256 F.3d 886, 889-91 (9th Cir.2001), are…