Miller v. City of Simi Valley

MEMORANDUM *

Simi Valley police officers Dan Swanson, Christopher Hahesy, Francis Panza, Matt Buchannan and William Lappin (collectively, officers) appeal the district court’s order denying their summary judgment motion based on qualified immunity. We have jurisdiction to decide whether the officers are entitled to qualified immunity as a matter of law, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to Miller. See Kennedy v. City of Ridgefield, 439 F.3d 1055, 1059-60 (9th Cir.2006); see also Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 312-13 , 116 S.Ct. 834 , 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996). We conclude that they are and now reverse.

The officers are entitled to qualified immunity with respect to Miller’s § 1983 claims because the initial handcuffing and frisk of Miller was a lawful investigatory stop supported by reasonable, particularized suspicion. See Gallegos v. City of Los Angeles, 308 F.3d 987, 990 (9th Cir.2002). Regardless of whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Miller, the officers’ subjective motivations for the Terry stop may have been based on improper factors, subjective intentions do not make a stop for which there is reasonable suspicion unconstitutional.…

dissenting:

Because this case comes to us as an appeal from a denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity, we must take all evidence in the light most favorable to Miller. Applying this standard, Simi Valley police received a report that a black *684 male in his late 20s, described by an eyewitness as 6'2" tall, 175 pounds, unkempt, and with hair styled in a “medium length loose afro,” had attempted to rob an El Torito restaurant. Three hours after the incident, Officer Hahesy was informed by an employee at a nearby Motel 6 “that two male blacks and a white female had checked into the motel.” The party had registered under the name Bernard Miller. Miller’s driver’s license and license plate records came up clean, but Hahesy decided the situation warranted further investigation. Officer Hahesy slowly drove his patrol car past Miller’s room, where the door was wide open and he could see Miller and his friends seated on beds, listening to music on a laptop, and conversing. Miller saw Hahesy drive by and continued about his business.

Miller is a black male in his late 20s. He is 5'11" tall (three inches shorter than the suspect) and 155 pounds (20 pounds lighter than the…