Asociación De Periodistas De Puerto Rico v. Mueller

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 09-2385
ASOCIACIÓN DE PERIODISTAS DE PUERTO RICO, Puerto Rico
Journalists Association; OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB OF PUERTO RICO;
NORMANDO VALENTÍN, individual capacity and on behalf of his
respective Conjugal Partnership; VICTOR SÁNCHEZ, individual
capacity and on behalf of his respective Conjugal Partnership;
JOEL LAGO-ROMÁN, individual capacity and on behalf of her
respective Conjugal Partnership; COSETTE DONALDS-BROWN,
individual capacity and on behalf of her respective Conjugal
Partnership; VÍCTOR FERNÁNDEZ, individual capacity and on behalf
of his Conjugal Partnership; ANNETTE ALVAREZ, individual capacity
and on behalf of her respective Conjugal Partnership,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
ROBERT MUELLER, in his official capacity as Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation; TEN UNKNOWN AGENTS OF THE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, individually and in their
official capacity and on behalf of their Conjugal Partnership;
KEITH BYERS, individually and in his official capacity and on
behalf of his Conjugal Partnership; LUIS S. FRATICELLI,
individually and in his official capacity and on behalf of his
Conjugal Partnership; JOSE FIGUEROA-SANCHA, individually and in
his official capacity and on behalf of his Conjugal Partnership.
Defendants-Appellees.
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. José Antonio Fusté, U.S. District Judge]
Before
Boudin and Howard, Circuit Judges,
and Barbadoro,* District Judge.
*
Of the District of New Hampshire, sitting by designation.
Catherine Crump, with whom Aden J. Fine, ACLU Foundation,
Josué Gonzalez Ortiz, William Ramirez, ACLU of Puerto Rico
Foundation, and Nora Varga Acosta were on brief, for appellants.
H. Thomas Byron, III, Attorney, Appellate Staff, Civil
Division, United States Department of Justice, with whom Tony West,
Assistant Attorney General, Rosa E. Rodriguez-Velez, United States
Attorney and Barbara L. Herwig, Attorney, Appellate Staff, Civil
Division, United States Department of Justice were on brief, for
appellees.
May 16, 2012
HOWARD, Circuit Judge. This appeal involves claims for
damages and injunctive relief by several journalists against FBI
agents, who the journalists allege used excessive force against
them during the execution of a search warrant at an apartment
complex in San Juan, Puerto Rico.1 In a prior appeal in this case
we vacated a grant of summary judgment based on qualified immunity.
See Asociación De Periodistas De P.R. v. Mueller, 529 F.3d 52(2008) ("Periodistas II"). After further development of the record
on remand, the district court again granted summary judgment to the
defendants on the Fourth Amendment excessive force claims. We
affirm.
I. Background
We recite the facts in the light most favorable to the
plaintiffs, "drawing all reasonably supported inferences in [their]
favor." Estate of Bennett v. Wainwright, 548 F.3d 155, 159 (1st
Cir. 2008). There is one qualification: "evidence from the moving
party as to specific facts can be accepted by the court where no
contrary evidence is tendered by the party opposing summary
judgment." Statchen v. Palmer, 623 F.3d 15, 18 (1st Cir. 2010).
The recitation is lengthy but necessarily so given the nature of
the events.
1
See Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of
Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971).
-3-
At approximately 10:00 AM on February 10, 2006, FBI
agents executed a search warrant at the apartment home of Lillian
Laboy-Rodriguez ("Laboy"). The search was one of six conducted by
the FBI that day involving an alleged domestic terrorism plot by a
Puerto Rican organization known as "Los Macheteros" (the Machete-
Wielders). This organization, dedicated to the independence of
Puerto Rico, has been involved in numerous prior violent acts and
its former leader was killed in a shoot-out with the FBI less than
a year earlier. For some reasons not explained, the FBI did not
have assistance from local law enforcement for the operation.
The complex within which the apartment was located was
separated from the public street by a permanent, corral-style fence
made of metal bars. This fence offered two points of entry into
the complex: a narrow pedestrian gate adjacent to a guard booth
manned by an employee of the complex and a wider gate for
automobiles. The apartment was located on the sixth floor of the
building.
Before the search began, Special Agent Keith Byers, who
served as the FBI's media representative for the operation, briefed
the participating agents about the day's plan. According to Byers,
the agents were to establish a perimeter around the operation; he
underscored that the media had "the right to do anything outside
the perimeter that does not interfere with the operation and/or the
safety of the agents and the public."
-4-
The FBI agents assert that upon arrival they confirmed
with the complex's private security guard that access into the
complex was limited to residents or those with legitimate business
on the site. The agents did not, however, establish a formal
"perimeter" by posting guards, using tape or other means. It does
appear that an agent was generally positioned in the vicinity of
the pedestrian gate into the complex while the search was being
executed upstairs.
Both civilians and law enforcement personnel entered and
exited the complex during the search, using both gates; but there
is no indication that anyone other than residents, persons having
business within the complex, or law enforcement officers entered
the complex during most of the period of the lengthy search.2 The
agents also state that anyone attempting to visit the sixth floor
was escorted by an FBI agent.
While the FBI executed the warrant, more than a dozen
reporters and other members of televison and radio crews arrived to
report on the FBI's activities starting at about 11:00 AM. Among
the journalists were the individual plaintiffs: television
2
Around 1:00 PM, two women who claimed to be Ms. Laboy's
attorneys entered the complex via the vehicle gate. They were
quickly confronted by FBI agents nearby who demanded that they exit
the complex. After a brief confrontation in which the women
demanded to meet with their client, it was ultimately decided that
the women would confer with Ms. Laboy downstairs towards the rear
of the complex. This confrontation occurred in full view of the
assembled press. In fact, one of the attorneys came back to the
press and stated that the FBI had threatened her with arrest.
-5-
reporters Normando Valentín and Annette Alvarez, radio reporters
Cossette Donalds Brown and Joel Lago-Román, and television
cameramen Victor Sánchez and Víctor Fernández.
As the day progressed, the reporters were joined by an
increasing number of the general public. Some of these people
covered their faces with bandanas and some shouted negative
comments at FBI personnel. The plaintiffs say that the crowd were
never more than twenty or thirty peaceful, non-threatening people.
The defendants, in contrast, describe the crowd as being larger and
as including potentially violent individuals. The plaintiffs
concede that a couple of individuals in the crowd were yelling at
the agents.
The FBI agents at the site were concerned enough by the
growing crowd that they elected to call-in a quick reaction force
to arrive by helicopter and provide additional assistance to the
search team. Several reporters went to the helicopter landing area
to report on the action and to try to obtain comments. The
plaintiffs say the reporters were peaceful; the defendants, that
the plaintiffs' actions interfered with law enforcement operations.
At the complex, Agent Byers suspected that one of the
allegedly unruly people in the crowd was using his mobile phone to
take pictures of him and other agents, leading Byers to fear that
this person might be associated with Los Macheteros, as the group
was known to publish pictures of FBI agents and promote them as
-6-
targets. Byers also surmised that those individuals in the crowd
who had covered their faces were affiliated with Los Macheteros.
Additionally, while the group of on-lookers grew, Special
Agent José Figueroa heard from a photographer at the scene, Rafael
Rivera, that some people in the crowd were discussing plans to harm
FBI employees. The plaintiffs disclaim overhearing such plans in
the crowd and generally dispute that Rivera made this statement to
Agent Figueroa.
Later in the afternoon, as the search was concluding at
about 2:00 PM, Laboy's daughter Natalia Hernández-Laboy
("Hernández") and Francisco Rodriguez Burns, a reporter, arrived at
the scene. Hernández and Rodriguez entered the complex, but Agent
Byers then told Rodriguez that he was not permitted within the
complex. Before Rodriguez left, Hernández gestured to the
reporters outside the fence in a way that the reporters interpreted
as an invitation to enter the grounds.
Between ten and twenty reporters then quickly entered the
complex through the pedestrian gate. The plaintiffs acknowledge
that the gate was held open by Ricardo Santos, the head of a local
labor union. Nearby agents responded swiftly to block the
reporters from entering further into the complex grounds, first
ordering the reporters to return to the public street. At least a
couple of journalists moved beside or beyond the first group of
agents who had intercepted the journalists. The agents ordered the
-7-
journalists to retreat from the complex and began forcibly to
impede the path of the reporters and attempt to push them back
towards the gate.
The plaintiffs say that they indicated their willingness
to leave and that they intended to comply with the agents' demands,
but their ability to exit swiftly was blocked by the narrowness of
the pedestrian gate and possibly because more people were crowding
at the entrance. One journalist requested that the vehicle gate be
opened to facilitate the exodus. The plaintiffs admit that some of
their members continued to report on the unfolding events as they
exited, but they assert that they intended to leave. In what
appears to have been less than a minute, the situation inside and
around the complex escalated further because the physical
confrontation incited the crowd of citizens and remaining
journalists outside the complex, who were only a few feet from the
agents, separated only by an easily permeated fence.
All of the parties were shouting and yelling in the
course of a direct physical confrontation between the heavily armed
agents and journalists. One agent testified that someone in the
crowd outside the complex spat on his face as he attempted to
control the group inside the complex. Inside the complex, numerous
agents testified that they perceived the crowd to be either
maintaining its position inside the gates or possibly even surging
forward.
-8-
Videotapings of the events in question--our consideration
of which is discussed below--bear out key portions of the agents'
version of events. While the plaintiffs insist on their
willingness and desire to comply with the agents' orders that they
leave the premises, the videos evince no such effort. Confronted
by armed agents and ordered to exit, few, if any, of the people
inside the complex made any effort to leave. To the contrary, many
of the journalists appear in the films to be confrontational in
their response to the agents. The rapid deterioration of the
situation is also obvious from the videos.
The agents concluded that those who had entered the
grounds were not attempting to leave, that the reporters were being
deliberately obstinate, and that the crowd inside the complex posed
a danger to the agents, evidence and bystanders. Two of the agents
allege that Plaintiff Lago sought to knee one of them in the groin,
though Lago specifically denies this version of events.
Eventually, one of the agents on the scene deployed his
pepper spray against the journalists inside the complex. He first
waved the canister above his head briefly, then fired several
bursts of spray into the crowd. At this point, most of the crowd
members inside the complex began to move back to the gate, but some
remained. Plaintiff Lago was sprayed a second time, directly in
the face, and forcibly removed from the complex, which is discussed
in more detail below. The pepper spray was also used against at
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least one person, a plaintiff cameraman whose individual claims are
also discussed more below, who never entered the complex but rather
was filming against the fence where Lago was dragged out.
Some of the plaintiffs also allege that they were punched
and kicked by the FBI agents as they were forced out of the
complex, suffering bruises and other injuries. One FBI agent
agrees that he struck one of the plaintiffs. According to the
plaintiffs, the pepper spray disoriented the reporters, which made
the crowd's movements all the more unpredictable.3 They also
underscore that nothing violent had occurred before the FBI agents
used force against the journalists. Nevertheless, after the pepper
spray was used, agents were quickly able to force all who had
entered back out of the pedestrian gate and on to the street.
The six individual plaintiffs all allege that excessive
force was used against them during the melee. Valentín asserts
that he was pushed and punched by at least one FBI agent, that
Agent Byers elbowed and hit him, and that it took him several weeks
to recover. Sánchez says that he, too, was pushed and that it took
3
The defendants underscore that after the clash between the
FBI and the reporters, the crowd was unruly and abusive. Some
crowd members threw hard objects at agents and their vehicles,
breaking the windows in at least one vehicle. We do not consider
here the conduct subsequent to the use of force to justify what may
have instigated it: dramatic as these details may be, they do not
impact our analysis of the situation at the time of the alleged
Fourth Amendment violations and whether a reasonable officer in
that situation would have considered the force used to be
reasonable.
-10-
him weeks to recover from his pepper spray injuries. Donalds-Brown
and Alvarez do not claim that they were punched or hit, but they do
say that they were aggressively pushed out of the gate, and that
they suffered from the lingering effects of that force as well as
from those of the pepper spray.4
Lago first says that agents pointed weapons at him for no
apparent reason as he tried to interview them while they exited the
helicopter. He also says that during the fracas inside the complex
an agent grabbed him and pushed him while he expressed his
intention to leave, and that an agent hit him with a baton and used
it to push him towards the gate, but he could not retreat because
the crowd was pressed up behind him. Even after Lago announced
that he was leaving, Agent Byers allegedly shoved him several more
times.
Shortly thereafter, one of the agents resorted to pepper
spraying the crowd. Lago says that the initial burst of spray and
resulting chaos caused him to fall to the ground from
disorientation and pain. While on the ground, he was sprayed a
second time directly in the face behind the sunglasses that he was
wearing. Before he could regain his orientation an agent picked
4
However, plaintiff Alvarez--who was among a group inside the
fence who encountered pepper spray--alleges that she was
(unbeknownst to her) four weeks pregnant at the time of the
encounter; that "my pregnancy eventually resulted in a
miscarriage"; and that "I strongly believe that the stress and
anxiety that I suffered during this event played a great role in my
miscarriage."
-11-
him up and dragged, tossed, and kicked him forward until he was
outside the gate.
The defendants describe the agents' encounters with Lago
differently. First, an agent who was at the helicopter landing
says that Lago had stepped between him and the helicopter while he
was giving hand signals to the agents exiting the aircraft. He
also says that Lago and other reporters followed him and interfered
with the performance of his duties, including physically touching
him, but he just stepped around the reporters.
With respect to Lago's forced removal from inside the
fence, Byers recalls that Lago had intruded through the pedestrian
gate and was ordered to leave; when Lago did not do so, Byers
gripped him by the arm and attempted to walk him back to the
pedestrian gate. Byers later struck Lago when he observed him
struggling with a nearby agent and believed Lago to be physically
assaulting the agent. When Lago dropped to the ground near the
gate after the initial burst of pepper spray, the agent using the
spray perceived that he had gone to the ground in an act of
resistance and sprayed him again. A third agent then physically
removed Lago by dragging and pulling him out of the complex so the
agents could close the gate.
Fernández recounts that he was filming events from a
vantage point on the outside of the fence, but close to it, as
Lago was being forcibly removed from the complex. According to
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Fernández, an agent noticed him and, approaching within a few feet
of him, sprayed him directly in the face with pepper spray even
though he and those around him were still outside the fence and had
not demonstrated any violent behavior or attitude toward the
agents.
The defendants say that Fernández was sprayed while an
agent attempted to force back members of the crowd who were
gathered around the gate just a couple of feet from the agents.
The defendants say that they took that action believing that their
own safety was in danger because the crowd around the gate where
Fernández was positioned was growing increasingly unruly and was
starting to throw objects at agents.
On this evidentiary array based on the summary judgment
record, the district court held that the defendants were entitled
to qualified immunity. Acknowledging that an issue of fact existed
about whether excessive force had been used, the court concluded
that the agents' conduct was not so unreasonable that they should
be held to know that it violated the Fourth Amendment. Asociación
de Periodístas de P.R. v. Mueller, No. 06-1931, slip. op. at 2-3
(D.P.R. Aug. 13, 2009) ("Periodistas III"). The district court
also denied future injunctive relief, holding that the plaintiffs
lacked standing to pursue this relief. Id. at 26.
The appeal is taken from both of these rulings. In
addition, the plaintiffs argue that the district court made
-13-
procedural errors, principally by denying them the opportunity to
pursue essential discovery while relying on depositions of some of
the defendants to which the plaintiffs were denied an opportunity
to respond, as well as by failing to rule on the admissibility of
the defendants' video evidence. We turn to these procedural
plaints first.
II. Discussion
A. Discovery and Reliance on Depositions
The plaintiffs argue that the district court wrongly
denied them the opportunity for adequate discovery; our review on
this issue is for abuse of discretion, Rivera-Torres v. Rey-
Hernández, 502 F.3d 7, 10 n.2 (1st Cir. 2007), and we will
intervene "only upon a clear showing [that] . . . the lower court's
discovery order was plainly wrong and resulted in substantial
prejudice to the aggrieved party." Ayala-Gerena v. Bristol Myers-
Squibb Co., 95 F.3d 86, 91 (1st Cir. 1996) (citing Resolution Trust
Corp. v. N. Bridge Assocs., Inc., 22 F.3d 1198, 1203 (1st Cir.
1994)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Also reviewed for abuse
of discretion is the district court's reliance on evidence to which
plaintiffs say they did not have a chance to respond. Cia.
Petrolera Caribe, Inc. v. Arco Caribbean, Inc., 754 F.2d 404, 409-
410 (1st Cir. 1985).
After the defendants moved for summary judgment, the
plaintiffs requested discovery pursuant to Rule 56(f) (now
-14-
encompassed in Rule 56(d)) targeted at whether there was a
perimeter, whether the agents' fear of Los Macheteros or members of
Puerto Rico's independence movement was reasonable, and whether the
crowd was unruly.5 The district court granted the motion in part,
allowing the plaintiffs to depose only those individuals who had
supplied affidavits in support of the summary judgment motion. The
plaintiffs argue that the imposition of this limitation was an
abuse of discretion.
A basic tenet of Rule 56(f) practice is that the party
seeking discovery must explain how the facts, if collected, "will
suffice to defeat the pending summary judgment motion." Mir-Yepez
v. Banco Popular de P.R., 560 F.3d 14, 16 (1st Cir. 2009) (citing
Rivera-Torres, 502 F.3d at 10). The plaintiffs fall short of
meeting this requirement with respect to the depositions of
Hernández, Rodriguez, Rivera, and the FBI agents.
Whether Hernández invited the plaintiffs onto the
property is not relevant to the question of the reasonableness of
the defendants' actions in responding to what was, at a minimum, a
turbulent crowd. Nor does the qualified immunity question turn on
5
Specifically, they sought leave to depose all FBI agents at
the scene, Natalia Hernández-Laboy, private security guard Mary Ann
Rodriguez, and non-plaintiff photographer Rafael Rivera, who
allegedly warned the agents of potential harm to them. The
plaintiffs also requested various documents from the FBI, including
the agents' "after action" reports and their prior written
statements, records of the FBI's post-incident investigation, and
any operational plans related to the search.
-15-
whether the gate was opened for the plaintiffs by Rodriguez, the
security guard. The plaintiffs argued in the district court that
deposing Rivera was necessary to address whether the defendants
reasonably feared the crowd. Given the ample evidence in the
record describing the events in detail, there was no abuse of
discretion in denying this request. The precise words that Rivera
may have spoken to Agent Figueroa do not alter the calculus. There
was also no abuse of discretion in the decision to deny permission
to depose the estimated 25-45 non-defendant FBI agents who were at
the scene. The question before the court on summary judgment
centered on the perceptions of the defendant agents.
The denial of the plaintiffs' request for the report
prepared by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility was also
within the district court's discretion. The plaintiffs argued
below that a report finding that the agents violated FBI policy
would be probative of the qualified immunity question. But the
plaintiffs do not dispute that both a sworn declaration from
Special Agent Figueroa and deposition testimony from one of the
defendant agents indicates that no such finding was made. Thus the
plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate how the report would help to
defeat summary judgment. See Rivera-Torres, 502 F.3d at 10.
With respect to the remaining documents, we note that the
district court ordered the defendants to produce written statements
prior to their depositions. After the depositions, the plaintiffs
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sought additional statements that they claimed were revealed by the
deponents during their depositions. The district court denied any
further relief. As the plaintiffs, here again, have failed to
establish how these additional documents would have enabled them to
defeat summary judgment, we find no abuse of discretion.
In sum, the district court's carefully crafted discovery
limitations were consistent with the "importance of resolving
qualified immunity questions at the earliest possible stage in the
litigation," Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982), and
within its discretion.
We turn to the plaintiffs' complaint that the district
court should not have relied on the defendants' depositions. After
the defendants had moved for summary judgment and the plaintiffs
had deposed the defendants' affiants, the plaintiffs filed an
opposition arguing that the defendants should not be permitted to
submit new evidence or arguments in their reply. The defendants
nevertheless filed a reply referencing the depositions, and the
district court ordered that the deposition transcripts be scanned
into the record.
In citing to these depositions while addressing whether
any issues of material fact existed, the court noted that it was
permitted to "examine the entire record, including all discovery
and disclosure materials on file." Periodistas III, slip. op. at
9 (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)). The district court's action was
-17-
proper. Courts and parties "have great flexibility with regard to
evidence that may be used on a Rule 56 proceeding," and as Rule
56(c) makes clear, in deciding summary judgment motions courts "may
consider any material that would be admissible or usable at trial,"
including depositions.6
The plaintiffs have not argued that the depositions would
be unusable at trial or that they were irrelevant "to determin[ing]
whether any of [the issues presented] [were] real and genuine and
whether any of post-pleading material suggests the existence of any
other triable issues of material fact." 10A Wright, Miller & Kane,
Federal Practice and Procedure § 2721. The district court was
within its discretion to consider them.
B. Video Clips
In the district court, the judge had before him video
footage of the events in question although they are not
specifically discussed; and the government's brief in this court
cites to these materials. The video clips were submitted by the
FBI in support of its motion and consist of clips from material
aired during local news broadcasts. Plaintiffs say that the film
6
10A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane,
Federal Practice and Procedure § 2721 (3d ed. 1998); see also Horta
v. Sullivan, 4 F.3d 2, 7-8 (1st Cir. 1993) ("Summary judgment is to
be decided on 'the pleadings, depositions, answers to
interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the
affidavits, if any.'" (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c))). In its
current form, Rule 56 states that a court considering summary
judgment "need consider only the cited materials, but it may
consider other materials in the record." Fed. R. Civ. 56(c)(3).
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clips were not properly authenticated, violate the Best Evidence
Rule, Fed. R. Evid. 1001(2), and may not be relied upon in deciding
this case.
Authentication is a straightforward concept requiring a
"reasonable probability" that the item in dispute is what its
proponent claims. Fed. R. Evid. 901(a); United States v. Cruz, 352
F.3d 499, 506 (1st Cir. 2003). The proponent "need not rule out
all possibilities inconsistent with authenticity"; so long as the
"evidence is sufficient to allow a reasonable person to believe the
evidence is what it purports to be," it is left to the factfinder
to determine what weight it deserves. United States v. Alicea-
Cardoza, 132 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1997).
An item's "appearance, contents, substance, internal
patterns, or other distinctive characteristics, taken in
conjunction with the circumstances," are all relevant. United
States v. Holmquist, 36 F.3d 154, 167 (1st Cir. 1994); United
States v. Paulino, 13 F.3d 20, 23 (1st Cir. 1994). At issue here
are clips from multiple news programs with proprietary production
sets and locally-known television personalities from various
stations, each including clips that indisputably show the same
incident from different camera perspectives--all of which suggests
these are actual news clips with footage from the scene.
The video clips were accompanied by a declaration of
Jessica Tirado Gonzalez, the general manager of Publimedia, a
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company that "specializes in monitoring Puerto Rico media outlets."
Tirado's declaration said the FBI hired Publimedia and it recorded
seven such programs about the incident--though "only those portions
of news broadcasts that pertained to the FBI's execution of the
search warrant" and not "portions of news programs concerning other
topics." Tirado stated that the four DVDs submitted by the
defendants contained true and correct copies of those recordings.
The plaintiffs do not suggest otherwise.
The plaintiffs describe the videos as "incomplete" and
"extensively edited" versions of the original TV broadcasts but
make no claim of (or offer any reason to suspect) fraud or
tampering, nor do they say that the videos do not show actual
footage of the incident in question (in fact their own expert
relied on the video footage in forming his own opinions). Cf.
United States v. Wheeler, 800 F.2d 100, 106 (7th Cir. 1986),
overruled on other grounds by United States v. Sblendorio, 830 F.2d
1382, 1393 (7th Cir. 1987); Louis Vuitton S.A. v. Spencer Handbags
Corp., 765 F.2d 966, 973-74 (2d Cir. 1985).
Further, the affidavits and depositions of several FBI
agents expressly confirmed the accuracy of the footage on the four
DVDs. For example, Agent Byers, designated as the FBI's on-scene
media representative at the search warrant execution, said that
numerous news outlets were present filming the incident, and also
stated several times in substance that the media footage accurately
-20-
reflected what occurred (e.g., "As shown in video footage and
according to my direct observation . . . .").
In sum, on the facts presented, there is no serious basis
for disputing the authenticity of the videos. While the plaintiffs
could have offered specific reasons why they are not fair
depictions or argued that specific portions (or omissions) are
misleading or prejudicial, they have not done so. See United
States v. Goldin, 311 F.3d 191, 197 (3d Cir. 2002); Louis Vuitton
S.A., 765 F.2d at 973-74; 2 Broun et al., McCormick on Evidence §
216, at 27 (6th ed. 2006). The authentication argument thus fails.
The plaintiffs also repackage their attack as a Best
Evidence Rule challenge, but the rule is a mechanical one and was
satisfied here. The Best Evidence Rule, with some exceptions,
requires the use of an original writing, recording, or photograph7
in proving its material contents, but a copy of a video recording
is a "duplicate" admissible "to the same extent as the original,"
Fed. R. Evid. 1001 & Fed. R. Evid. 1003 advisory committee's note,
which largely ends the Best Evidence Rule inquiry in a case like
this one.
The plaintiffs say that language in an advisory committee
note creates an exception for copies that leave out important
material. See Fed. R. Evid. 1003 advisory committee's note (citing
7
Video tapes are considered "photographs" for purposes of the
rule. Fed. R. Evid. 1001 advisory committee's note.
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United States v. Alexander, 326 F.2d 736 (4th Cir. 1963)); Toho
Bussan Kaisha, Ltd. v. Am. President Lines, Ltd., 265 F.2d 418 (2d
Cir. 1958)). Here they say that the videos are incomplete because
of the absence of footage in one video clip showing the entrance of
journalists into the complex, and the absence in another clip of
certain use of pepper spray.
But this does not show that the videos are inaccurate or
incomplete in the incidents that they depict or that taken together
the tapes fail to include such footage of the entrance of reporters
or the use of pepper spray. The exception alluded to by the
plaintiffs is for extreme situations where there is reason to
suspect extensive prejudicial manipulation, Alexander, 326 F.2d at
738 & n.4, or fraud, Toho Bussan, 265 F.2d at 424, and the
plaintiffs' objections about the videos do not rise to such a
level.
C. Qualified Immunity
We review a grant of summary judgment on qualified
immunity grounds de novo. Estate of Bennett, 548 F.3d at 165. If
"the evidence on the record is sufficiently open-ended to permit a
rational factfinder to resolve the issue in favor of either side,"
then we cannot affirm the grant. Id. at 165 (internal quotation
marks omitted).
The qualified immunity analysis asks whether the facts
alleged or shown by the plaintiff make out a violation of a
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constitutional right and whether the right was clearly established
at the time of the violation. Soto-Torres v. Fraticelli, 654 F.3d
153, 158 (1st Cir. 2011) (citing Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223,
232 (2009)). A right is clearly established if it would be plain
to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the
particular factual context that he faced. Id. (quoting Brosseau v.
Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 199 (2004)); Decotiis v. Whittemore, 635 F.3d
22, 36 (1st Cir. 2011).
The district court concluded that a reasonable jury could
have found that the plaintiffs' allegations established violations
of their Fourth Amendment right not to be subject to unreasonable
seizures. But, noting the lack of controlling precedent as to
whether a non-arrest such as the one at issue here could be
considered a "seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment,
the court concluded that those rights were not clearly established
at the time of the events and that the defendants were therefore
entitled to qualified immunity. Even if viewed as a seizure, the
court found the force employed by the defendants was reasonable in
light of the circumstances as they reasonably could have perceived
them.
We need not follow the steps of the qualified immunity
analysis sequentially. See Maldonado, 568 F.3d at 269-70; see also
Pearson, 555 U.S. at 235-36. "Indeed, . . . where the answer to
the first prong of the immunity question may depend on the further
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development of the facts, it may be wise to avoid the first step."
Maldonado, 568 F.3d at 270. We also needn't follow the same
analytical path as the district court. See Rosenberg v. City of
Everett, 328 F.3d 12, 17 (1st Cir. 2003) ("We may affirm the
[summary judgment] decision on any grounds revealed by the
record."). We therefore turn directly to whether reasonable
officers would have known that their conduct was unlawful.
Saucier holds that "[e]xcessive force claims, like most
other Fourth Amendment issues, are evaluated for objective
reasonableness based upon the information the officers had when the
conduct occurred." 533 U.S. at 207. We judge "[t]he
'reasonableness' of a particular use of force . . . from the
perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with
the 20/20 vision of hindsight."8 The combination of the two
reasonableness standards--that of qualified immunity and that of
the Fourth Amendment--serves to protect officers from their
reasonable mistakes. Solis-Alarcón v. United States, 662 F.3d 577,
581 (1st Cir. 2011).
Thus, qualified immunity can protect officers from
litigation based on misjudgments about where lies the "sometimes
hazy border between excessive and acceptable force." Saucier, 533
8
Graham, 490 U.S. at 396 (emphasis added); see also Saucier,
533 U.S. at 201 (the reasonableness inquiry "must be undertaken in
light of the specific context of the case, not as a broad general
proposition. . . .").
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U.S. at 206. "Qualified immunity shields an officer from suit when
she makes a decision that, even if constitutionally deficient,
reasonably misapprehends the law governing the circumstances she
confronted." Brosseau, 543 U.S. at 198 (citing Saucier, 533 U.S.
at 206). For example, "[i]f an officer reasonably, but mistakenly,
believed that a suspect was likely to fight back, . . . the officer
would be justified in using more force than in fact was needed."
Saucier, 533 U.S. at 205; accord Estate of Bennett, 548 F.3d at 175
(quoting Berube v. Conley, 506 F.3d 79, 85 (1st Cir. 2007)) (not
"unreasonable" simply because officer "failed to 'perfectly
calibrate the amount of force required to protect [him]self.'").9
Taking the facts in the light most favorable to the
plaintiff reporters, the agents' actions were still reasonable in
light of the combustible situation that they faced. The agents
were executing a warrant related to what they viewed as an anti-
terrorism investigation, involving an organization known for its
reputation for violence and one that had been involved in a recent
shoot-out with FBI agents. The agents had been told not to expect
9
See also Statchen, 623 F.3d at 18 ("While qualified immunity
is often invoked in cases where legal principles were unclear at
the time of the disputed conduct, it also protects reasonable
assessments of fact, even if matters might have been handled
differently in the calm of retrospective appraisal. The aim of the
doctrine in both cases is to avoid the chilling effect of second-
guessing where the officers, acting in the heat of events, made a
defensible (albeit imperfect) judgment." (internal citations
omitted)).
-25-
backup from local authorities--they were on their own for the
duration of the operation.
While the crowd members present during the day were, on
the plaintiffs' version of facts, primarily journalists, it is not
disputed that a small but vocal group of protesters were agitated
and yelling at the agents. As already recounted, one agent
testified that he had been told that crowd members had discussed
violence against the agents. The crowd members were just feet from
the agents, separated by a fence or gate depending on their
location.
Throughout most of the day, everyone agrees that the
protesters and journalists remained on the other side of the fence.
The plaintiffs vigorously dispute that there was a "perimeter"
enforced by the agents because no tape was used nor were any agents
stationed alongside the wall. A formal perimeter may or may not
have been officially established, but the fence indisputably
separated the agents from the public and journalists prior to the
events in question. The group entrance was unquestionably a
significant change in the circumstances.
When a large group of people suddenly intruded the
complex, a reasonable agent could have perceived that the security
situation was seriously threatened. The plaintiffs insist that
only journalists entered the complex, though they also acknowledge
that the pedestrian gate was held open by the leader of a local
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labor union. A reasonable agent could reasonably have believed
that some number of non-journalists had entered, or would enter as
well, based in part on intimations and evidence that some members
of the crowd were angry or hostile.
The agents immediately intercepted the group that entered
the complex, ordered them to move back and return outside the
complex, and sought to block their path. At the point of this
physical confrontation, numerous agents testified to their concern
for themselves, their fellow agents, and the growing number of
bystanders immediately outside the complex. The scene was
escalating quickly as the crowd both inside and outside the complex
became more agitated in light of the physical confrontation between
the agents and reporters.
The reporters say that they were attempting to comply
with the agents' orders and retreat out of the complex but that
their exit was hampered by the narrow passageway back out. But
they admit that some of their number inside the complex were
continuing their efforts to report on the situation. The agents,
reasonably perceiving a volatile situation that was getting worse
by the minute as the crowd became more agitated, resorted to
increasing levels of force in an attempt to push the crowd back
outside the complex, culminating with the use of pepper spray and
the physical removal of at least one of the plaintiffs.
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Given the perceived noncompliance by the crowd inside the
complex, the previous verbal threats, the presence of FBI
personnel, civilians and evidence within the vicinity, and the
serious concerns about maintaining control of the area, the agents
reasonably could have concluded that the level of force that they
used was appropriate. In calm retrospection one may be tempted to
question the necessity or wisdom of specific agents' actions
against particular plaintiffs (and we will discuss those actions
next), but we cannot say with respect to any of the agents'
conduct, in gross, that "it would be clear to a reasonable officer
that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted."
Maldonado, 568 F.3d at 269 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Moreover, contrary to the plaintiffs' suggestion, the
FBI's policy at the time of the events in this case does not
undermine the conclusion that the agents' use of pepper spray
against the reporters as a crowd was reasonable. See Hope, 536
U.S. at 742 (holding that agency regulations can be relevant as to
whether officers have fair warning that conduct is a potential
constitutional violation). The policy permitted the use of pepper
spray in the event that "[t]he subject is likely to cause serious
bodily injury if not controlled, and force is necessary to safely
achieve control." In addition, as the district court noted,
"[w]here feasible, Special Agents were to give subjects an
opportunity to surrender before using pepper spray, and were to
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consider whether subjects were noncompliant or had resisted law
enforcement orders, whether there had been verbal or nonverbal
threats, and the presence of persons in the vicinity of the risk."
Periodistas III, slip op. at 4-5.10
The individual claims of plaintiffs Fernández and Lago
require additional discussion. Agent Byers contends that he first
turned his attention to Lago because he perceived that Lago was
intentionally refusing to leave the complex and physically
resisting efforts to remove him. Byers grabbed him and sought to
push and pull him out of the gate. Byers was successful in getting
Lago back into the mass of reporters, but Lago remained inside the
complex.
Soon thereafter, Byers saw what he believed to be Lago
attempting to strike another agent struggling with the reporters
and heard the other agent threaten Lago with arrest. Byers agrees
that he then struck Lago in the chest with a jabbing motion of his
baton to force him back and away from the agent. Lago's version of
these events is that he was attempting to leave and that he never
attempted to strike any of the agents. But the key question is
10
Although they acknowledge that the agents asked them to leave
the premises, the plaintiffs say that they were not warned about
the imminent use of pepper spray, nor given "an opportunity to
surrender before using pepper spray." But the existence and
feasibility of such warnings are among a number of FBI pepper spray
policy factors, and our assessment of reasonableness does not rest
solely on the policy.
-29-
whether, in the melee, Byers could reasonably have believed otherwise.
Soon afterwards, Lago was hit by the first round of
pepper spray. He says that he fell to the ground because of the
pain and disorientation, while the agents perceived him to be
resisting the orders to leave. As the agent who used the pepper
spray stated in explaining his targeting of Lago:
After [Lago] sat down and . . . was passively
resisting, I noticed that he was wearing
sunglasses. So I went and I pepper sprayed
him to make sure that he actually got some
pepper spray on him so that he could quit
resisting.
Following this second burst, Lago was forcefully removed from the
complex by a third agent who said that Lago intentionally went limp
in an effort to obstruct the effort to remove him.
To be sure, a jury might find that the agents were
mistaken and that Lago had, in fact, not attempted to strike any of
the agents. The jury could also find that he fell to the ground in
confusion and pain. But it is also true that the defendants could
reasonably have perceived Lago as one who resisted leaving the
compound. Qualified immunity protects officers from their
"reasonable mistakes," Solis-Alarcón, 662 F.3d at 581, and given
the chaotic situation, we cannot conclude that the agents' actions
constituted unreasonable mistakes.
Fernández's situation is distinguishable from those of
the other plaintiffs because he never intruded inside the gate and
was on the street-side of the fence when he was pepper sprayed at
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very close range. He also claims that the FBI agent who sprayed
him targeted him personally. The agents did not claim that he had
entered the gate; their concern, it appears, was that by the time
Fernández was sprayed, the crowd outside the pedestrian gate
immediately adjacent to Fernández had become unruly as a result of
the agents' use of force inside the compound.
The evidence, including both the agents' statements and
what can be discerned from the videos, bears out this assessment
and leaves unimpeached the agents' claim that people in the crowd
close to Fernández were antagonizing the agents by shouting
negative comments and slurs, even if Fernández is credited in
saying that he saw no one close to him throwing anything. The
agents could reasonably have sought to disperse those crowding in
at the perimeter.
Fernández claims to have been singled out, but the agent
says that he was attempting to spray agitated crowd members
threatening the officers by the gate. While we take disputed facts
in favor of the plaintiffs, Fernández's allegations regarding the
subjective beliefs of the agent are pure speculation.11 Given the
11
As one agent who employed pepper spray at the time Fernández
was hit explained in his deposition, "I had to deploy pepper spray
again as . . . the agent who escorted the reporter that . . . was
dragged out [i.e., Lago]. . . and at one point there was a
continuation of gravel flying at us, so I deployed pepper spray
towards the individuals that were continuing to throw stuff at us."
Fernández claims that although the crowd near him may have been
yelling, no one immediately around him had escalated his conduct to
violence by spitting or throwing.
-31-
circumstances, we conclude that a similarly situated reasonable
agent could have made the same decisions. See Estate of Bennett,
548 F.3d at 175-76. In sum, we affirm the grant of summary
judgment on the plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment claims on the grounds
of qualified immunity.
D. Injunctive Relief.
The plaintiffs sought an injunction prohibiting the
defendants from using like force during media coverage of future
FBI operations and requiring the FBI to develop policies and
procedures to ensure that the media may report on future FBI raids
"free from unwarranted attacks and other interferences from the
FBI." We conclude that the district court properly denied
injunctive relief, there being no indication that repetition was
likely. Weber v. Cranston Sch. Comm., 212 F.3d 41, 47 n.7 (1st
Cir. 2000).
To justify an injunction when the incident now lies in
the past, there must be a "real and immediate threat" of future
legal violations rather than an abstract or conjectural one, City
of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 101, 105 (1983). The
plaintiffs' assertions, like those in Lyons, fail on this account.
The plaintiffs are correct that Lyons requires them credibly to
allege a realistic threat of future injury, but they are incorrect
in concluding that their affidavits "are more than sufficient" to
meet that standard.
-32-
The plaintiffs' subjective fears of conflicts with agents
during their possible future press coverage of FBI activities are
generic, speculative, and fail to demonstrate a "real and immediate
threat" of likely future violations. Any past harm that they
allegedly suffered does not by itself entitle them to obtain
equitable relief "'[a]bsent a sufficient likelihood that [they]
will again be wronged in a similar way,'" Amer. Postal Workers
Union v. Frank, 968 F.2d 1373, 1376 (1st Cir. 1992) (quoting
Lyons, 461 U.S. at 111 (1983)).
Nor is it enough that the reporters expect in the future
to cover FBI activities. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504
U.S. 555, 564 (1992) (explaining that affiants' expressed
intentions of being in a future situation where they might be
deprived "is simply not enough. Such 'some day' intentions–-
without any description of concrete plans, or indeed even any
specification of when the some day will be-–do not support a
finding of the 'actual or imminent' injury that our cases
require.").
On the contrary, the circumstances of this case combine
peculiar features--including the special concerns when suspected
terrorism is involved, the lack of support from potentially large
numbers of local police, the unusual duration of the search, and
the lack of an entirely secure perimeter. Hopefully, as well, the
FBI agents will have learned some lessons in coping with a
-33-
disruptive gathering crowd since it is not in their own interest to
court repetition.
The judgment is affirmed. All parties will bear their
own costs on this appeal.
It is so ordered.
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