Indigent’s excessive force suit can proceed without him paying legal fees

A federal judge granted an indigent jail inmate's motion to proceed, without immediate legal costs, in an excessive force lawsuit against a city in Contra Costa County and several of the officers who arrested him.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California, in a five-page order Friday, held plaintiff James Flournoy has legal standing to bring claims alleging three City of Pinole police officers used excessive force when they arrested him on suspicion of attempted carjacking, along with claims that the department failed to provide training to officers for accommodating people with disabilities during arrests. Flournoy's additional claims against two private citizens who gave statements to police were dismissed because they are not government officials and cannot be held liable for federal civil rights violations. Flournoy v. City of Pinole et al., 3:20-cv-08234 (N.D. Cal. Filed Nov. 22, 2020).

Flournoy, who is incarcerated in county jail awaiting trial, is representing himself in the lawsuit, which seeks $3 million for physical and emotional injuries he said he sustained during his arrest. In handwritten court documents filed last November, Flournoy said he hasn't had a job since December 2018, doesn't own any assets and does not have a bank account. He therefore asked to proceed without being required to prepay the full amount of fees and costs associated with the lawsuit.

He was arrested in August 2020 at a McDonald's in Pinole after officers responded to reports of a carjacking at a nearby grocery store. Prosecutors charged him with one count of driving or taking a vehicle without consent and one count of receiving stolen property, along with enhancements alleging he was previously convicted of carjacking and second degree burglary, according to the complaint. Prosecutors also said Flournoy was out on bail at the time of the alleged carjacking.

Flournoy said in his complaint that he was waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up at the grocery store when he mistakenly entered a vehicle that looked identical to the one he was expecting her to arrive in. He said after realizing it wasn't the right vehicle, he apologized to its occupant and went directly to a store security guard to ask if he could use his phone to call his girlfriend. When he was told to leave, Flournoy said he went to a nearby McDonald's to wait for his ride.

Within 2 minutes of arriving at the McDonalds, a Pinole police officer "approached him, driving fast and got out and tackled plaintiff," his complaint states. Flournoy alleges the officer who apprehended him then ignored a medical condition that requires him to be handcuffed from the front or double-cuffed behind the back. He argues his "cries, screams and pleadings due to the pain was cruel and unusual punishment."

Flournoy's account contradicts the police report of the arrest. One of the officers named as a defendant in the suit wrote that the occupant of the car Flournoy allegedly opened said Flournoy got in the driver's seat, turned the engine on and began reversing out of the parking stall, then realized someone was in the back seat and fled.

Alsup ordered the city to file a motion for summary judgment or other dispositive motion by July 2.

A spokesperson for Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton said Flournoy is due back in court on April 16 on the carjacking charges.

Pinole City Attorney Eric Casher did not respond to requests for comment Friday.