Citations
- 180 F. Supp. 2d 499
Full opinion text
OPINION AND ORDER
WILLIAM C. CONNER, Senior District Judge.
Plaintiff Tina Edwards brings the instant action against defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (‘Wal-Mart”), and against defendants William Leonick, Richard R. Pretsch, John C. Blauvelt and Gary Cooper in their individual capacities as police officers for the Town of Newburgh Police Department (“NPD”) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff asserts claims for: (1) false arrest; (2) malicious prosecution; and (3) coerced confession. Defendants now move for summary judgment as to all claims pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. For the reasons that follow, defendants’ motions are granted in part and denied in part.
BACKGROUND
Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are undisputed. In February 1996, Wal-Mart hired plaintiff to work as a cashier at its Newburgh, New York store (the “Store”). (Edwards Dep. at 14.) Plaintiff worked for Wal-Mart until her termination in February 1999. Between July 7, 1998 and January 30, 1999 the Store received several bomb threat telephone calls. (Defs.Rule 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 4.) On one such occasion, October 26, 1998, the Store received two threatening phone calls. (Watkins Aff., Ex. 5.) Both calls were received by Wal-Mart employee Bea Toll. (Id.) The New York State Police were notified and the subsequent report states, in relevant part, that “[Toll] received a phone call from an unknown male who stated that there was a bomb in the building. Approx. 12 or 13 minutes later the same subject received a second call and the unknown male stated ‘you’re not taking this seriously, there is a bomb in the building.’ ” (Id.) Audiotapes were made of the threatening call, but are not in evidence for purposes of the instant motion.
In response to these and other calls, a joint investigation was conducted by the NPD, the New York State Police, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and Wal-Mart’s Loss Prevention Department. (Id.) As part of this investigation, in January 1999, Wal-Mart set up video surveillance of the pay phones in the Store parking lot and arranged for incoming calls to the Store to be traced to their source. (Id. ¶5.) The video camera’s internal clock was synchronized with the clocks inside the Store and the employees were instructed to note the time of any bomb threats received.
On January 30, 1999, the Store received a single bomb threat call that was traced to a pay phone outside the Store. (Id.) Telephone company records revealed that the call was made at 6:40:56 p.m. and lasted ten seconds. (Watkins Aff., Ex. 11.) The telephone records indicate that no other phone calls were placed to the Store from the pay phones outside the Store at or about that time. Wal-Mart also had videotape surveillance of the pay phone area on January 30, 1999. (1/30/99 Video.) The video depicts two persons walking towards the pay phones at 6:42:08 p.m. (Id.) The first person, wearing a dark jacket, went to one of the pay phones at 6:42:21 p.m. (Id.) The second pay phone was occupied. The second person, wearing light pants, paced near the soda machines adjacent to the pay phones. When the individual using the second pay phone left at around 6:42:44 p.m., the second person went to the vacant pay phone. (Id.) Wal-Mart turned over the videotape to the NPD on January 30, 1999. (Watkins Aff., Ex. 13.) The same day, Dale P. Jackson, a district Loss Prevention supervisor for Wal-Mart, identified the first person on the video as Nadya Palou, another Wal-Mart employee, and the second person as plaintiff. (Jackson Dep. at 7-9.)
On the afternoon of February 5, 1999, officers Blauvelt and Leonick questioned Palou about the bomb threats. (Pl.Rule 56.1 Stmt. ¶ 43.) They read to Palou the contents of the various threatening phone calls and showed her still photographs taken from the January 30, 1999 videotape. (7