JACOBS v. ZAMPIRI et al

Filing 27

MEMORANDUM AND/OR OPINION. SIGNED BY HONORABLE NITZA I QUINONES ALEJANDRO ON 1/17/23. 1/18/23 ENTERED AND COPIES NOT MAILED TO PRO SE.(rf, )

Case 2:22-cv-02861-NIQA Document 27 Filed 01/17/23 Page 1 of 7

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
STEVEN JACOBS,
a/k/a Dorian Jacobs,
Plaintiff
v.
DETECTIVE DONNA ZAMPIRI, et al.,
Defendants

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CIVIL ACTION

NO. 22-CV-2861

MEMORANDUM
NITZA I. QUIÑONES ALEJANDRO, J.

JANUARY 17, 2023

Plaintiff Steven Jacobs, also known as Dorian Clark, a prisoner currently incarcerated at
Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility (“CFCF”), brings this pro se civil action pursuant to 42
U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of his constitutional rights. By Order dated November 8, 2022,
the Court previously determined that Jacobs was not able to afford to pay the filing fee in this
action and granted him leave to proceed in forma pauperis pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915. (ECF
No. 24.)
Currently before the Court is Jacobs’s Fourth Amended Complaint (ECF No. 26). For the
following reasons, Jacob’s Fourth Amended Complaint is dismissed in its entirety pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim.
I.

FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY1
By Memorandum and Order dated November 8, 2022, the Court screened Jacobs’s Third

Amended Complaint and dismissed all of his claims pursuant to § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). (See ECF
Nos. 23 and 24.) The Court granted Jacobs leave to amend his claims against Defendant Detective

1

The factual allegations set forth in this Memorandum are taken from Jacobs’s Fourth Amended
Complaint (ECF No. 26).

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Donna Zampiri. Jacob filed his Fourth Amended Complaint on November 22, 2022. The
allegations of Jacobs’s Fourth Amended Complaint are brief; to wit: Jacobs alleges that at 2:00
a.m., on October 3, 2020 at the Tioga El platform, a Septa police officer placed him in handcuffs
“with no facts, reason, or proof that a crime was com[m]itted” and “without having facts to support
probable cause[.]” (Fourth Am. Compl. at 4-5.) 2 Jacobs asserts that a Philadelphia police officer
then took him “to the 24[th] District under DC #20-24-071099 in which vague information by
Donna Zampiri was giv[en.]” (Id. at 5.)
Jacobs claims that neither Detective Donna Zampiri, the Philadelphia police, nor the Septa
police officer “have facts to support affirmation, oath of probable cause.” (Id. at 4.) Jacobs
contends that his rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States
Constitution were violated and that he was deprived of probable cause and due process. (Id. at 34.) Based on these allegations, Jacobs names the following Defendants: (1) Detective Donna
Zampiri of the Philadelphia Police Department; (2) John Doe Philadelphia Police Officer of the
24th District; (3) the City of Philadelphia; 3 and (4) John Doe Septa Police Officer. (Id. at 2-3.) All
Defendants are sued solely in their official capacities. 4 (Id.) Jacobs claims that he suffers from

The Court adopts the pagination supplied to the Fourth Amended Complaint by the CM/ECF
docketing system.

2

Under the designated area on his form complaint where Jacobs named the City of Philadelphia, he
also wrote “and three John Doe Officers of District Control #20-24-07 1099.” (Id. at 2.) It is unclear if
these are three additional John Doe Defendants or if this refers to previously named John Doe Defendants.
3

In drafting his Fourth Amended Complaint, Jacobs checked the boxes on the form indicating that
he is only bringing official capacity claims in this case. In the November 8, 2022 Memorandum, the Court
previously explained the implications of checking either the individual or the official capacity box. As the
Court noted, claims against the City of Philadelphia, a municipal entity, and claims against municipal
employees named in their official capacities, such as Philadelphia police officers, are indistinguishable from
claims against the governmental entity that employs them. See Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165-66
(1985). Because Jacobs again fails to allege any facts to support a basis for municipal liability against the
City, see Monell v. N.Y.C. Dept. of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978), Jacobs’s claims against the City
will be dismissed for failure to state a claim. Similarly, Jacobs’s official capacity claims against the
4

2

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“emotional distress due to racial inequality” and that his medical treatment records will
demonstrate that he had a wound behind his right ear which required stiches. (Id. at 5.) Jacobs
seeks $1,000,000,000 for his unlawful arrest on October 3, 2020. (Id.) He also seeks “freedom
from racial inequality” and “from the vague and uncertain cause the unreasonable seizure[.]” 5 (Id.)
As this Court has previously recognized, public dockets reflect that Jacobs was charged in
a criminal proceeding in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in 2021 arising from events that
occurred on October 3, 2020. See Commonwealth v. Jacobs, CP-51-CR-0001880-2021 (C.P.
Philadelphia).

Jacobs has been charged with several counts including: attempted murder,

aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of a crime with intent, simple assault, and
recklessly endangering another person. Id. On March 19, 2021, Jacobs had a preliminary hearing
in the Philadelphia Municipal Court on these charges. See Commonwealth v. Jacobs, MC-51-CR0019068-2020, (M.C. Philadelphia), and is currently awaiting trial on these charges. 6

See

Commonwealth v. Jacobs, CP-51-CR-0001880-2021 (C.P. Philadelphia).
II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW
The Court previously granted Jacobs leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Pursuant to 28

U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), this Court is required to dismiss the Fourth Amended Complaint if it
fails to state a claim. Whether a complaint fails to state a claim under § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is
remaining Defendants will also be dismissed. In light of his pro se status, the Court construes the Fourth
Amended Complaint to assert claims against the remaining Defendants in their individual capacities.
As the Court explained in the November 8, 2022 Memorandum, Jacobs cannot pursue a request for
release or dismissal of criminal charges by way of a civil rights action and must file a habeas petition to
pursue such relief. See generally 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Jacobs filed a § 2241 petition on November 8, 2022
which is currently pending before Honorable Joel H. Slomsky. See Jacobs v. Warden, et al., Civ. A. No.
22-4466. Additional claims regarding his freedom or his release should be addressed in that proceeding.

5

Jacobs criminal trial was previously set for November 17, 2022, but the public docket in that matter
reflects that the November 17th trial was continued to January 11, 2023. At this time, however, it does not
appear that the January 11, 2023 trial has commenced.
6

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governed by the same standard applicable to motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 12(b)(6), see Tourscher v. McCullough, 184 F.3d 236, 240 (3d Cir. 1999), which
requires the Court to determine whether the complaint contains “sufficient factual matter, accepted
as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678
(2009) (quotations omitted).
“At this early stage of the litigation,’ ‘[the Court will] accept the facts alleged in [the pro
se] complaint as true,’ ‘draw[] all reasonable inferences in [the plaintiff’s] favor,’ and ‘ask only
whether [that] complaint, liberally construed, . . . contains facts sufficient to state a plausible []
claim.’” Shorter v. United States, 12 F.4th 366, 374 (3d Cir. 2021) (quoting Perez v. Fenoglio,
792 F.3d 768, 774, 782 (7th Cir. 2015)). Conclusory allegations do not suffice. Iqbal, 556 U.S.
at 678. As Jacobs is proceeding pro se, the Court construes his allegations liberally. Vogt v.
Wetzel, 8 F. 4th 182, 185 (3d Cir. 2021) (citing Mala v. Crown Bay Marina, Inc., 704 F.3d 239,
244-45 (3d Cir. 2013)). “This means we remain flexible, especially ‘when dealing with imprisoned
pro se litigants[.]’” Id. (quoting Mala, 704 F. 3d at 244). The Court will “apply the relevant legal
principle even when the complaint has failed to name it.” Id. ‘“[P]ro se litigants still must allege
sufficient facts in their complaints to support a claim.’” Id. (quoting Mala, 704 F.3d at 245).
However, “liberal construction of a pro se amended complaint does not mean accumulating
allegations from superseded pleadings.” Argentina v. Gillette, 778 F. App’x 173, 175 n.3 (3d Cir.
2019) (per curiam).
II.

DISCUSSION
Jacobs’s Fourth Amended Complaint brings claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for

alleged violations of his Fourth Amendment rights arising from the events of October 3, 2020. 7
7

Jacobs also claims that the actions of “three police officers” deprived him of due process under the
Fourteenth Amendment. (Fourth Am. Compl. at 3-4.) Generally, claims challenging the legality of

4

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(Fourth Am. Compl. at 3-5.) “To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege the violation
of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and must show that the alleged
deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” West v. Atkins, 487 U.S.
42, 48 (1988).
Jacobs claims that he was unlawfully arrested on October 3, 2020 in violation of his Fourth
Amendment rights because he was placed in handcuffs and taken to District 24 without probable
cause. (Fourth Am. Compl. at 3-5.) As this Court previously explained in the November 8, 2022
Memorandum, to state a claim for false arrest under the Fourth Amendment, a plaintiff must allege
facts establishing that he was arrested without probable cause. See James v. City of Wilkes-Barre,
700 F.3d 675, 680 (3d Cir. 2012); Orsatti v. N.J. State Police, 71 F.3d 480, 482 (3d Cir. 1995).
“Probable cause exists whenever reasonably trustworthy information or circumstances within a
police officer’s knowledge are sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution to conclude that
an offense has been committed by the person being arrested.” United States v. Myers, 308 F.3d
251, 255 (3d Cir. 2002); see also Orsatti, 71 F.3d at 483 (“[P]robable cause to arrest exists when
the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer’s knowledge are sufficient in themselves

searches, seizures, and pretrial detention are properly raised under the Fourth Amendment. See Manuel v.
City of Joliet, Ill., 137 S. Ct. 911, 919 (2017) (“If the complaint is that a form of legal process resulted in
pretrial detention unsupported by probable cause, then the right allegedly infringed lies in the Fourth
Amendment.” ); Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 274 (1994) (“The Framers considered the matter of
pretrial deprivations of liberty and drafted the Fourth Amendment to address it.”). In Albright, the Supreme
Court held that “[w]here a particular Amendment provides an explicit textual source of constitutional
protection against a particular sort of government behavior, that Amendment, not the more generalized
notion of substantive due process, must be the guide for analyzing these claims.” Id. at 273 (internal
quotations omitted); see also Betts v. New Castle Youth Dev. Ctr., 621 F.3d 249, 260 (3d Cir. 2010)
(discussing the “more-specific-provision rule” pursuant to which claims should be analyzed under the
standards relevant to the more specific provision of the Constitution under which that claim falls, rather
than under the Due Process Clause as a catch all). Since the Fourth Amendment provides an explicit textual
source for Jacobs’s false arrest claim, that claim will be analyzed under that more specific provision and
his Fourteenth Amendment claims will be dismissed.

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to warrant a reasonable person to believe that an offense has been or is being committed by the
person to be arrested.”).
Jacobs’s false arrest claim fails, however, because he has not alleged facts that would
plausibly support his legal conclusion that probable cause was lacking for his arrest. Jacobs’s
allegations are vague and conclusory, and merely recite the elements of a false arrest claim, making
them insufficient to state a plausible claim for relief. See Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (“Threadbare
recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not
suffice.”).
Although the Court must accept Jacobs’s factual allegations as true, at this stage of the
proceedings, the Court is not obligated to credit Jacobs’s legal conclusions regarding the
constitutionality his arrest on October 3, 2020. See Morse v. Lower Merion Sch. Dist., 132 F.3d
902, 906 (3d Cir. 1997) (recognizing that the court need not credit a pro se litigant’s “bald
assertions” or “legal conclusions.”) While Jacobs affirmatively alleges that he was arrested
without probable cause, he does not describe the facts and circumstances surrounding his arrest in
a manner that would support a conclusion that probable cause was lacking for any of the crimes
for which he was arrested. Accordingly, Jacobs has not stated a plausible claim for false arrest
and this claim will be dismissed pursuant to § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii). 8

See, e.g., Godfrey v.

Pennsylvania, 525 F. App’ x 78, 80 (3d Cir. 2013) (per curiam) (explaining that, to the extent
plaintiff was asserting claims for false arrest and imprisonment, “[plaintiff] needed to point to facts
suggesting that Defendant Thompson lacked probable cause to believe he had committed the
offense for which he was arrested”).
8

To the extent Jacobs’s Fourth Amended Complaint could be liberally construed to assert claims for
either false imprisonment or malicious prosecution, Jacobs has also failed to state a plausible claim under
either legal theory as the absence of probable cause is an element for both claims. See Berry v. Kabacinski,
704 F. App’x 71, 73 (3d Cir. 2017).

6

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The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that district courts should
dismiss complaints with leave to amend “unless amendment would be inequitable or futile.”
Grayson v. Mayview State Hosp., 293 F.3d 103, 108, 110 (3d Cir. 2002); see also Shane v. Fauver,
213 F.3d 113, 116 (3d Cir. 2000). In the November 8, 2022 Memorandum and Order, the Court
granted Jacobs leave to amend his claims consistent with Grayson. Jacobs took advantage of that
opportunity and filed this Fourth Amended Complaint.

However, despite this additional

opportunity to amend, Jacobs has not been able to cure the noted pleading deficiencies. Previously,
Jacobs has attempted to amend the pleadings in this case on three separate occasions from the time
he filed the original complaint until the screening of the Third Amended Complaint. (See ECF
Nos. 1, 10, 11, and 19.) Based on his pleading history and his continued inability to cure the
defects in his claims, the Court concludes that further amendment would be futile. See Jones v.
Unknown D.O.C. Bus Driver & Transp. Crew, 944 F.3d 478, 483 (3d Cir. 2019) (amendment by
pro se litigant would be futile when litigant “already had two chances to tell his story”); Robinson
v. Delbalso, No. 22-2378, slip op. at 5 (3d. Cir. Nov. 28, 2022) (per curiam) (“because Robinson
has had two opportunities to amend his complaint, declining to grant further leave to amend was
proper.”).
IV.

CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will dismiss Jacobs’s Fourth Amended Complaint

pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) for failure to state a claim. Jacobs will not be granted
further leave to amend in this matter as it appears continued attempts to amend would be futile.
An appropriate Order follows.

NITZA I. QUIÑONES ALEJANDRO, J.
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