537 N.E.2d 229 | Ohio Ct. App. | 1987
Plaintiff appeals the trial court's decision granting defendants' motion for summary judgment. We affirm.
Because this matter was decided on a summary judgment, we view the facts, where in dispute, most favorably to the plaintiff. On the morning of October 16, 1984, the principal of Stewart Elementary School telephoned police that two students had just seen a man in front of the Acme Store at Wooster-Hawkins who pointed a gun at them. The principal described the suspect as a black male with a mustache, wearing a black hat, black jacket and blue jeans. The police dispatcher relayed this description to the patrol cars in the area. Sergeant Reuscher and Officer Johnson of the Akron Police Department arrived at the Acme store soon thereafter. While questioning the store manager, Reuscher spotted the plaintiff, Eugene Wells, leaving the store. Wells, a black male with a mustache, was wearing a black hat, black jacket and blue jeans. The officer waited until Wells got into his car away from the store. At this point, the officers pulled their cruisers up in front of and behind Wells' car. Reuscher ordered Wells to get out of his car with his hands in the air. Reuscher had his shotgun in his hands. Wells contends that Reuscher said something to the effect of, "Do as you're told or I'm going to blow your head off." The officers frisked Wells and searched the passenger compartment of his car. Wells then gave the officers permission to search the trunk of his car. The officers found no weapon and permitted Wells to leave immediately thereafter.
Wells filed this action against the officers involved and the city of Akron, alleging primarily a deprivation of his constitutional rights under Section 1983, Title 42, U.S. Code. Defendants moved for summary judgment, which the court granted. Wells appeals.
"II. The trial court erred in granting summary judgment against the plaintiff on his claim based on the
Because these assignments of error are both concerned with Wells' Section 1983 claim, we address them together. Wells argues that the officers' actions deprived him of various constitutional rights. Wells complains that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest him or to search him and his car without a warrant. In defendants' motion for summary judgment, they set forth the defense of probable cause and good faith. Pierson v. Ray (1967),
An investigative stop, or Terry stop as it has come to be known after the case which initially set down the groundwork for its use as a police tool, Terry v. Ohio (1968),
Upon making a Terry stop, an officer may, as is the case here, frisk the suspect for weapons when he reasonably believes the individual is armed and dangerous. Terry, supra, at 27. Furthermore, a police officer may search the passenger compartment of an automobile, limited to those areas in which a weapon may be placed or hidden, if the officer reasonably believes that the suspect is dangerous and may gain immediate control of weapons in the car. Michigan v. Long (1983),
Wells argues that the manner of the stop resulted in his arrest and a warrantless search. We disagree. A police officer may use reasonable force to make an investigative stop. Such reasonable force may include the use of a drawn weapon. United States v.Jackson (C.A. 2, 1981),
A summary judgment may be rendered in favor of a law enforcement official where the pleadings, affidavits, and depositions show that there is no genuine issue as to the good-faith defense in a Section 1983 action. Kipps v. Ewell (C.A. 4, 1976),
The above assignments of error are overruled.
In the first paragraph of his complaint, Wells characterizes the nature of his suit as a civil rights action brought under Section 1983, Title 42, U.S. Code. Furthermore, Wells did not argue in his response to the summary judgment motion that he had asserted state law claims separate and apart from his Section 1983 claim. Nonetheless, it appears Wells' complaint did include claims for negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
We first address Wells' claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Wells neither pleaded nor alleged in any of the materials submitted in opposition to defendants' motion for summary judgment how defendants were negligent. As stated supra, the police officers conducted an investigative stop in good faith and with the requisite reasonable suspicion that Wells was the armed suspect they sought. Thus, defendants were not *151 negligent; nor is there any apparent issue of material fact which might establish their negligence.
Wells also pleaded a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The court in Yeager v. Local Union 20 (1983),
"One who by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes serious emotional distress to another is subject to liability for such emotional distress, and if bodily harm to the other results from it, for such bodily harm."
Quoting further from 1 Restatement of the Law 2d, Torts (1965) 73, Section 46, Comment d, the court proceeded to define "outrageous conduct" as conduct "so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community." Yeager, supra, at 375, 6 OBR at 426,
We also note that recovery in an action for emotional distress requires "emotional injury which is both severe and debilitating." Paugh v. Hanks (1983),
The assignment of error is overruled.
Pursuant to Monell v. Dept. of Social Services of the City ofNew York (1978),
The assignment of error is overruled.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
BAIRD and CACIOPPO, JJ., concur.