Page 44 - TPA Journal January - February 2019
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resting its decision solely on the second prong of Officer Matthew McCall of the Albemarle County
qualified immunity. Police Department in Virginia saw the driver of an
Samples struggles to show that Vadzemnieks’s orange and black motorcycle with an extended
conduct violated clearly established law. frame commit a traffic infraction. The driver
eluded Officer McCall’s attempt to stop the
In light of Carroll’s express reservation of so motorcycle. A few weeks later, Officer David
similar a constitutional question, and in light of
Rhodes of the same department saw an orange and
the Court’s repeated instruction that caselaw black motorcycle traveling well over the speed
involving excessive force claims must be
limit, but the driver got away from him, too. The
sufficiently particularized and must put the issue officers compared notes and concluded that the
altogether “beyond debate,” we must conclude two incidents involved the same motorcyclist.
that Vadzemnieks’s actions did not violate law that
was clearly established at the time of the incident. Upon further investigation, the officers learned
Vadzemnieks is therefore entitled to qualified that the motorcycle likely was stolen and in the
immunity. possession of petitioner Ryan Collins. After
discovering photographs on Collins’ Facebook
Vadzemnieks violated Samples’s Fourth profile that featured an orange and black
Amendment right to be free of excessive force, but motorcycle parked at the top of the driveway of a
that alone is not enough for him to recover. Right house, Officer Rhodes tracked down the address
or wrong, the very premise of qualified immunity of the house, drove there, and parked on the street.
is that not every constitutional violation suffered It was later established that Collins’ girlfriend
by plaintiffs like Samples is redressable. While lived in the house and that Collins stayed there a
recognizing an uncertainty of law that sustains the few nights per week.
defense of qualified immunity, this opinion has
From his parked position on the street, Officer
bite, for it offers guidance to officers. We reverse
Rhodes saw what appeared to be a motorcycle
the district court’s denial of summary judgment to
with an extended frame covered with a white tarp,
Vadzemnieks and render judgment for him.
parked at the same angle and in the same location
Samples v. Vadzemnieks, Fifth Cir., No. 17- on the driveway as in the Facebook photograph.
20350, Aug. 17th, 2018. Officer Rhodes, who did not have a warrant,
exited his car and walked toward the house. He
**************************************** stopped to take a photograph of the covered
************************************** motorcycle from the sidewalk, and then walked
onto the residential property and up to the top of
SEARCH & SEIZURE, AUTO EXCEPTION,
the driveway to where the motorcycle was parked.
RESIDENTIAL CURTILAGE
In order “to investigate further,” App. 80, Officer
Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Rhodes pulled off the tarp, revealing a motorcycle
Court. that looked like the one from the speeding
incident. He then ran a search of the license plate
This case presents the question whether the
and vehicle identification numbers, which
automobile exception to the Fourth
confirmed that the motorcycle was stolen. After
Amendment permits a police officer, uninvited
gathering this information, Officer Rhodes took a
and without a warrant, to enter the curtilage of a
photograph of the uncovered motorcycle, put the
home in order to search a vehicle parked therein.
tarp back on, left the property, and returned to his
It does not.
car to wait for Collins.
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