Phillips v. Unknown St. Louis City Police Officers

Filing 8

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis [Doc. # 2 ] is GRANTED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs complaint is DISMISSED as frivolous pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i). A separate Order of Dismissal shall accompany this Memorandum and Order. Signed by District Judge Ronnie L. White on December 8, 2017. (BRP)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION

CLINT PHILLIPS, III,
Plaintiff,
v.

UNKNOWN ST. LOUIS CITY POLICE
OFFICERS, et al.,
Defendants.

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No. 4:17-CV-1589 JMB

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court upon the motion of plaintiff Clint Phillips, III, 1 for leave
to commence this action without prepayment of the filing fee.2 The Court will grant plaintiffs
motion to proceed in forma pauperis. However, after reviewing plaintiffs complaint, the Court
will dismiss the complaint pursuant to 28 U .S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B).
Legal Standard

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), the Court is required to dismiss a complaint filed informa
pauperis if it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

To state a claim for relief under § 1983, a complaint must plead more than "legal conclusions"
and "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action [that are] supported by mere
conclusory statements." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).

A plaintiff must

demonstrate a plausible claim for relief, which is more than a "mere possibility of misconduct."
1

According to Missouri Case.Net, the State of Missouri's online docketing system, on June 19,
2017, plaintiff was convicted of misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest. See State v. Phillips,
Case No. 1622-CR02100 (22"d Judicial Circuit, City of St. Louis Court). He was sentenced to
six months Suspended Imposition of Sentence ("SIS"), as well as six months Suspended
Execution of Sentence ("SES"). He was then provided with unsupervised probation at that time.
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Although plaintiff was a prisoner at the time he filed the initial complaint, he has since been
released from custody according to the docket sheet.

Id. at 679. "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows
the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct
alleged." Id. at 678. Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief is a
context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to, inter alia, draw upon judicial
experience and common sense. Id. at 679.
When reviewing a pro se complaint under § 1915(e)(2), the Court must give it the benefit
of a liberal construction. Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972).

However, this does not

mean that pro se complaints may be merely conclusory. Even pro se complaints are required to
allege facts which, if true, state a claim for relief as a matter of law. Martin v. Aubuchon, 623
F.2d 1282, 1286 (8th Cir. 1980); see also Stone v. Harry, 364 F.3d 912, 914-15 (8th Cir. 2004)
(federal courts are not required to "assume facts that are not alleged, just because an additional
factual allegation would have formed a stronger complaint"). In addition, affording a pro se
complaint the benefit of a liberal construction does not mean that procedural rules in ordinary
civil litigation must be interpreted so as to excuse mistakes by those who proceed without
counsel. See McNeil v. US., 508 U.S. 106, 113 (1993).
The Complaint

Plaintiff seeks relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against "Unknown St. Louis City
Police Officers." Plaintiff sues the Unknown Police Officers in both their official and individual
capacities.
Plaintiff claims that on May 8, 2017, he was "accosted" after some of his family
members instigated an arrest by unnamed St. Louis Police Officers. Plaintiff claims the Officers
came towards him with their guns drawn and told him to put down his "cigarette and can of
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Budweiser." Plaintiff asserts the Unknown Police Officers used the purported victim's
statements to apply retroactively for probable cause for his first arrest in early May 2017. He
asserts that this arrest was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.
Plaintiff then asserts that during a second arrest, when he was "fleeing," he was
"intercepted by a white female cop" and shot by a taser. Plaintiff does not provide a date of this
occurrence or discuss when this purportedly occurred. Plaintiff claims at this time he was once
again taken into custody and falsely imprisoned.
He asserts he was made to pay his bail on these two separate occasions, not properly
treated for his mental health needs, arrested a second time at the Veterans Administration by
Homeland Security personnel, and eventually taken to the St. Louis City Justice Center at some
point, but on another arrest, taken to the Medium Security Institution where he was placed on
suicide watch.
Plaintiff seeks monetary damages and injunctive relief as a result of violations of his
Fourth Amendment rights.
Discussion
At the outset, the Court notes that, in general, fictitious or unknown parties may not be
named as defendants in a civil action. Phelps v. United States, 15 F.3d 735, 739 (8th Cir. 1994).
An action may proceed against a party whose name is unknown, however, if the complaint

makes sufficiently specific allegations to permit the identity of the party to be ascertained after
reasonable discovery. Munz v. Parr, 758 F.2d 1254, 1257 (8th Cir. 1985).
In the case at hand, the complaint does not contain allegations sufficiently specific to
permit the identity of the Unknown St. Louis City Police Officers to be ascertained after
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reasonable discovery. Plaintiff has discussed numerous arrests at various places in his complaint;
therefore, the Court is left to wonder how many police officers he had difficulty with during the
Summer of 2017. Moreover, as plaintiff is proceeding in forma pauperis, the Court is charged
with service of the complaint on defendants on plaintiffs behalf. The Court cannot obtain service
on defendants who are identified only as "Unknown St. Louis City Police Officers" with no
indication of their last name or some other identifying information. As a result, the complaint is
legally frivolous as to the unnamed defendants known as "Unknown St. Louis City Police
Officers."
In addition, as plaintiffs claims relate to violations of the Fourth Amendment, his claims
would likely be subject to a stay pursuant to Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007), until the
resolution of any relevant state court criminal proceedings.
Accordingly,

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion to proceed in forma pauperis [Doc.
#2] is GRANTED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiffs complaint is DISMISSED as frivolous
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i).
A separate Order of Dismissal shall accompany this Memorandum and Order.
Dated this %!!:day of December, 2017.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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