Giddeon v. Flynn

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Section 1983 Action
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 15-3464
Decision Date: 
July 28, 2016
Federal District: 
E.D. Wisc.
Holding: 
Affirmed and reversed in part and remanded

Dist. Ct. erred in granting defendants-police officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s section 1983 action alleging that police had violated his constitutional rights by: (1) stopping car in which he was passenger without probable cause or reasonable suspicion that criminal conduct had recently taken place; (2) placing him under arrest and then placing him in back seat of squad car; and (3) eliciting confession from him that he owned gun found in search of car, where said confession took place in back seat of squad car. Summary judgment was improper with respect to police stopping car since police conceded that they lacked probable cause to stop car on traffic violation and were unaware at time of stop that defendant, who was under suspicion of committing domestic violence offense, was in car. However, summary judgment was proper with respect to portion of section 1983 claim alleging illegal arrest since police had probable cause to arrest defendant once they noticed he was in car, where police had received recent information that defendant had been involved in domestic violence incident. Moreover, search was valid, where driver gave permission to search car, and conditions in back seat of squad car were not so harsh so as to invalidate defendant’s subsequent confession to owning gun that led to instant firearm possession charges that formed basis of defendant’s guilty plea.