Washington-Pope v. City of Philadelphia (979 F. Supp. 2d 544, 2013)

MEMORANDUM

PRATTER, District Judge.

Officer Yolaina Washington-Pope’s harrowing ordeal raises the question of whether an on-duty, in-uniform police officer, who raises his service weapon to his partner’s temple as their exchange of words in their police cruiser rapidly escalates, acts under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Although the facts of this case and Ms. Washington-Pope’s experiences are doubtlessly distressing, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ precedent, the acknowledged purposes of § 1983, and more analogous case law from other courts constrain this Court to answer that question in the negative. This case serves as a sobering reminder that federal law does not provide a remedy for every wrong or even every horrifying injury.

Because Officer Washington-Pope’s ex-partner and now — Defendant Officer William Bailey did not act under color of state law when he drew his gun on her, as discussed in greater detail below, the Court grants his Motion for Summary Judgment and dismisses the claims against him with prejudice. The Court also denies the City of Philadelphia’s Motion to Dismiss, with prejudice only as to the City’s argument concerning independent municipal liability raised in Section C of the its Memorandum.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, the Court canvasses the material facts and construes all reasonable inferences from them in favor of Plaintiff Ms. Washington-Pope, the nonmovant. As a result, the operative facts for present purposes are as follows.

Soon after Philadelphia Police Officers Bailey and Washington-Pope began driving to the scene of a domestic dispute, their first assignment during the graveyard shift on September 24, 2010, Officer Bailey, who was driving, stopped the car, got out, and looked under it and then in the trunk. Puzzled, Officer Washington-Pope asked him what was wrong. Officer Bailey said he had heard noises, though she had not. Back in the car, the partners reached their destination and when no one answered the door, they headed to their second assignment.

After concluding their second assignment without incident, the officers began cruising toward their third. But Officer Bailey drove in the wrong direction and began slowing down before speeding back up while looking in the side-view mirror. He then stopped the car, put it in reverse, and slowly backed up. When Officer Washington-Pope asked him what he saw, he claimed that the “car behind us is following me. Every time I slow down they slow down and every time I speed up they speed up; look at them, they are backing up like me.” Officer Bailey turned the police cruiser around and the vehicle behind them continued down the street away from them.

At about this point, Officer Washington-Pope remembered a conversation she had had with another officer about a time that Officer Bailey had reportedly behaved oddly. According to the other officer, Officer Bailey had refused to get out of his police car after a tour of duty until a lieutenant approached him, at which point Officer Bailey sprang from the vehicle and ran around the parking lot, pursued by other officers. According to her deposition testimony, Officer Washington-Pope did not know, on the night of September 24, 2010, whether Officer Bailey’s strange behavior had occurred because he had diabetes or he was otherwise ill.

With this hazy hearsay story in mind on September 24, 2010, Officer Washington-Pope turned to Mr. Bailey and asked him whether he had taken his medication. He responded, “And what medication would that be?” She retorted, sarcastically, “Your psychotic meds,” and then, ‘Tour sugar medication.”

“No, I did not,” he responded, while pointing his finger at her. By now, Officer Bailey was again driving past the address of their third assignment, and at some point Officer Washington-Pope told him to turn around. Officer Bailey said, “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because you’re f — ing tripping,” said Officer Washington-Pope.

Officer Bailey: ‘Tou got a problem with me?”

Officer Washington-Pope: “Yeah, you’re f — ing tripping.”

Officer Bailey, pulling up to the corner and about to make a left: “Say it again.” He unsnapped his holster.

Officer Washington-Pope, not looking at Officer Bailey, but rather down at the paperwork she was writing: “You’re f— ing tripping.”

Officer Bailey put his service weapon in his lap and, turning the corner towards the address of their third assignment, said, “I bet you won’t say it again.” Turning to face him, Officer Washington-Pope stared into the barrel of Officer Bailey’s gun and saw his “cold,” “mean look.”

The words, “You’re f — ing tripping,” were again at the tip of her tongue, but something clicked in her mind at that moment, and she realized it was time for her to “stop playing.” She remembered then that it was not unusual for Officer Bailey to take things too far or handle matters with a “violent undertone” — although she could not understand why he had drawn his gun on her.

Thinking she might escape from the car, Officer Washington-Pope tried the door handle, but she could not release the lock. She thought she might draw her own gun, but because of her vest and position she thought the effort would be futile. She considered tasing Officer Bailey, but worried that even if she could, his muscles might involuntarily tense and his finger, flinching, pull the trigger. So she exercised the one option she thought she had left.

“Bailey, you really gonna point a gun at me, really?” Officer Bailey said nothing. “Bailey, you really going to shoot me? Is that what you’re going to do?” He still said nothing. She repeated the words, which he met with silence and what Officer Washington-Pope described as an empty, menacing stare.

And then, although Officer Washington-Pope did not say how much time passed, Officer Bailey holstered the gun and asked, “Now, what now?”

The two continued on to their next assignment.

* * *

The early morning’s events of September 24, 2010, had not yet drawn to a close. Officer Washington-Pope attempted to get into the driver’s seat or, barring that, to convince Officer Bailey to drive back to headquarters so she could deal with what had happened. At first he refused and instead took off after a driver who he had seen run a red light and who turned out to be under the influence. According to Officer Washington-Pope, Officer Bailey behaved oddly toward the suspect, but soon Officer Washington-Pope was finally able to prevail on him to drive back to headquarters. After they arrived, Officer Bailey began hitting his vest and arguing with it, and only by convincing him that she was helping to fix his vest was Officer Washington-Pope able to disarm him. Then she drove him to the hospital.

Mr. Bailey has had type I diabetes since he was nine years old, and has experienced hypoglycemic episodes that, according to the parties’ experts, can lead to odd behavior. The parties, through their experts, dispute whether Officer Bailey was experiencing such an event at the moment he drew his gun on Officer Washington-Pope, as well as whether, if he was, he could have formed, and did form, the intent to do so. Mr. Bailey also claims that he does not remember drawing his gun on Ms. Washington-Pope, although she contends that he does.

Ms. Washington-Pope sued Mr. Bailey and the City of Philadelphia under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. In the first count of her First Amended Complaint, Ms. Washington-Pope alleged that Officer Bailey had violated her rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution by unlawfully and unreasonably seizing her at gunpoint and causing her significant mental anguish and emotional distress, as well as medical expenses, loss of future earnings, and other injuries. In the second count, she alleged that the City, knowing of Officer Bailey’s diabetes and his violent tendencies, also knew that Ms. Washington-Pope was at risk of being assaulted by him. She contends that the City was deliberately indifferent to the conduct of Officer Bailey as well as other police officers with regard to their responsibility to supervise Officer Bailey, who was not physically or mentally fit to serve as a Philadelphia Police Officer. Because Officer Bailey violated her rights to liberty, bodily integrity, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, Ms. Washington-Pope alleges, the City’s deliberate indifference to the risk of his actions renders it independently liable' under § 1983 for violating her substantive due process rights.

After he moved for and received an extension of time to file his Answer, Mr. Bailey instead moved for summary judgment. The City answered on October 15, 2012. Ms. Washington-Pope responded to Mr. Bailey’s Motion for Summary Judgment and, following an initial prétrial conference, the Court denied Mr. Bailey’s Motion for Summary Judgment in order to give the parties time to conduct discovery. The Court ordered that the deadlines then set “pertain[ed only] to discovery and briefing related to the issues discussed in Mr. Bailey’s Motion for Summary Judgment” (Docket No. 12 at 1 n. 1).

After several months of discovery, Mr. Bailey again moved for summary judgment. The City followed his lead and also moved for summary judgment. Ms. Washington-Pope responded separately to Mr. Bailey’s second Motion for Summary Judgment and to the City’s. In her response to the City, Ms. Washington-Pope explained that because discovery under the Court’s prior order “was limited to claims only against Defendant, Officer Bailey, Plaintiff was surprised when Defendant, City of Philadelphia, filed a Motion for Summary Judgment three days after Defendant, Officer Bailey, filed his second motion.” Washington-Pope-City Mem. at 4 (Docket No. 19). Her counsel contacted the City’s counsel, who sent a letter to the Court, requesting that the Court consider only Section C of its Motion. Consequently, Ms. Washington Pope’s response here addresses only the City’s Section C argument, namely, that municipal liability depends on a violation of a plaintiffs constitutional rights such that “[i]f this honorable court dismisses Plaintiffs claims against Officer [Bailey] then the claims against the City of Philadelphia must also be dismissed.” City Mem. at 20-21 (Docket No. 17). Accordingly, as to the City, the Court will consider only Section C of the City’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Upon motion of a party, summary judgment is appropriate if “the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Summary judgment should be granted only if the moving party persuades the district court that “there exists no genuine issue of material fact that would permit a reasonable jury to find for the nonmoving party.” Miller v. Ind. Hosp., 843 F.2d 139, 143 (3d Cir.1988). A fact is “material” if it could affect the outcome of the suit, given the applicable substantive law. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A dispute about a material fact is “genuine” if the evidence presented “is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Id.

In evaluating a summary judgment motion, a court “must view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party,” and make every reasonable inference in that party’s favor. Hugh v. Butler Cnty. Family YMCA, 418 F.3d 265, 267 (3d Cir.2005). Further, a court may not weigh the evidence or make credibility determinations. Boyle v. County of Allegheny, 139 F.3d 386, 393 (3d Cir.1998). Nevertheless, the party opposing summary judgment must support each essential element of his or her opposition with concrete evidence in the record. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). “If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citations omitted). Of course, the court may grant summary judgment if the plaintiffs version of the facts, as a matter of law, do not entitle her to relief: “Where the record taken as a whole could not lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party, there is no genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

The two motions for summary judgment raise separate issues. First, Officer Bailey contends that Officer Washington-Pope’s § 1983 claim against him should be defeated for several reasons. He argues that (a) he was not acting under color of law when he pointed his gun at Officer Washington-Pope’s head, Bailey Mem. at 3-7 (Docket No. 16); (b) in the alternative, he did not act intentionally and so could not have “seized” Officer Washington-Pope under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, id. at 7-14; (c) that Officer Washington-Pope’s Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process claim must be dismissed because the case must be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment, id. at 14; (d) Officer Washington-Pope’s Fifth Amendment claim must be dismissed because the Fifth Amendment pertains only to federal actors, id. at 14; and (e) Officer Bailey is entitled to qualified immunity, id. at 15. Because the Court holds that Officer Bailey was not acting under color of law when he pointed his gun at Officer Washington-Pope’s head, the Court need not consider his remaining arguments, and summary judgment in favor of Officer Bailey is appropriate.

Second, the City of Philadelphia raises the contingent argument that “[i]f this honorable court dismisses Plaintiffs claims against Officer [Bailey] then the claims against the City of Philadelphia must also be dismissed” because municipal liability depends on an individual officer’s violation of a plaintiffs constitutional rights. City Mem. at 20-21. Although that reasoning has an aura of logic, in the Third Circuit independent municipal liability may stand under Fagan v. City of Vineland, 22 F.3d 1283, 1292 (3d Cir.1994), as discussed below, even where no individual actor has violated the plaintiffs constitutional rights. Accordingly, the City’s Motion for Summary Judgment is denied, and the parties will have an opportunity to conduct additional discovery.

A. The Claims Against Officer Bailey: No Action Under Color of Law

Ms. Washington-Pope brings her suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Section 1983 provides, in pertinent part:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress ....

42 U.S.C. § 1983. “It is for violations of such constitutional and statutory rights that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 authorizes redress; that section is not itself a source of substantive rights, but a method for vindicating federal rights elsewhere conferred by those parts of the United States Constitution and federal statutes that it describes.” Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 145 n. 3, 99 S.Ct. 2689, 61 L.Ed.2d 433 (1979); accord City of Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U.S. 808, 816, 105 S.Ct. 2427, 85 L.Ed.2d 791 (1985) (plurality opinion); accord Dique v. N.J. State Police, 603 F.3d 181, 185 (3d Cir.2010). To be afforded a remedy in federal court under § 1983, a plaintiff must prove two elements. First, she must show a “violation of a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42, 48, 108 S.Ct. 2250, 101 L.Ed.2d 40 (1988). Violations of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable seizures, see generally, e.g., Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), or the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of substantive due process, see generally, e.g., Fagan v. City of Vineland (Fagan II), 22 F.3d 1296 (3d Cir.1994) (en banc), satisfy the first prong of § 1983 as constitutional violations. See, e.g., Tuttle, 471 U.S. at 816-17, 105 S.Ct. 2427 (“Here respondent’s claim is that her husband was deprived of his life ‘without due process of law,’ in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, or that he was deprived of his right to be free from the use of ‘excessive force in his apprehension’ — presumably a right secured by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Having established a deprivation of a constitutional right .... ” (footnote omitted)).

Second, she must “show that the alleged deprivation was committed by a person acting under color of state law.” West, 487 U.S. at 48, 108 S.Ct. 2250. This state law requirement is identical to the Fourteenth Amendment’s state action requirement. Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830, 838, 102 S.Ct. 2764, 73 L.Ed.2d 418 (1982) (citing United States v. Price, 383 U.S. 787, 794 n. 7, 86 S.Ct. 1152, 16 L.Ed.2d 267 (1966)); accord Kach v. Hose, 589 F.3d 626, 646 (3d Cir.2009); Benn v. Universal Health Sys., Inc., 371 F.3d 165, 169-70 & n. 1 (3d Cir.2004) (Alito, J.). That the two are equivalent, of course, is readily apparent when the conduct in question is alleged to violate the Fourteenth Amendment and, as incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. See Martinez v. Colon, 54 F.3d 980, 986 (1st Cir.1995) (“To be sure, violence is attributable to state action if the perpetrator is acting under color of state law, but that is a virtual tautology.” (citations omitted)); cf. Lugar v. Edmondson Oil Co., Inc., 457 U.S. 922, 936, 102 S.Ct. 2744, 73 L.Ed.2d 482 (1982) (“As a matter of substantive constitutional law the state-action requirement reflects judicial recognition of the fact that most rights secured by the Constitution are protected only against infringement by governments.” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

Thus, “[t]he ultimate issue in determining whether a person is subject to suit under § 1983 is the same question posed in cases arising under the Fourteenth Amendment: is the alleged infringement of federal rights ‘fairly attributable to the State?’ ” Rendell-Baker, 457 U.S. at 838, 102 S.Ct. 2764 (quoting Lugar, 457 U.S. at 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744).

The “fair attribution” question, in turn, has two components.

First, the deprivation must be caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by a rule of conduct imposed by the state or by a person for whom the State is responsible.... Second, the party charged with the deprivation must be a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor. This may be because he is a state official, because he has acted together with or has obtained significant aid from state officials, or because his conduct is otherwise chargeable to the State. Without a limit such as this, private parties could face constitutional litigation whenever they seek to rely on some state rule governing their interactions with the community surrounding them.

Lugar, 457 U.S. at 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744. These two questions, which at times may “collapse into each other when the claim of a constitutional deprivation is directed against a party whose official character is such as to lend the weight of the State to his decisions,” are not the same. Id.

Often, when a state or local employee acts in his official capacity, he will be found to have done so under color of state law. West, 487 U.S. at 49-50, 108 S.Ct. 2250; Barna v. City of Perth Amboy, 42 F.3d 809, 816 (3d Cir.1994). Such may be the case even for off-duty law enforcement officers who purport to act under their state or local authority. In these cases, both of the “under color of law” conditions are satisfied: the actors (1) purport to act under “some right or privilege created by the state” and (2) they are state or local officials, such that their “conduct is ... chargeable to the State.” Lugar, 457 U.S. at 937, 102 S.Ct. 2744. In essence, when the actor is a law enforcement official, the second element is satisfied, and so whether his action is fairly attributable to the state depends on the answer to the first question — whether his actions are “caused by the exercise of some right or privilege created by the State,” id., or whether, in undertaking them, he “exercised power ‘possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer [was] clothed with the authority of state law,’ ” West, 487 U.S. at 49, 108 S.Ct. 2250 (quoting United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 326, 61 S.Ct. 1031, 85 L.Ed. 1368 (1941)). Clearly then — and indeed, it is well settled that — “a public employee acts under color of state law while acting in his official capacity or while exercising his responsibilities pursuant to state law.” West, 487 U.S. at 50, 108 S.Ct. 2250.

It is also “firmly established that a defendant in a § 1983 suit acts under color of state law when he abuses the position given to him by the State.” Id. at 49-50, 108 S.Ct. 2250 (emphasis added); accord Barna, 42 F.3d at 816. Were this not the case, then logically an officer could be held liable under § 1983 only when a state statute, regulation, or policy by its terms actually authorized him to violate the Constitution. Instead,

[a]cts of officers who undertake to perform their official duties are included whether they hew to the line of their authority or overstep it. If ... the statute was designed to embrace only action which the State in fact authorized, the words “under color of any law” were hardly apt words to express the idea.

Screws v. United States, 325 U.S. 91, 111, 65 S.Ct. 1031, 89 L.Ed. 1495 (1945) (plurality opinion). For this reason, his misuse of power, so long as he in fact possesses state power, brings the law enforcement officer under the reach of § 1983.

The limiting principle, however, is that “under ‘color’ of law means under ‘pretense’ of law. Thus acts of officers in the ambit of their personal pursuits are plainly excluded.” Id. While an off-duty sheriff working as a private security guard but wearing his official uniform and displaying his badge acts under color of law when he excludes a plaintiff from a park and then arrests him for criminal trespass on account of race acts under color of law, see Griffin v. Maryland, 378 U.S. 130, 131-36, 84 S.Ct. 1770, 12 L.Ed.2d 754 (1964), “a police officer’s purely private acts which are not furthered by any actual or purported state authority are not acts under color of state law,” Barna, 42 F.3d at 816. The question, which can be rephrased as an inquiry into when an officer’s actions become private, is a difficult one precisely because it involves not a simple determination of whether the officer had state authority, but whether he “purported] to act under that authority,” even if “he might have taken the same action had he acted in a purely private capacity.” Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; accord Barna, 42 F.3d at 816.

Following the Supreme Court’s guidance in Griffin v. Maryland, 378 U.S. 130, 84 S.Ct. 1770, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has explained that “[m]anifestations of such pretended authority may include flashing a badge, identifying oneself as a police officer, placing an individual under arrest, or intervening in a dispute involving others pursuant to a duty imposed by police department regulations.” Barna, 42 F.3d at 816. Courts look for such “indicia of police authority,” although the indicia must be considered together in context to determine whether an officer purported to act under pretense and therefore under color of law, rather than as per se determinants that he did so. See id. at 817, 818 & n. 11.

Such factors often deemed relevant but not' per se determinative include: whether the defendant officer was on duty, West, 487 U.S. at 50, 108 S.Ct. 2250 (“[GJenerally, a public employee acts under color of state law while acting in his official capacity or while exercising, his responsibilities pursuant to state law.”);. Bonenberger v. Plymouth Township, 132 F.3d 20, 24 (3d Cir.1997) (“[0]ff-duty police officers who flash a badge or otherwise purport to exercise official authority generally act under color of law.”); whether the officer was pursuing purely private motives by means of exercising state authority, Basista v. Weir, 340 F.2d 74, 80-81 (3d Cir.1965) (“Assuming arguendo that Scalese’s actions were in fact motivated by personal animosity that does not and cannot place him or his acts outside the scope of Section 1983 if he vented his ill feelings towards Basista ... under color of a policeman’s badge.”), or in an “interaction with the victim [that was] unconnected with his execution of official duties” and therefore not “under color of law,” Bonenberger, 132 F.3d at 24; whether the officer’s actions were related to his job as a police officer, see Barna, 42 F.3d at 816; whether the officer’s actions occurred within his jurisdiction, see Barna, 42 F.3d at 816-17; whether the officer identified himself as a police officer, see Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; whether he wore police clothing, see Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; Abraham v. Raso, 183 F.3d 279, 287 (3d Cir.1999), or showed a badge, see Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; Bonenberger, 132 F.3d at 24; Bama, 42 F.3d at 816; whether he used or carried a service weapon, e.g., a gun or nightstick, Barna, 42 F.3d at 817, or used a police car or other police equipment, see, e.g., Rodriguez v. City of Paterson, No. 94-988, 1995 WL 363710, at *3 (D.N.J. June 13, 1995) (police radio); and whether the officer attempted to arrest the victim, see Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; Abraham, 183 F.3d at 287.

But “[w]hile certain factors will clearly be relevant” in any given case — “for example, a police officer’s garb, an officer’s duty status, the officer’s use of a service revolver, and the location of the incident — these factors must not be assessed mechanically.” Barreto-Rivera v. Medina-Vargas, 168 F.3d 42, 45 (1st Cir.1999); see K.K. ex rel. Knowles v. Weeks, No. 04-2290, 2007 WL 1455888, at *12 (M.D.Pa. May 15, 2007)' (“To determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact as to Weeks’s abuse of his position as a PSP officer, we must examine the totality of the circumstances of the abusive conduct as well as the use of any indicia of state authority.”); Jackson-Gilmore v. Dixon, No. 04-03759, 2005 WL 3110991, at *10 (E.D.Pa. Nov. 18, 2005) (“Courts look to all of the officer’s acts, and to no one act in particular, in context, to determine whether an officer was acting in his official capacity and whether the officer invoked police authority.”); Pryer v. City of Philadelphia, No. 99-4678, 2004 WL 603377, at *4 (E.D.Pa. Feb. 19, 2004) (“The Third Circuit looks to all of the acts of the officer, and no one act in particular, in context, to determine whether an officer was acting in his or her official capacity and whether the officer invoked police authority.” (citing Barna, 42 F.3d at 818)); see also Anderson v. Warner, 451 F.3d 1063, 1068 (9th Cir.2006) (“There is no ‘rigid formula’ for determining whether a state or local law official is acting under color of state law.”); Strange v. Porath, 104 F.3d 368, at *3 (10th Cir.1996) (table opinion) (“When courts have applied the color of law requirement to the conduct of off-duty police officers, a single factor is rarely determinative. Rather, the courts have tended to use a totality of the circumstances approach in their formulation.”); David v. City and County of Denver, 101 F.3d 1344, 1353 (10th Cir.1996) (“The under color of law determination rarely depends on a single, easily identifiable fact, such as the officer’s attire, the location of the act, or whether or not the officer acts in accordance with his or her duty.” (citing Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986)); Pitchell v. Callan, 13 F.3d 545, 548 (2d Cir.1994) (“More is required than a simple determination as to whether an officer was on or off duty when the challenged incident occurred.” (collecting cases)); Stengel v. Belcher, 522 F.2d 438, 441 (6th Cir.1975) (“The fact that a police officer is on or off duty, or in or out of uniform is not controlling. ‘It is the nature of the act performed, not the clothing of the actor or even the status of being on duty, or off duty, which determines whether the officer has acted under color of law.’ ” (quoting Johnson v. Hackett, 284 F.Supp. 933, 937 (E.D.Pa.1968))); Gueits-Colón v. De Jesús, 177 F.Supp.2d 128, 135 (D.P.R.2001) (“These factors, however, should not be applied in a simplistic or mechanical formula. No single factor will be dispositive in a determination of whether an officer was acting under color of state law.”); Morton v. City of Albany, No. 08-1304, 2009 WL 2568595, at *5-6 (N.D.N.Y. Aug. 19, 2009); Lizardo v. Denny’s, Inc., No. 97-1234, 2000 WL 976808, at *16 (N.D.N.Y. July 13, 2000) (“Plaintiffs rest their argument that Adams’ and Paninski’s actions constitute actions taken under col- or of state law on the fact that they were armed and wearing their duty uniforms at the time. That fact alone is not however dispositive.” (citing Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986)), aff'd, 270 F.3d 94 (2d Cir.2001).

As the First Circuit Court of Appeals has explained in Martinez v. Colon, the leading case for “under color of law” analysis of police-on-police altercations, special circumstances, not unlike many of those applicable here, need to be carefully considered:

[N]ot every action undertaken by a person who happens to be a police officer is attributable to the state. Though “under ‘color’ of law means under ‘pretense’ of law,” even so, the acts of state officials “in the ambit of their personal pursuits” are not state action. Screws, 325 U.S. at 111, 65 S.Ct. 1031; see also Gibson [v. City of Chicago ], 910 F.2d [1510,] 1518 [(7th Cir.1990)]. Accordingly, a policeman’s private conduct, outside the line of duty and unaided by any indicia of actual or ostensible state authority, is not conduct occurring under color of state law. See Barna v. City of Perth Amboy, 42 F.3d 809, 816 (3d Cir.1994); United States v. Tarpley, 945 F.2d 806, 809 (5th Cir.1991); Dang Vang v. Vang Xiong X. Toyed, 944 F.2d 476, 479 (9th Cir.1991); Murphy v. Chi. Transit Auth., 638 F.Supp. 464, 467 (N.D.Ill.1986); Johnson v. Hackett, 284 F.Supp. 933, 937 (E.D.Pa.1968). Even though “acting under color of law” includes “acting under pretense of law” for purposes of a state action analysis, there can be no pretense if the challenged conduct is not related in some meaningful way either to the officer’s governmental status or to the performance of his duties.

Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986-87 (emphasis added).

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals is in agreement. More recently, it has instructed that “[t]o determine whether a police officer acted under the color of state law, the facts and circumstances of the police officer’s role ... must be examined in their totality____The state action question must be addressed after considering the totality of the circumstances and cannot be limited to a single factual question.” Harvey v. Plains Twp. Police Dep’t, 635 F.3d 606, 610-11 (3d Cir.2011). “The key determinant is whether the actor, at the time in question, purposes to act in an official capacity or to exercise official responsibilities pursuant to state law.” Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986. Thus, it is important not only to enumerate the relevant factors, but also to discuss the leading cases in the Third Circuit, in which the Court of Appeals considered whether conduct directed by police officers toward private individuals was under color of law, before turning to the more analogous, and therefore instructive, eases from the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which has, consistent with Third Circuit case law and principles, extended the analysis to police-on-police altercations.

1. Third Circuit Case Law

In Barna v. City of Perth Amboy, 42 F.3d 809, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s dismissal as a matter of law of Mr. and Mrs. Barna’s § 1983 assault-based claim against the defendant officers “because the evidence could not support a finding that the officers were acting under color of state law,” id. at 812. One evening, the Barnas, upset at the owner of a Christmas tree business, stopped by his lot with the intention of confronting him. Coincidentally, Officer Otterbine, a relative of the Barnas, was sitting in his partner’s truck outside a bar across the street from the Christmas tree lot and, discovering the Barnas’ intentions, asked his partner, Officer Echevarria, to follow the Barnas home. Both officers, though carrying their service revolvers and police-issue nightsticks, were off-duty. After all the parties arrived at the Barnas’ home, an altercation began. Officer Otterbine, witnessing the events, accused Mr. Barna of hitting Officer Otterbine’s sister, at which point Mr. Barna told Officers Otterbine and Echevarria, “Look, you guys are out of your jurisdiction. Just get out of here, go home, this is none of your concern.” Officer Echevarria retorted, “Jurisdiction? I’ll show you jurisdiction,” and the two officers attacked and beat Mr. Barna. At one point, Officer Otterbine put Mr. Barna in a chokehold with his nightstick. Id. at 813.

Then, returning to their truck, the officers “attempted to leave the scene,” but “Mr. Barna, fearing for his wife’s safety, retrieved an unloaded revolver from the house” and pointed it at the officers until his wife told him to stand down. Once the gun was no longer pointed at them, the officers alighted from the truck and drew on Mr. Barna, who fell backwards and flung his own gun into a hedge before running into his house and returning with a shotgun, telling the officers not to leave, and then retreating again into his home. The officers called for backup, and the on-duty officers who arrived at the scene arrested Mrs. Barna and, after an escalating and protracted hostage negotiation, convinced Mr. Barna to surrender voluntarily. Mr. and Mrs. Barna subsequently sued Officers Otterbine and Echevarria for violation of their civil rights under § 1983. Id. at 814.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals began by dividing the events into discrete episodes for purposes of analysis. From the officers’ following the Barnas home through the scuffle involving the nightstick, the issue raised by the Barnas’ § 1983 assault-based claim was whether the officers had acted under color of law. Once Mr. Barna drew a gun on the officers, the Court explained, it was clear that they were so acting. The issue, then, was whether the officers had acted constitutionally in drawing on and arresting the Barnas. See id. at 812; see also id. at 815-19 (color of law issue); id. at 819-21 (unconstitutional arrest and false imprisonment claims). But the fact that , a police officer purports to act with official authority in one moment is not necessarily sufficient for a determination that he did so in the next. See , id. at 817-18 (“[T]he fact that [the officers] attempted to leave after the assault establishes that the officers were not trying to arrest Mr. Barna at the time they assaulted him.” (emphasis added)); id. at 819 (“[T]he physical altercation between Mr. Barna and Officers Otterbine and Echevarria had already concluded when Mr. Barna returned from his house with a revolver and pointed it into the cab of the truck in which the officers sat____” (emphasis added)); see also, e.g., Parrilla-Burgos v. Hernández-Rivera, 108 F.3d 445, 450-51 (1st Cir.1997) (“From the time that the two left the bar until Hernández shot Galletti, Hernández made no further pretense that he was acting as a police officer.... Because Hernández madé no further pretense of official action, there is not enough evidence in the record, even taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, to support the inference that Hernández was acting under color of state law when he shot Galletti.”); Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986 (“The key determinant is whether the actor, at the time in question, purposes to act in an official capacity or to exercise official responsibilities pursuant to state law.” (emphasis added)); Gueits-Colón, 177 F.Supp.2d at 136-37 (“The fact that an officer may have been acting under color of state law at one point in time does not mean that all action taken immediately thereafter will constitute action done under color of state law.”); Gonzalez v. Toledo, No. 08-1869, 2009 WL 1767561, at *4 (D.P.R. June 16, 2009) (“The fact that an officer may have been acting under color of state law at one point does not mean that all action taken immediately thereafter will constitute action done under color of state law.”).

With regard to the initial assault-based claim, the Third Circuit-Court of Appeals began by describing the general principles from Supreme Court precedent, as outlined above. It distinguished between action outside the scope of an officer’s actual authority,, but which nonetheless is under color of law because it is under pretense of law — that is, because the officer “purports to act according to official power,” Barna, 42 F.3d at 816 — from “purely private acts which are not furthered by any actual or purported state authority” — “not acts under color of state law,” id. Resisting a rigid analysis in favor of thin slicing between the events, capacities, and statuses at issue, the Barna Court cited with approval, id. at 816-17, the decision of the Fifth Circuit in Delcambre v. Delcambre, 635 F.2d 407 (5th Cir. Unit A Jan. 1981) (per curiam), in which the court held that an alleged assault by an on-duty police chief on his sister, at the police station, did not occur under color of state law because the altercation arose out of the chiefs personal (family and political) dispute with his sister, and she “was neither arrested nor threatened with arrest,” Delcambre, 635 F.2d at 408. The Barna Court further explained that “[w]hile a police-officer’s use of a state-issue weapon in the pursuit of private activities will have ‘furthered’ the § 1983 violation in a literal sense, courts generally require additional indicia of state authority to conclude that the officer acted under color of state law.” Barna, 42 F.3d at 817 (citing Bonsignore v. City of New York, 683 F.2d 635, 637 (2d Cir.1982)). This requirement of “additional indicia” makes sense. The question is not whether an officer happened coincidentally to use tools at his fingertips because he was a police officer, but whether he purported to exercise state authority in his actions.

Indeed, the Bama Court reasoned, “the evidence indicates that the underlying nature of their dispute was personal.” Id. Not only were Officers Otterbine and Echevarria off-duty at the time of the altercation — a factor that “is not dispositive” — “there was no evidence to indicate that the officers were on official police business.” Id. Not only were they outside of their official jurisdiction, but they also “had not been called to the scene to conduct official police business, nor were they in pursuit of Mr. Barna on the belief that he had already committed a crime.” Id. They were not trying to arrest Mr. Barna, as their attempt to leave after the alleged assault demonstrated, id. at 817-18, and they “did not identify themselves as police officers ... or otherwise invoke their police authority,” id. at 818. In these ways, the case before the Bama Court was “unlike that in Black v. Stephens, 662 F.2d 181 (3d Cir.1981),” in which the court had “concluded that an on-duty police officer may act under color of state law when he performs official duties that arose in a quasi-personal context.” Barna, 42 F.3d at 818. In Black, the police officer had arrested the plaintiff in connection with a traffic accident between the plaintiffs and officer’s vehicles, and the officer “was an on-duty (although plain-clothed) detective, he wore a police academy windbreaker, and he had initiated contact with the plaintiff on the belief that the plaintiffs actions warranted official investigation.” Id. (citing Black, 662 F.2d at 188). In Bama, by contrast, “there was no evidence that the alleged assault occurred as a result of official police concerns; on the contrary, the evidence indicates that the assault arose out of the officer’s familial and personal concerns.” Id.

Still, the Bama Court did not simply cast aside the “arguable connections between the officers’ alleged assault of Mr. Barna and the use of police authority.” Id. These connections were

' (1) Echevarria’s comment, “I’ll show you jurisdiction,” made in response to Mr. Barna’s statement that the officers were out of their jurisdiction, and (2) evidence that Echevarria used a state-issue “PR-24” nightstick to hold Mr. Barna during the assault — a weapon that Officer Echevarria could only legally carry in New Jersey because of his position as a police officer.

Id. With respect to the jurisdiction comment, however, the Bama Court reasoned that the comment was “too ambiguous to be of significant value on the issue of state authority” and observed that “the officers were in fact out of their police jurisdiction.” Id.; cf. Parrilla-Burgos, 108 F.3d at 450-51 (“[A]ny possibility that Galletti was intimidated by Hernández’ claims of official status is belied by the undisputed fact that Galletti invited Hernández to engage in a private brawl.... The fact that Galletti not only initiated the confrontation, but subsequently invited Hernández to ‘fight it out’ outside the bar shows that he was not so intimidated by Hernández’ status as a policeman as to cause him to refrain from exercising his legal rights.” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)).

Further, the Bama Court opined that the officers’ “use of a police-issue nightstick is undoubtedly the Barna’s strongest support for the view that the officers were acting under color of state law.” Barna, 42 F.3d at 818. Still, even this factor was “simply not enough to color this clearly personal family dispute with the imprimatur of state authority.” Id. That county policy made police officers just that 24 hours a day was “insufficient indicia of state authority under the circumstances” because, while the policy might have authorized an arrest by an off-duty officer, the officers were not “engaging in activities normally associated with the police function.” Id. at 818-19 n. 11. The Bama Court’s reasoning laid the groundwork for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ later statement in Harvey v. Plains Township Police Department, 635 F.3d 606, that “the facts and circumstances of the police officer’s role ... must be examined in their totality,” rather than with regard to “a single factual question,” id. at 610-11:

To hold otherwise would create a federal cause of action out of any unauthorized use of a police-issue weapon, without regard to whether there are any additional circumstances to indicate that the officer was exercising actual or purported police authority. We do not understand the under color requirement of § 1983 to be satisfied by such a tenuous connection to state authority. See Bonsignore v. City of New York, 683 F.2d 635 (2d Cir.1982) (holding that officer who used police handgun to shoot his wife and then commit suicide did not act under color of state law even though he was required to carry the police gun at all times); cf. Rivera v. La Porte, 896 F.2d 691 (2d Cir.1990) (finding assault occurred under color of state law when officer used service revolver to beat plaintiff and then arrested plaintiff for events giving rise to the assault).

Barna, 42 F.3d at 819. The Bama Court therefore affirmed the district court’s judgment as a matter of law in favor of Officers Otterbine and Echevarria on the § 1983 assault-based claim “because a jury could not reasonably find that the assault occurred under color of state law.” Id.

Several years later, in Bonenberger v. Plymouth Township, 132 F.3d 20, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals considered a sexual harassment suit brought under both Title VII and § 1983. Id. at 22. Ms. Bonenberger, a police dispatcher, alleged that the defendant, Officer La Penta, regularly made unwelcome sexual advances and obscene remarks to her at work and engaged in wrongful physical contact with her. Id. Though Officer La Penta was not Ms. Bonenberger’s official supervisor, the role of supervising all dispatchers fell to him when no higher-ranking officer was present. Id. Reasoning that an officer such as La Penta, “may, under certain circumstances, wield considerable control over a subordinate whose work he regularly supervises, even if he does not hire, fire, or issue regular evaluations of her work,” the Bonenberger Court reversed the district court’s holding that Officer La Pen-ta’s harassment was not under color of law, id. at 23, because, it reasoned, “La Penta could alter [Ms. Bonenberger’s] workload whenever he supervised her shift,” and that if she “failed to follow his orders, the police department would view that failure as insubordination for which La Penta properly could begin a disciplinary process that might result in her discharge.” Id. at 24. “Under these circumstances,” the Court of Appeals explained, “La Penta’s role within the departmental structure afforded him sufficient authority over Bonenberger to satisfy the color of law requirement of section 1983.” Id. Compare Bonenberger, 132 F.3d 20, and Chisler v. Johnston, No. 09-1282, 2010 WL 1257458, at *6 (W.D.Pa. Mar. 29, 2010) (“Using his authority as training officer, Johnston ordered Plaintiff into the ‘bubble’ and asked him to remove his equipment, including his PAT and keys.... [T]he Training Defendants handcuffed his hands behind his back, hit him on his right side, shoved him to the ground and used an electrical extension cord to hog-tie him.... ”), with Rogers v. City of Little Rock, 152 F.3d 790, 798 (8th Cir.1998) (holding that an officer had acted under color of law where he coerced a woman to have sex with him by relying “on his authority as a police officer to facilitate the assault” because “[h]e stopped [her] for a broken tail light, raised the prospect of towing her car when she did not have the insurance papers, and later after going to her home said that she owed him a favor in exchange for letting her go”), and Smith v. Cochran, 216 F.Supp.2d 1286, 1294-95 (N.D.Okla.2001) (holding that plaintiff prison inmate had satisfied § 1983’s under col- or of law requirement where the defendant guard “still used his authority, with the required nexus to the state to carry out his plan of coercive sexual rendezvous and violated [plaintiffs] civil rights” because “[w]ithout his cloak of state authority, [defendant] could not have performed the alleged sexual assaults” (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)), aff'd, 339 F.3d 1205 (10th Cir.2003).

So apparent was this supervisory dynamic to the Bonenberger Court that it laid down an unequivocal and arguably categorical rule: “If a state entity places an official in the position of supervising a lesser-ranking employee and empowers him or her to give orders which the subordinate may not disobey without fear of formal reprisal, that official wields sufficient authority to satisfy the color of law requirement of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” 132 F.3d at 24-25. But the Court of Appeals left no doubt that its rule for supervisorsupervisee relations did not “suggest that all acts of an on-duty state employee are state action for purposes of section 1983.” Id. at 24. The rule that “a state employee who pursues purely private motives and whose interaction with the victim is unconnected with his execution of official duties does not act under color of state law,” in the particular context of employee-on-employee altercations, requires “that the alleged offender, in committing the act complained of, abused a power or position granted by the state.” Id.

Of course, neither the Bonenberger Court nor any other, to this Court’s knowledge, has purported to lay down the opposite categorical rule, viz., that § 1983 liability will not stand between coworkers (say, police officers) of equal rank; there is no “general rule of section 1983 non-liability for co-employee harassment.” Anthony v. County of Sacramento, 845 F.Supp. 1396, 1401 (E.D.Cal.1994). But the circumstances for coworker liability are necessarily narrow. Cf. Rouse v. City of Milwaukee, 921 F.Supp. 583, 588 (E.D.Wis.1996) (“[C]ourts have generally declined to find liability under § 1983 against a co-worker unless the harassment involved an abuse of authority or position.”). In Anthony v. County of Sacramento, for instance, a black female deputy sheriff could state a claim under § 1983, and properly under color of law, against other deputies who, she alleged, retaliated against her for her defense of black inmate rights, “whether or not the individual defendants acted in a supervisory capacity vis-a-vis the plaintiff,” because “[t]he individual deputies were all under a state-conferred duty to protect inmate rights and respond appropriately to related complaints. They were in a unique position as deputies, not just as co-workers, to retaliate for such complaints.” 845 F.Supp. at 1401 n. 5; see id. at 1401. As the Anthony Court observed,

The complaint depicts a work environment made racially and sexually hostile by related attacks on plaintiff individually on the abilities of African-American law enforcement personnel generally, and on inmates of color. The consistent theme linking these forms of abuse is that of African-American inferiority and criminality, in the context of law enforcement effectiveness.

Id. at 1401-02 (footnotes omitted). In Rouse v. City of Milwaukee, the Court had no trouble distinguishing Anthony as a case in which “the deputy sheriffs abused their position and responsibility,” and therefore acted under the color of law, whereas in Rouse “there [was] no such unique relationship between Officer Lane’s duties or responsibilities and his alleged harassment of plaintiffs.” 921 F.Supp. at 588-89. The Rouse Court’s distinction is a crucial one: “While the nature of [the officer’s] employment may have placed him in the paths of the plaintiffs, there was nothing specific or unique about his assigned duties ... that brought him into contact with the plaintiffs” with respect to his conduct towards them. Id. at 589.

Under Bama and Bonenberger, the two main cases upon which Ms. Washington-Pope seeks to rely, much of the work of explicating the “under color of law” analysis regarding police officers belongs to the district courts. Although “[t]he concepts of acting ‘under color of state law" and acting ‘within the scope of employment’ while comparable are not the same,”- Hickenbottom v. Nassan, No. 03-223, 2007 WL 7753803, at *43 (W.D.Pa. Mar. 29, 2007), a number of courts have explained that “[t]o determine if an officer was depending upon the ‘cloak of the state’s authority’ to commit the alleged acts, courts ask whether the officer’s actions are consistent with actions generally taken by a police officer,” Jackson-Gilmore, 2005 WL 3110991, at *10 (citing Griffin, 378 U.S. at 135, 84 S.Ct. 1770; Barna, 42 F.3d at 816); accord Pryer, 2004 WL 603377, at *4 (“To determine if an officer was acting in his or her official capacity, courts ask whether the nature of the actions performed by the officer is consistent with actions taken by a police officer.”); Halwani v. Galli, No. 99-1450, 2000 WL 968219, at *2 (E.D.Pa. July 13, 2000) (“Essentially, the rule has become one in which an off-duty police officer is found to be a state actor when and if the action under review is consistent with the actions taken by a police officer.”); see Thomas v. Kip, No. 08-075, 2013 WL 4453753, at *5 (D.V.I. Aug. 16, 2013) (“According to his sworn deposition testimony regarding the events immediately preceding the shooting, Defendant Roberson drew his firearm, identified himself as a member of the Department of Justice, stated that he was armed, and demanded that Thomas stop. Such invocation of authority is consistent with law enforcement practice.”); cf. Showalter v. Brubaker, 283 Fed.Appx. 33, 35 (3d Cir.2008) (“Although Brubaker and Ebersole are state officials, the' Complaint provides no facts from which we could reasonably infer that they invoked their state authority or otherwise attempted to exercise the power vested in them by state law. To the contrary, it asserts the pair acted outside the scope of their state employment .... ”).

Further, while courts in this Circuit do “not suggest[ ] that the mere fact that [a police officer’s] conduct was motivated by personal revenge compels a finding that he was not acting under color of state law,” Galliano v. Borough of Seaside Heights, No. 03-1463, 2007 WL 979850, at *9 n. 10 (D.N.J. Mar. 30, 2007), they have been careful to require plaintiffs to show that officers acting for private motives did in fact purport to use state authority. See, e.g., Rankin v. Smithburger, No. 12-01373, 2013 WL 3550894, at *7 (W.D.Pa. July 11, 2013) (denying Officer Smithburger’s motion to dismiss because while he may have acted “as Mrs. Smithburger’s husband when he entered Ms. Rankin’s home, destroyed her property, and evicted her,” he was also “acting under the pretense of his authority as a constable of Fayette County.... It does not matter that Mr. Smith-burger may have been motivated by a desire to help his wife if he abused his state authority in so doing”); Galliano, 2007 WL 979850, at *7-9 & n. 10; Heverly v. Simcox, No. 05-1370, 2006 WL 2927262, at *5 (M.D.Pa. Oct. 11, 2006) (holding that “[w]hile Plaintiff Simcox and Defendant Simcox may have ‘bad blood’ towards each other, Defendant Simcox clearly demonstrated that his conduct on December 5, 2003 was under the authority of his position as a Pennsylvania deputy game commissioner” when Defendant Simcox “specifically showed Plaintiff Simcox his badge, which identifies his position with the Pennsylvania .Game Commission, and alerted Plaintiff Simcox that he was in alleged violation of hunting regulations”). As the Jackson-Gilmore v. Dixon Court put it, there are really two requirements: “In addition to possessing or purporting to act with state authority, this authority must enable the officer to do what he did.” 2005 WL 3110991, at *10; see id. at *9 (same) (citing Barna, 42 F.3d at 815-16).

2. Martinez v. Colon, the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ Decision Regarding Police-on-Police Altercations, its Progeny, and Their Consistency with the Principles and Reasoning in the Third Circuit and Others

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has not yet addressed the question closest to the one in this case: How does a court conduct the specific analysis of whether violence between two police officers working together is private or under color of law? The stage was set for the answer to this question to be played out in Martinez v. Colon, 54 F.3d 980, in which the First Circuit Court of Appeals looked approvingly upon the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Barna, see Martinez, 54 F.3d at 986-88 (thrice citing Barna, 42 F.3d at 816-19), and approached the question “consistent with the approach taken by other circuits that have considered the issue of whether the actions of police officers are taken under color of state law,” Parrilla-Burgos, 108 F.3d at 450 (referring to Martinez, 54 F.3d 980, and citing Barna, 42 F.3d at 818-19). Martinez, then, is instructive here.

In Martinez, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants because, it agreed, they had not acted under color of law. The events giving rise to the lawsuit began when Officer Martinez arrived early for his 4:00 AM shift at his police station and was approached by Officer Valentin, who, calling Martinez “pretty boy,” “drew his service revolver, pointed it at Martinez’ stomach, cocked the hammer, placed his finger on the trigger, and inquired if Martinez was afraid.” 54 F.3d at 982. A short time later, Officer Valentin accosted Officer Martinez in the station and ripped a hole in Officer Martinez’s shirt before walking away.

Soon thereafter, Valentin reappeared, pointed his revolver at Martinez’ genitals, cocked the hammer, and, with his finger on the trigger, threatened to “blow away” Martinez’ penis (asking him, somewhat rhetorically, if he was scared). When Valentin lowered the weapon, Martinez immediately moved away from him. Within minutes Valentin again approached Martinez, cocked the revolver, aimed it at Martinez’ groin, and resumed his taunting. The revolver accidentally discharged, maiming Martinez.

Id.

The Martinez Court began its “under color of law” analysis, consistent with Barna, by observing that determining whether an officer acted under color of state law “rarely depends on any single, easily determinable fact, such as a policeman’s garb” and that misuse of or action in excess of authority is action under color of law. Id. at 986. “[Cjourts must beware simplistic solutions .... The point is that segregating private action from state action calls for a more sophisticated analysis.” Id. Rather than relying on a wooden application of factors, the inquiry “turns on the nature and circumstances of the officer’s conduct and the relationship of that conduct to the performance of his official duties.” Id. It is not enough that the officer’s position is a but-for enabler of his action. Rather, “the actor, at the time in question,” must “purpose[] to act in an official capacity or to exercise official responsibilities pursuant to state law,” id., and so the court must examine “additional indicia of state authority to conclude that the officer acted under color of state law” rather than in “in pursuit of private activities,” id. at 988 (citing Barna, 42 F.3d at 817-18). Without “some meaningful” relationship to the officer’s status or duties, his conduct cannot be under “pretense” of law, and therefore cannot be under color of law. Id. at 986-87. To assess whether Officer Valentin’s action constituted “purely personal pursuits or, conversely, whether he was acting under color of state law,” required the Martinez Court to “assess the nature of his conduct in light of the totality of the circumstances.”

Of course, the devil is in the details. The Martinez Court concluded that rather than exercising or purporting to exercise any “real or pretended” power under state law, Officer “Valentin was bent on a singularly personal frolic: tormenting an acquaintance.” Id. at 987. “Hazing of this sort, though reprehensible” the Court of Appeals concluded, “is not action under color or pretense of law.” Id. True, Officer Martinez was on duty and in uniform, the events transpired at the police station, and Valentin shot Martinez with his service revolver. But viewed, as they must be, in context, these facts still did not indicate that “Valentin’s actions were in any meaningful way related either to his official status or to the performance of his police duties.” Id. (analogizing to Delcambre, 635 F.2d at 408). Without “additional indicia of state authority,” id. at 988 (quoting Barna, 42 F.3d at 817-18), the Court of Appeals considered “the unauthorized use of a government-issue weapon ... too attenuated a link to hold together a section 1983 claim,” id.; see also Barna, 42 F.3d at 818 & n. 11 (“[T]he unauthorized use of a police-issue nightstick is simply not enough to color this clearly personal family dispute with the imprimatur of state authority.”).

Martinez is especially i