Lead Opinion
Pоlice in Indianapolis arrested James Campbell for possessing marijuana. Because the local jail is crowded, Indianapolis does not make a full custodial arrest of each person arrested for a misdemeanor; instead it issues a summons and citation. Before releasing Campbell, however, the police conducted a body-cavity search for drugs. Nothing was found, and no criminal prosecution ensued. Campbell then sued ten officers, the Chief of Police, and the City of Indianapolis, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that the search violated the fourth amendment. He seeks not only damages but also an injunction against this practice. The district court denied Campbell’s request for a preliminary injunction, concluding that he has an adequate remedy at law. He immediately appealed under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).
Campbell supposes that money never is an adequate remedy for a constitutional wrong. That belief is incorrect. See Sampson v. Murray,
What is more, it is difficult to see how a court could issue an injunction at Campbell’s behest. Unless the same events are likely to happen again to him there is no controversy between him and the City about the City’s future handling of other arrests. See Weinstein v. Bradford,
Affirmed
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
The majority opinion fails to address key testimony in this case — factual allegations which not only require this court to evaluate Campbell’s claim in more detail than the majority opinion provides, but also suggest a different result. While I regard the question of whether Campbell has standing for a preliminary injunction as close, I ultimately conclude that he has satisfied that constitutional requirement and has also demonstrated the inadequacy of money damages. For these reasons, I dissent.
I. Additional Background
The majority correctly notes that Indianapolis police officers subjected Campbell
Not only was the body cavity search done in public, but it was done pursuant to Indianapolis Police Department (“IPD”) policy.
II. Inadequacy of Money Damages
The existence of these factual allegations, absent from the majority opinion, compels a closer look at Campbell’s claims and, in the end, different legal conclusions than those drawn by the majority. Several courts have recognized that, at the very minimum, strip and body cavity searches “give[ ] us the most pause,” Bell v. Wolfish,
Police conduct that would be impractical or unreasonable — or embarrassingly intrusive — on the street can more readily — and privately — be performed at the station. For example, the interests supporting a search incident to arrest would hardly justify disrobing an arrestee on the street, but the practical necessities of routine jail administration may even justify taking a prisoner’s clothes before confining him, аlthough that step would be rare.
Moreover, this court has characterized strip and body cavity searches as “demeaning, dehumanizing, undignified, humiliating, terrifying, unpleasant, embarrassing, repulsive, signifying degradation and submission .... ” Mary Beth G. v. City of Chicago,
Close consideration of the case at hand also compels different legal conclusions. Reviewing the district court’s legal conclusions in its preliminary injunction ruling de novo, as we must, Kiel v. City of Kenosha,
This court in Mary Beth G. found that strip searches of women arrested for misdemeanor offenses conducted at the city lockup while they awaited bond were unreasonable under the Bell balancing test and thereby violated the Fourth Amendment. Mary Beth G.,
That the search of Campbell was conducted in public significantly increases the severity of the governmental intrusion involved here. The defendants’ professed reasоns for the policy in all likelihood cannot justify such extreme incursions in a person’s privacy under the Fourth Amendment. That the policy confers unbridled discretion on the officers and does not even require reasonable suspicion for an officer to conduct a strip and body cavity search (recall, the defendants write in their brief that an officer can submit a citizen to such a search “if the officer feels it is necessary”) makes the likelihood of the IPD policy’s unconstitutionality only greater. The Constitution clearly requires at least reasonable suspicion for a law enforcement officer to subject a person to such a search. See Mary Beth G.,
Moreover, “[w]hen an alleged deprivation of a constitutional right is involved, most courts hold that no further showing of irreparable injury is necessary.” Mitchell v. Cuomo,
Furthermore, contrary to the majority’s suggestion that “[i]f this court decides that the City’s practice is unconstitutional then it must cease ... (for the prospect of damаges paid to thousands of suspects would bring the City into line),” supra p. 2, courts have recognized that the possibility of money damages engenders only meager if any deterrent effect against police incursions on Fourth Amendment rights. See, e.g., Lankford v. Gelston,
Moreover, the cases the majority cites to support its conclusion that money damages are an adequate remedy for an unconstitutional search arе readily distinguishable from the case at bar. Sampson v. Murray,
Second City Music, Inc. v. Chicago,
The same can be said for Webb v. Board of Trustees of Ball State University,
Finally, the majority cites Wilson v. Garcia,
III. Standing
In City of Los Angeles v. Lyons,
As for the first part of the Lyons standing test, requiring a plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction to show that he faces a real threat of another encounter with the police of the type alleged in his complaint, there are several factual allegations present in Campbell’s case on which basis courts have found standing for a preliminary injunction, even when presented with somewhat speculative claims of future harm. Courts have paid judicial notice to the following facts, alleged in Campbell’s case, in finding a party had standing for a preliminary injunction: (1) the police acts to which the plaintiff was subjected and about which he complains were authorized by police policy; or (2) the police policy did not clearly limit the occasions in which the police activity could take place.
As my research to date has not yielded a Seventh Circuit case directly on point, I look to outside authority. Case law from our sister circuits suggests that Campbell has standing for a preliminary injunction to enjoin defendants from conducting body cavity searches against him. For example, in Deshawn E. v. Safir,
Addressing whether “the same events are likely to happen again to [Campbell]”, supra p. 2, Campbell contends that these invasive public searches arе done with some degree of frequency. Defendant Officer Miller testified that he alone has conducted twenty to thirty such searches. He also testified that he has observed other officers performing the invasive searches. Defendant Andrew Lamle, another Indianapolis police officer, testified that he too has conducted “similar searches.” While there is insufficient evidence in the record to determine what percentage of total summons arrests involved public strip and/or body cavity searches (nor is it clear whether the IPD even keeps such records),
Lastly, the fact that the IPD policy, pursuant to which the police officer defendants acted when they conducted a body cavity search of Campbell in public, places no limit on when an officer may submit a summons arrestee to such searches supports Campbell’s standing claim. In Lyons, the Supreme Court took judicial notice of the limitations the Los Angeles police policy placed on police use of choke-holds which were challenged in that case. In the context of assessing whether Lyons would be subjected to an illegal chokehold again in the future, the Court stated, “police officers were instructed to use choke-holds only when lesser degrees' of force do not suffice and then only ‘to gain control of a suspect who is violently resisting the officer or trying to escape.’ ” Lyons,
However, there is. no comparable constraint on IPD officers in the case at bar. The defendants state in their appellate brief that an IPD officer may conduct such an invasive search in public “if the officer feels it is necessary.” Moreover, IPD Chief Barker testified that the application of the search policy is dependent on “[Reasonableness and discretion of the officer, based on the totality of the circumstances” an officer faces. However, Fourth Amendment jurisprudence discussed above indicates that the search challenged here is in all likelihood never reasonable, given the severity of the intrusion and the fact that it is conducted in public. So allowing
Further, the list of misdemeanors for which a person may be subjected to a body cavity search in public, see sources cited supra note 2, not only underscores the policy’s unreasonableness, but also multiplies the likelihood that Campbell will be subjectеd to such a search in the future.
I respectfully dissent.
Notes
. Because the district court made limited findings of fact, my summary is taken from testimony presented in the preliminary injunction hearing and the parties’ briefs. While the factual allegations discussed in the body of my dissent are those that are most germane to this case's analysis, I offer this brief summary to put Campbell's encounter with the police in context:
Campbell, employed as the School Transportation and Security Supervisor for Perry Township, testified that on June 14, 2002 at about 8 p.m., he parked his car and began walking towards the house of his friend, Kimo Parham, an insurancе product analyst. According to defendant Officer Frank Miller, it was still light outside. Officer Miller recounted that he saw Campbell walking towards Parham's home and told Campbell to stop. Unsure of the officer's motives, Campbell stated that he continued to walk towards Par-ham’s residence, hoping to get close enough
Shortly thereafter, defendants Officers Andrew Lamle and Scott Wolfe arrived. Officer Miller conducted a pat-down search of Campbell and found nothing. Officer Miller told Wolfe thаt Campbell had dropped something by a car in the driveway (although Campbell disputes that he dropped anything). Wolfe then picked up a plastic baggie containing marijuana from the ground. Defendant Officer Kevin Duley, the officer who had been pursuing the fleeing suspect, testified that about ten minutes after the pat-down, he arrived and stated that he did not want to arrest Campbell because he had not seen the face of the suspect who fled from him.
Campbell contends that Officer Miller then told Campbell that due to jail overcrowding, he had to strip search him at that time to determine if he had drugs on him. Campbell testified that while in Parham’s backyard and while still handcuffed, Officer Miller (donning latex gloves) unbuckled Campbell's pants and pulled down his underpants, exposing his genitalia, had him bend over slightly, and examined his buttocks and anal area. Campbell also testified that Officer Miller felt under Campbell's groin area. Officer Miller contends that he only spread Campbell’s buttocks. Nothing was found as a result of the search. Officer Miller testified he then pulled up Campbell's pants, gave him a summons to appear for possession of marijuana, and released him. Campbell testified no charges were ever filed.
. While the district court made no findings of fact as to whether defendants conduct public strip and body cavity searches pursuant to a blanket police policy, both parties point to, and the district court noted, the provisions of the Executive Committee of the Marion County Superior Court Order of April 18, 2002 and the IPD General Order 18.02 as authorizing such public searches.
The Executive Committee of the Marion County Superior Court Order of April 18, 2002 states "It is therefore the Order of the Marion Superior Court, by and through its Executive Committee that
A. The Marion County Sheriff no longеr accept arrestees into the Marion county Lock-up who are only charged with the following misdemeanor crimes:
1.) Possession of Marijuana
2.) Possession of Paraphernalia
3.) .Driving with a suspended license
4.) Operating a vehicle; never having received a license
5.) Prostitution
6.) Patronizing a prostitute
7.) Conversion
C. The Marion County Sheriff advise all Law Enforcement agencies within Marion County to issue summons in lieu of arrest for the above referenced crimes if charges are to be filed with the Marion County Prosecutors' Office.”
IPD General Order 18.02 provides, in pertinent part, "Any officer making an arrest or otherwise coming into control of a prisoner must make an immediate and thorough body search of the prisoner....” (emphasis added).
. Other cases involving significant intrusions of privacy representing unreasonable searches under thе Fourth Amendment also ' suggest that there is no adequate remedy at law for Campbell. See, e.g., Bannister v. Bd. of County Comm’rs of Leavenworth County, Kan.,
. No First Amendment violation was found in this case.
. Compare PL's Am. Compl. ¶ 56 ("The search performed on Plaintiff Jamеs Campbell was performed pursuant to a practice or policy of the Indianapolis Police Department.”) with Defs.' Answer to Am. Compl. ¶ 42 (“Defendants admit the material allegations in paragraph 56.”).
. While this court must review the district court’s findings of fact for clear error, Anderson v. U.S.F. Logistics (IMC), Inc.,
. Here, for instance, although it is undisputed that Officer Miller performed a public strip search of Campbell, the official case report narrated by Officer Miller states that Campbell was issued a summons for possession of marijuana but makes no mention whatsoever of the strip search.
