Date: 05-30-2023

Case Style:

Anthony Andre Paul, et al. v. The City of New York, et al.

Defendant's Attorney: Susan P. Scharfstein Stephanie Marie Breslow City Law Department Counsel for Defendants City of New York, Sergeant O'Doherty, Lieutenant Licitra, Detective DiFrancesca, Deputy Chief Giordano, Captain McCarthy, Detective Hefner, Police Officer Ramos, Detective McNamara, Detective McCormack, Detective McCarthy, and Sergeant O'Doherty

Patrick J. Brennan Kaitlin Stavnitsky Drummond Furman Kornfeld & Brennan LLP Counsel for Defendants North Central Bronx Hospital and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation...

Description: New York, New York civil rights lawyer represented Plaintiffs who sued Defendants claiming the Defendants violated the standard practices and procedures for property police procedures for handling a disturbed persona.

On July 1, 2015, Anthony Andre Paul II (“Paul”) resided in a shared apartment on the first floor in apartment 1B of Freedom House #19 (“Freedom House”), a three-quarter house located at 2846 Briggs Avenue in the Bronx operated by Narco Freedom, Inc. (Doc. 287 ¶¶ 23, 46-47.) Residents of Freedom House were required to sign an agreement confirming they would abide by the rules, including a rule that staff were permitted to enter the residents' apartments at any time, without notice. (Id. ¶¶ 30-31.)

On July 1, 2015, one of Paul's roommates observed him acting strangely and speaking “in tongues” as though he were possessed. (Id. ¶¶ 50-52.) Later in the evening, when Paul's roommate returned home, the apartment door was locked; the roommate asked Paul to open the door, but Paul would not open it. (Id. ¶¶ 61-63.) All residents assigned to an apartment at Freedom House had equal rights to access the apartment and Paul was not entitled to lock his roommates out of the apartment. (Id. ¶¶ 45, 49.) Freedom House counselors tried to communicate with Paul to get him to come out of the apartment but were not successful. (Id. ¶ 73.) “Paul said ‘crazy stuff' to House # 19 staff.” (Id. ¶ 76.) The Freedom House counselor also tried to open the door with a key, but Paul turned the locking mechanism to prevent the door from being opened. (Id. ¶¶ 74-75.) At approximately 9:46 p.m., a Freedom House staff member called 911 and reported that an emotionally disturbed person (“EDP”) had locked themselves in a shared room in his apartment. (Id. ¶¶ 79-82.) NYPD officers from the local precinct responded to the 911 call and arrived at approximately 9:50 p.m. (Id. ¶ 93.)

A Freedom House staff member and the responding officers tried opening the door using a key, but each time Paul turned the locking mechanism to prevent the door from opening. (Id. ¶¶ 110-115.) A patrol supervisor requested that the Emergency Services Unit (“ESU”) and Emergency Medical Services (“EMS”) provide assistance. (Id. ¶¶ 116-117.) Approximately ten to fifteen minutes later, the ESU officers began to arrive. (Id. ¶¶ 123, 145.) Paul was screaming, banging on the door, and threatening to kill the officers if they touched his door. (Id. ¶¶ 134, 138.) Officers McCormack and Finbarr McCarthy were assigned to an outside location below street level, under a front window of Paul's apartment in case Paul exited through the windows. (Id. ¶¶ 386-387.) Officers McCormack and Finbarr McCarthy could not hear anything taking place inside the location and neither had any interaction with Paul before he was in the
ambulance. (Id. ¶¶ 388-391.)

The ESU officers are trained in hostage negotiation techniques, but still called for assistance from the Hostage Negotiation Team (“HNT”) and the Technical Assistance Response Unit (“TARU”). (Id. ¶¶ 148, 549.) The officers threw chemical lights (i.e. glow sticks) through a window and used a pole camera to obtain a partial view of Paul. (Id. ¶¶ 159-160, 162, 166.) The officers attempted to use an under-the-door camera, but Paul would immediately push or kick it out. (Id. ¶¶ 175-175.) The officers also tried using a remote-control camera, but it became caught on clothing and was unable to navigate the apartment. (Id. ¶¶ 177-178.)

An HNT detective spoke to Paul for a disputed amount of time between five and forty minutes, during which Paul was hostile, told her to shut up, said she was the devil, and demanded $500 in exchange for exiting the apartment. (Id. ¶¶ 180, 184, 187-189.) After the HNT detective left, Officer DiFrancesca tried to communicate with Paul, but Paul continued to scream, bang, and stated the world was coming to an end. (Id. ¶¶ 196, 198, 202.) Officers McNamara and Ramos arrived at the location between 11:30 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. (Id. ¶ 206.) Eventually, the officers decided to cut a hole in the door either to view Paul directly or by using a camera. (Id. ¶ 227.) The officers attempted to use a circular hole saw to drill a hole in Paul's door, but the drill bit broke. (Id. ¶¶ 239-240.) The officers then used a Halligan tool to make a starter hole and a Sawzall to begin making a triangular hole. (Id. ¶¶ 241- 246.) After Defendant Ramos made the second cut in the door, the officers observed blood on the saw blade and Ramos stopped cutting. (Id. ¶¶ 249-250.) It appeared that Paul might have grabbed onto the blade of the Sawzall. (Id. ¶ 253.) As blood came from beneath the door, the officers believed there was a medical emergency. (Id. ¶¶ 257, 259.)

Officers DiFrancesca, McNamara, Hefner, O'Doherty, Licitra, and Eugene McCarthy
(the “Entering Officers”) arranged themselves one behind another in a tactical formation known as a “stack.” (Id. ¶ 273.) The officer at the front of the stack was DiFrancesca, who carried a ballistic shield and taser. (Id. ¶¶ 274-276.) McNamara was next in the stack and carried a taser. (Id. ¶¶ 278, 280.) Hefner and O'Doherty assumed the role of “hands,” meaning they would assist in handcuffing Paul. (Id. ¶¶ 281-284.) Licitra and Eugene McCarthy were the last two officers in the stack and had a limited view. (Id. ¶¶ 285-288.) As the Entering Officers pushed open the door and attempted to enter the room, Paul resisted, spat blood at the officers, grabbed the top of the shield, and was tasered. (Id. ¶¶ 304, 310, 316, 319.) Officers entered the room and Paul was naked on his back on the floor of the hallway. (Id. ¶¶ 328, 322-333.) The parties dispute whether Paul attempted to get back up before he was tasered again. (See id. ¶¶ 337346.) Eventually, Paul was handcuffed and turned over to EMS personnel. (Id. ¶ 377.)

The ambulance carrying Paul left Freedom House at 12:40 a.m. on July 2, 2015. (Id. ¶ 396.) The parties dispute when Paul arrived at the emergency room and when he was triaged. (See Doc. 290 ¶ 5.) While in the emergency room, Paul was agitated and combative. (Doc. 287 ¶ 402.) He had three taser prongs in his body, was noted to have an altered mental status, stated he wanted to die, and attempted to bite emergency department staff. (Id. ¶¶ 404-407.) At 1:20 a.m. Paul went into cardiac arrest and after an unsuccessful attempt at resuscitation, he was pronounced dead at 1:39 a.m. (Doc. 290 ¶ 7.)

On July 3, 2015, the City Medical examiner, Dr. Monica Smiddy, performed an autopsy on Paul. (Id. ¶ 8.) On September 22, 2015, Dr. Smiddy issued a report concluding that Paul's manner of death was accident and cause of death was “cardiac arrhythmia due to agitated delirium, (possible drug intoxication).” (Id.) The report also noted blunt impact injuries and contusions of the hands, wrist, and right foot, superficial incised wounds to the hands and
forearms with no injury to major blood vessels, an absence of the big toenail on the right foot, and three taser probes in his skin. (Doc. 287 ¶¶ 417-418.)...
Paul v. City of New York (S.D. N.Y. 2023)

Outcome: For the foregoing reasons, I hereby find that:

• the City Defendants' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED as to Plaintiff's claims for unlawful entry and Monell liability and DENIED as to the remaining claims;

• the Hospital Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED;

• the City Defendants' motion to exclude Walter Signorelli is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Signorelli may offer opinions regarding general police practices and procedures, but may not opine on the specifics of tasers, credibility of other witnesses, legal conclusions, or ultimate issues;

• the City Defendants' motion to exclude the NYPD Patrol Guide and other internal materials is DENIED;

• the Hospital Defendants' motion to exclude computations of damages is DENIED; and

• the Hospital Defendants' motion to exclude testimony by Dr. Evan Cohen is DENIED.

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The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to terminate the open motions on the docket and to dismiss the City of New York and Officers McCormack and Finbarr McCarthy as defendants.

SO ORDERED.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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