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~; ~~ Cas 3~ ~ K. 1K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 F ~ 1 of 16 PagelD #: 1
MYLES S. BREWER 4364LANI A. NAKAMURA 9306Attorney at Law, Inc., ALC
841 Bishop Street, Suite 2115Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Telephone: (808) 526-3426
UNlTHD S7ATE~ D T~~GT Ca~~TDIST~2ICT OF HAWgf!
DEC 24 ~f11~ ~ 'dock and sZ}nin.~'~~'~u~ sEirt~, c«~K
Attorneys for PlaintiffsChristina M. Walser Lopez,Individually and as thePersonal Representative ofthe Estate of Luis J. Lopezand as the Guardian of JasmineM. Walser Lopez and Luis J. Lopez, III,Drucila Dedrick and Richard Dedrick
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF HAWAII
CHRISTINA M. WALSER LOPEZ, )Individually and as the Personal )Representative of the Estate of LUIS }J. LOPEZ, and as the Guardian )of JASMINE MARIA WALSER )LOPEZ AND LUIS J. LOPEZ, III, )DRUCILA DEDRICK, AND )RICHARD DEDRICK, )
Plaintiffs, )
vs. )
EDWARD IONA; ZACARY )PLEVEL; MORGAN HILL; SHERI )NAKASONE; LOUIS M. )
,~3
CIVIL ~(~~
COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES;DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL;SUMMONS
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEh_ ,,VIK Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 r ~e 2 of 16 PagelD #: 2
KEALOHA; CITY AND COUNTYOF HONOLULU; JOHN OR JANEDOES 1-25; AND DOE ENTITIES1-25,
Defendants. )
COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES
Plaintiffs Christina M. Walser Lopez, Individually and as the Personal
Representative of the Estate of Luis J. Lopez, and as the Guardian of Jasmine M.
Walser Lopez and Luis J. Lopez, III, Drucila Dedrick, and Richard Dedrick
(hereinafter "Plaintiffs"), by and through their undersigned attorneys, allege as
follows:
1. This is an action for damages arising from Defendants'
excessive use of force and/or exposure of Luis J. Lopez to conditions that
amounted to severe punishment resulting in his death under color of statutes,
ordinances, rules, regulations, customs, policies, practices, and/or usages which
deprived him of rights, privileges, and immunities secured under the Fourth and
Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, inter alia, 42
U.S.C. § 1983, et sec.,, and Article I, §§ 2, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 14 of the Hawaii State
Constitution, inter alia. Plaintiff Christina M. Walser Lopez also brings state law
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEh. .~VIK Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 E ~e 3 of 16 PagelD #: 3
claims on behalf of herself and her minor children, and Plaintiffs Drucila and
Richard Dedrick bring claims on their own behalf.
Jurisdiction and Venue
2. This Court is vested with jurisdiction over this matter pursuant
to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343, inter alia. Any and all state
law claims contained herein form part of the same case or controversy as gives rise
to Plaintiff s federal law claims and therefore fall within the Court's supplemental
jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367.
3. Venue resides in the United States District Court for the District
of Hawaii pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1391, as all, or a substantial part, of the acts
and/or omissions that are the basis for this lawsuit occurred in the State of Hawaii
within the District of Hawaii, and all of the Defendants reside in the State of
Hawaii.
Parties
4. Plaintiff Christina M. Walser Lopez was a citizen and resident
of the State of Hawaii as of January 7, 2012.
5. Luis J. Lopez (hereinafter "Mr. Lopez") died on January 7,
2012. Plaintiff Christina M. Walser Lopez was Mr. Lopez's wife at the time of his
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death and is presently the duly appointed Personal Representative of Mr. Lopez's
Estate.
6. Plaintiff Christina M. Walser Lopez and Mr. Lopez have two
minor children together, Jasmine M. Walser Lopez and Luis J. Lopez, III. Plaintiff
Christina M. Walser Lopez is the Guardian of these two children.
7. Plaintiff Drucila Dedrick was Luis J. Lopez's mother and a
citizen and resident of Florida at all times pertinent hereto.
8. Plaintiff Richard Dedrick was Luis J. Lopez's stepfather who
raised Mr. Lopez along with his mother, and a citizen and resident of Florida at all
times pertinent hereto.
9. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendant Edward Iona was a citizen and resident of the State of Hawaii and an
officer with the Honolulu Police Department at all times pertinent hereto.
Defendant Iona initially arrested Mr. Lopez on the morning of January 7, 2012, and
is sued herein in his individual and official capacities.
10. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendant Zachary Plevel was a citizen and resident of the State of Hawaii and an
officer with the Honolulu Police Department at all times pertinent hereto.
Defendant Plevel transported Mr. Lopez to the Wahiawa Police Station and
Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEh ,MK Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 r ~e 5 of 16 PagelD #: 5
Wahiawa General Hospital on the morning of January 7, 2012, and is sued herein
in his individual and official capacities.
11. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendant Morgan Hill was a citizen and resident of the State of Hawaii and an
officer with the Honolulu Police Department at all times pertinent hereto.
Defendant Hill was working at the Wahiawa Police Station on the morning of
January 7, 2012, and is sued herein in his individual and official capacities.
12. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendant Sheri Nakasone was a citizen and resident of the State of Hawaii and an
officer with the Honolulu Police Department at all times pertinent hereto.
Defendant Nakasone was working at the Wahiawa Police Station on the morning of
January 7, 2012, and is sued herein in her individual and official capacities.
13. Defendant Louis M. Kealoha is and has been a resident of the
State of Hawaii and the Chief of the Honolulu Police Department at all times
pertinent hereto. Defendant Kealoha is sued herein in his individual and official
capacities.
14. Defendant Kealoha is responsible for the instruction, training,
and supervision of the Honolulu Police Department's members.
E
Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEh ~MK Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 r .fie 6 of 16 PagelD #: 6
15. Defendant City and County of Honolulu is and has been a duly
organized municipal corporation of the State of Hawaii at all times pertinent hereto
and operates the Honolulu Police Department.
16. Defendants John or Jane Does 1-25 and Doe Entities 1-25 are
sued herein under fictitious names for the reason that their true names and
capacities presently are unknown to Plaintiffs except that they are connected in
some manner with the named Defendants as agents, partners, officers, servants,
employees, representatives, contractors, subcontractors, assignors, assignees, and
licensees and/or in some manner presently unknown to Plaintiffs were engaged in
the activities alleged herein. The true names and capacities of the Doe Defendants
will be substituted as soon as the same become known. Doe Defendants are sued
herein in both their individual and representative capacities.
Factual Alle atg ions
17. Before January 7, 2012, Plaintiff Christina M. Walser Lopez,
Mr. Lopez, and their two minor children lived together as a family in the State of
Hawaii.
18. At approximately 4:10 a.m. on the morning of January 7, 2012,
Defendant Iona arrested Mr. Lopez under suspicion of Driving Under the Influence
Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEk ,JIK Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 F ~e 7 of 16 PagelD #: 7
of an Intoxicant and Defendant Plevel transported him to the Wahiawa Police
Station.
19. During his arrest Mr. Lopez sustained a bloody gash to his
forehead for which Defendant Plevel took Mr. Lopez to Wahiawa General Hospital
from the Wahiawa Police Station at approximately 5:00 a.m. on January 7, 2012.
20. Mr. Lopez purportedly declined medical treatment at Wahiawa
General Hospital after which he was transported back to the Wahiawa Police
Station.
21. Plaintiffs are infot-med and believe and do thereupon allege that
1VI~~. Lopez was wearing a black tank top to cover his torso at the time of his arrest.
22. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendants did not hold Mr. Lopez with any other detainees in cell number three at
the Wahiawa Police Station.
23. Cell number three at the Wahiawa Police Station is a cell with
Plexiglas walls inside of standard cellblock bars, a camera directed at it, and is
located closest to and within the direct range of vision of a check-in desk where
Honolulu Police officers are stationed and/or traverse.
24. Mr. Lopez died from asphyxiation sometime in the early
morning of January 7, 2012.
7
Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEk _~~vIK Document 1 Filed 12/24f13 F ~e 8 of 16 PagelD #: 8
25. At approximately 6:30 in the morning on January 7, 2012, an
Emergency Medical Technician responded to an emergency call at the Wahiawa
Police Station for a different detainee and reported that she observed Mr. Lopez
laying on his side.
26. At approximately 7:05 in the morning on January 7, 2012,
Defendant Nakasone reported that she observed Mr. Lopez sitting on the floor with
his back to the cell door and a white long-sleeved shirt wrapped around his neck.
27. Defendant Nakasone reported that Mr. Lopez was not breathing;
Mr. Lopez was subsequently pronounced dead at Wahiawa General Hospital at
approximately 7:48 a.m.
28. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
the ligature marks on Mr. Lopez's neck did not match the white shit~t which was
found wrapped around his neck.
29. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
the white shirt found wrapped around Mr. Lopez's neck was not his shirt and that
she had not seen him wear that shirt before.
28. The Medical Examiner's Office for Defendant City and County
of Honolulu subsequently classified Mr. Lopez's death as a suicide.
Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEK _ ,~1K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 F _ ,,e 9 of 16 PagelD #: 9
30. Plaintiffs allege: a) that Mr. Lopez was murdered and did not
commit suicide, or in the alternative, that b) if Mr. Lopez did commit suicide it was
due to Defendants' extraordinary negligence and/or reckless indifference.
32. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
the actions of Defendants were without reasonable, just, and/or probable cause.
33. As a direct and proximate result of the foregoing Mr. Lopez and
Plaintiffs suffered the deprivation of Mr. Lopez's life, freedom, and liberty in
amounts to be proven at trial.
34. As a direct and proximate result of the foregoing Mr. Lopez and
Plaintiffs suffered great physical pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, the
loss of consortium and future earnings, mental anguish, emotional distress, anxiety,
embarrassment, humiliation, worry, and anger in amounts to be proven at trial.
First Cause of Action(42 U.S.C. § 1983)
35. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
paragraphs 1 through 34, above.
36. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendants acted and/or purported to act herein in their official capacities within
the scope of their employment under color of statutes, regulations, customs,
practices, and/or usages of the State of Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu,
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-~ .K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 P~~ , 10 of 16 PagelD #: 10
and/or the Honolulu Police Department when they used unnecessary and excessive
force against and/or exposed Mr. Lopez to conditions that amounted to severe
punishment resulting in his death.
37. The policy of condoning, ratifying, and/or failing to punish or
prevent: a) the excessive and/or unnecessary use of force and/orb) exposing
pretrial detainees to conditions that amount to severe punishment by Honolulu
Police Officers are constitutionally deficient customs, policies, practices, and/or
usages that repudiate the constitutional rights of persons such as Mr. Lopez and
there is a direct causal connection between the customs, policies, practices, and/or
usages and these constitutional deprivations.
38. As the Chief of Police Defendant Kealoha's failure to train,
supervise, and/or discipline Honolulu Police Department members that use
excessive force and/or expose pretrial detainees to conditions amounting to
punishment demonstrates that he personally implemented, maintained, enforced,
and/or allowed the continued use of excessive force and/or exposure of pretrial
detainees to conditions amounting to severe punishment, acted with reckless and
callous indifference, and knew of and acquiesced to such unconstitutional conduct.
39. Defendant Kealoha's supervision, training, implementation,
maintenance, enforcement, acquiescence and/or allowance of the continued
to
base 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-~ ..K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 P~,~, ~ 11 of 16 PagelD #: 11
operation of the use of excessive force or the exposure of pretrial detainees to
conditions amounting to severe punishment amounts to deliberate indifference to
the rights of persons who are victims of excessive police force and/or suffer
conditions amounting to punishment because the custom, usage, police, and/or
practice is obviously deficient, likely to cause the violation of citizens'
constitutional rights, and closely related to the injuries suffered by Mr. Lopez and
Plaintiffs.
40. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereupon alleges that by
the aforementioned acts and/or omissions Defendants, without any probable,
sufficient, just, or reasonable cause, subjected Mr. Lopez to an illegal and
unreasonable seizure andlor denied him due process of law in violation of rights
guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States
Constitution and the Constitution and laws of the State of Hawaii and 42 U.S.C. §
1983, inter alia.
Second Cause of Action(Alternative to Counts I and IV Negligent Training/Supervision)
41. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
paragraphs 1 through 34, above.
42. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and thereupon allege that
Defendants Kealoha, the City and County of Honolulu, and John or Jane Doe
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-t. ..K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 Pu,,., 12 of 16 PagelD #: 12
Defendants 1-15 negligently failed and refused to properly adopt and enforce
policies, train, supervise, andlor discipline the other named Defendants when they
acted outside of the scope of their employment to improperly and illegally assault
Mr. Lopez and/or expose him to conditions amounting to severe punishment,
thereby proximately causing the aforementioned injuries.
43. Defendants Kealoha, the City and County of Honolulu, and
John or Jane Doe Defendants 1-15 failed in supervising, training, hiring, and
failing to discipline the othei named Defendants because Defendants Kealoha, the
City and County of Honolulu, and John or Jane Doe Defendants 1-15 knew or
should have known about the necessity and opportunity to exercise control and to
curtail the continued operation and use of the excessive and/or unnecessary use of
force and the exposure of pretrial detainees to conditions amounting to severe
punishment.
44. Defendants Kealoha and John or Jane Doe Defendants 1-15
acted with malice.
Third Cause of Action(Assault and Battery)
45. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
Paragraphs 1-34, above.
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-~. ,K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 Pam : 13 of 16 PagelD #: 13
46. Certain Defendants, including but not limited to Doe
Defendants who Plaintiffs are not presently able to specifically identify, committed
assault and battery against Mr. Lopez as evidenced by the bloody gash to his
forehead and/or his death by asph}~iation.
47. Those Defendants acted herein knowingly, intentionally,
willfully, and/or recklessly, with deliberate indifference for the rights, interests,
and/or well-being of Plaintiffs and Mr. Lopez.
48. The Officer Defendants acted herein within the course and
scope of their employment for Defendant City and County of Honolulu.
Fourth Cause of Action(Negligence-Alternative to Counts II and III)
49. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
Paragraphs 1 through 34, above.
50. Defendants negligently failed to exercise reasonable care in
seizing, detaining, and/or monitoring Mr. Lopez, an individual in their custody and
care who they had deprived of his normal opportunities to protect himself, thereby
directly and proximately causing the injuries alleged herein.
51. Alternatively and/or in addition to paragraph 50, above,
Defendants breached their duty of care to Mr. Lopez as evidenced by his injuries
and/or death while he was entrusted to their custody and care and his injuries
13
tease 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-~ ..K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 Pa~.. 14 of 16 PagelD #: 14
and/or death was caused by agents and/or instruments within Defendants' sole care
and control.
52. Defendants acted with malice.
53. Defendants acted herein within the course and scope of their
employment for Defendant City and County of Honolulu.
Fifth Cause of Action(Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress)
54. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
Paragraphs 1 through 34, above.
55. Defendants negligently caused Plaintiff and her family to suffer
severe emotional distress.
56. Defendants acted with malice.
57. Defendants acted herein within the course and scope of their
employment for Defendant City and County of Honolulu.
Sixth Cause of Action(Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress)
58. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations contained in
Paragraphs 1 through 34, above.
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Case 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-~ ..K Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 P«~.: 15 of 16 PagelD #: 15
59. The acts of Defendants complained of herein were intentional
and/or reckless, outrageous, unreasonable, and without just cause or excuse,
thereby causing Plaintiffs severe and extreme emotional distress.
60. Plaintiffs are informed and believe and do thereupon allege that
Defendants acted herein knowingly, intentionally, willfully, and/or recklessly, with
deliberate indifference for the rights, interests, and/or well-being of Plaintiffs.
Seventh Cause of Action(Loss of Consortium)
61. Plaintiffs hereby incorporate all of the allegations above.
62. Further as a result of the injuries and damages to Mr. Lopez and
Plaintiffs, and as a further legal and/or proximate result of Defendants'
aforementioned acts and/or omissions, Plaintiffs have suffered and/or will suffer
various economic, special, general and non-economic damages to be proven at
time of trial including but not loss of consortium and protection, loss of
companionship and affection, mental and emotional distress, pain and suffering to
be proven at the time of trial.
WHERFORE, Plaintiffs pray for relief as follows:
1. For special damages, including consequential damages, in
amounts to be proven at trial;
2. For general damages according to the proof thereof at trial;
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~ase 1:13-cv-00711-LEK-E ,r~ Document 1 Filed 12/24/13 P~~ . 16 of 16 PagelD #: 16
3. For reimbursement of Plaintiffs' costs and expenses herein,
including reasonable provision for her attorneys' fees;
4. For punitive damages against the Defendants in their individual
capacities; and
5. For such further and additional relief as the Court deems
appropriate and just.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, (yl ~'-~~~ ~
MYLES S. BREWERLANI A. NAKAMURA
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
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