In a published unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit said the trial court shouldn't have tossed Edwin Bladimir Escobar-Salmeron's allegations that correctional officers used excessive force, kicking him in the head while he was handcuffed during a strip search. Following the alleged attack, Escobar-Salmeron repeatedly sought medical attention for injuries he said he suffered, and "a reasonable jury could find that Escobar-Salmeron's injuries substantiate the 'objective' component of his excessive force claim," wrote Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin for the panel.
Accounts vary concerning what happened when correctional officers Corey T. Holland and Daniel Arndt tried to search Escobar-Salmeron for a knife he reportedly had, and the court said there was enough of a dispute to send the case to trial.
Escobar-Salmeron's suit against the officers and the former secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said he complied with orders when he and his cellmate were strip-searched in a day room, but officers hurt him anyway, the court summarized.
According to Escobar-Salmeron, Holland punched, kicked and choked the prisoner while he was on the floor "while laughing and screaming 'stop resisting,'" Judge Benjamin said. Arndt also allegedly began punching and kicking Escobar-Salmeron to help Holland.
Even though Escobar-Salmeron repeatedly told Holland he couldn't breathe, the officer's choke hold didn't diminish, and so the plaintiff said he bit Holland's hand to stop the choking, according to the panel.
After Escobar-Salmeron was handcuffed, he said Holland kicked him in the back of the head and in the face, "and when the other officers arrived, they 'beat [Escobar-Salmeron] and messed up [his] shoulder and spine,'" Judge Benjamin wrote.
However, Holland and Arndt said Escobar-Salmeron wasn't obeying their instructions, and when he did remove his shorts, they found a sheath for a knife that the prisoner claimed was just a pencil case. Escobar-Salmeron was taken to the ground after making some sort of movement and not following orders, the officers said. As part of that alleged noncompliance, Holland's hand was bitten and Arndt then either pulled Escobar-Salmeron off or used a pressure point behind his ear — the court said accounts varied on this point.
Still, the panel said nothing in the officers' accounts explained why Escobar-Salmeron had a bruise on his head both when he was initially taken to the infirmary and more than three weeks after the alleged attack when he was again seen by medics.
"It appears the district court concluded that whatever force caused the bruise was applied in response to the bite," but this was an assumption, Judge Benjamin wrote. The timing of when Escobar-Salmeron was bruised was also germane to his allegations and "is yet another genuine dispute of a fact material to Escobar-Salmeron's excessive force claim," the court noted.
The fact that Escobar-Salmeron initially refused medical treatment also had no bearing on the severity of his injuries, the court explained, noting that people might refuse treatment for many reasons.
"Because the record does not disclose Escobar-Salmeron's reasons for initially refusing medical care, we decline to infer from his refusal alone that his injuries were caused by a de minimis amount of force," wrote Judge Benjamin.
And regardless of the severity of Escobar-Salmeron's injuries, "a reasonable jury could also find that the correctional officers used force 'maliciously and sadistically,'" the panel said.
"The district court improperly ruled out malice based on Escobar-Salmeron's supposedly 'minor' injuries … But the pertinent questions undergirding our malice analysis are not how much force officers use or how much injury they cause. Malice analysis interrogates the need for and proportionality of force, which cannot be measured by observing physical injuries alone," Judge Benjamin wrote.
As a result of the altercation and discovery by Arndt of a 6.75-inch blade in Escobar-Salmeron's mattress, the plaintiff was administratively charged with violating rules against harming staff, possessing a weapon, interfering with staff duties, disobeying orders, disrespect and vulgar language, and making a weapon out of prison materials. He was found guilty of all but the vulgar language violation, the court said.
Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Thursday.
Judges G. Steven Agee, Allison Jones Rushing and DeAndrea Gist Benjamin sat on the panel for the Fourth Circuit.
Escobar-Salmeron is represented by Dallas Floyd Kratzer III and Margaret Ann Lohmann of Steptoe LLP.
The defendants are represented by Sandra D. Lee and Anthony G. Brown of the Maryland Attorney General's Office.
The case is Edwin Escobar-Salmeron v. Stephen T. Moyer et al., case number 20-6853, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
--Editing by Melissa Treolo.
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