Jackson v. Tellado (236 F. Supp. 3d 636, 2017)

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

PAMELA K. CHEN, United States District Judge:

On February 3, 2016, after a seven-day trial, the jury returned a verdict on Plaintiff Larry Jackson’s claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against New York City Police Department Officers Jesus Tellado, Stanley MacNear, John Czulada, James Gherardi, Ryann Dunn, Robert Deferrari, Kenneth Braumann, Ben Kurian, Peter Boneta, Thomas Reo, Michael Failla, and Brian Heerey (collectively, “Individual Defendants”). The jury determined that Jackson had been falsely arrested and subjected to excessive force, and awarded Jackson $12,500,000 in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages against each Defendant in varying amounts.

Individual Defendants now move for qualified immunity as to each Defendant and each claim. For the reasons set forth below, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

BACKGROUND

The Court assumes the parties’ familiarity with the procedural history of this case and the trial record, and discusses them only to the extent they are relevant to the resolution of the instant motions.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 24, 2011, Jackson filed his complaint against the City of New York and 20 John Doe defendants. (Dkt. 1.) After some initial discovery, Jackson filed his Amended Complaint on March 1, 2013, naming Individual Defendants, as well as Officers Patrick D’Onofrio and Robert E, Russo. (Dkt. 30.) Defendants moved for summary judgment on August 20, 2013 (Dkt. 56), and the Court granted that motion in part on March 17, 2014, dismissing Defendant D’Onofrio and the City of New York. (Dkt 67.) The parties proceeded to trial on January 25, 2016, but during trial, stipulated to the dismissal of Defendant Russo on February 1, 2016 (dkt. 92), which the Court so ordered the next day.

II. FACTUAL OVERVIEW

A. Testimony of Plaintiff and Several of His Witnesses

On August 21,2010, Plaintiff, an off-duty police officer, hosted a party for his daughter’s twenty-first birthday at his home. (1/27/16 Tr. 17-18, Jackson.) Late in the evening, partygoers congregating in front of Plaintiffs house were approached by a group of people, including a man who appeared to have a gun. (Id. at 23-24; 1/26/16 Tr. 92-93, Strong.) Plaintiff came out of his house to move the group away from his home, but at some point, there was at least one call to the police, placed by Plaintiffs fiancée Charlene Strong, informing them that a man with a gun was outside of their home. (1/26/16 Tr. 14-15, Strong; 1/27/16 Tr. 24, Jackson.)

As Plaintiff returned to his house, two police officers — Defendants Czulada and MacNear — arrived at the home in response to the 911 call. (1/27/16 Tr. 29-31, Jackson.) Plaintiff approached Czulada and MacNear and said to MacNear, “hey, Sarge, I’m MOS” meaning he was a member of the police service. (Id. at 36.) While Plaintiff, Czulada, and MacNear were talking outside, Plaintiffs niece, Tiffanie Johnson, ran out from Plaintiffs home and stated that there were people fighting inside, at which point Plaintiff, Czulada, and MacNear all entered the home. (Id. at 39; 1/28/16 Tr. 78-79, MacNear.)

When Plaintiff got inside, he saw two of the male party guests, Taimar Bonaparte and Jason Wilkinson, on the floor. (1/27/16 Tr. 39-40, Jackson.) After Plaintiff walked into the kitchen to determine what was going on, he turned around to see Czulada “standing there with [an] ASP baton held in both hands.” (Id. at 41.) Czulada told Plaintiff to “back the fuck up,” to which Plaintiff responded by “put[ting] [his] hands up” and telling Czulada that he (Plaintiff) was a police officer and that it was his house. (Id.) According to Plaintiff, Czulada responded by pushing, him back with the baton, (Id.) Plaintiff lost his balance. (Id. at 42.) When he got back up, Plaintiff asked Czulada what he was doing, saying “I’m a cop, too.” (Id:1 at 42.) In response, Czulada punched him in the face. (Id.) When Czulada hit him a second time, Plaintiff “grabbed him by his shoulders” to prevent, Czulada from hitting him again. (Id. at 43.) When Plaintiff let go, Czulada stepped back and tripped .over a cooler. (Id. at 44.) Plaintiff tried to help him up, at which point Czulada “took another swing” at him. (Id. at 45.)

Someone Plaintiff could not see then lifted him up with an ASP baton around his neck. (Id. at 46.) Plaintiff later learned that the person was Defendant Kurian. (Id. at 105.) Kurian kept telling Plaintiff to relax, and Plaintiff kept responding that he was relaxed, but that he couldn’t breathe. (Id. at 47.) Plaintiff and Kurian fell over the arm of the couch onto the couch' and onto Iris Strong, Plaintiffs 79-year-old mother-in-law who was sitting on the couch at that moment and who “passed out.” (1/27/16 Tr. 48-49, 51, Jackson.) While Plaintiff and Kurian were on the couch, Plaintiff felt another officer trying to grab Plaintiffs hands;- (Id. at 49.)

Charlene Strong, testified that when she entered the house, she saw Jackson being choked with a baton, and that Jackson’s “eyes [were] rolling to the back of his head.” (1/26/16 Tr. 107-08, Strong.) She testified that people were yelling, “He’s an officer,” “He’s an officer,” “get off of Larry”, and ‘Why are you choking him?” (Id. at 108-09.) Strong observed that none of the officers in the house were trying to intervene, and were “allowing this process to happen.” (Id. 112.) Tiffanie Johnson, Plaintiffs niece, testified that the cops inside were “yoking [Plaintiff] up,” and “attacking him.” _ (1/29/16 Tr. 18-20, T. Johnson). She testified that one officer “grabbed his. right side, .another one grabbed [Plaintiffs] left side,” and “[aft-other one came behind and choke[d] him.” (Id. at 20.) Marcus Johnson, Plaintiffs nephew, testified that an officer, presumably Kurian, ran in during Plaintiffs altercation with Czulada, “jumped up and threw his baton around [Plaintiffs] neck and pretty much choked him with it to bring him down.” "(1/29/16 Tr. 85-86, M. Johnson.)

The officers let Plaintiff go, at which point he saw two other officers taking Bonaparte out of the house and slamming him against the trunk of a car. (1/27/16 Tr. 53, Jackson.) Plaintiff went to the front door of his house and, from the doorway, said, “Wait a minute, guys”. Plaintiff, was “then ... hit in the back of the head with something” by someone he could not see. (Id. at 54-55.) In response to being struck in the head, Plaintiff ran out of his house and to the street curb. (Id.) He ran past six or seven officers, and knelt down near the curb. (Id. at =56.) As Plaintiff went to reach into his pocket to get his ID, officers started hitting him with batons in the back of his legs and on his back, hitting him “upward of 20, -30 times.” (Id. at 56-57.) Bonaparte observed “more than ten” officers. around Plaintiff in the street, “swinging and hitting [him].” (1/25/16 Tr. 26-27, Bonaparte.) Plaintiff could tell by the pants and shoes of the people hitting him that they were ■ officers. (1/27/16 Tr. 57, Jackson.) Plaintiff lay on his stomach in the street while a semicircle of officers proceeded to hit him with batons and to roll the batons over the back of his ankles. (Id. at 58-60.) Two officers were positioned with their knees on his back, while the officers tried to get his arms. (Id. at 600 One officer was poking , him in the side with a baton and kicking him, saying “give me your arm, stop resisting me, give me your arm.” (Id.) Plaintiff told the officer that he could not give him his arms because they, were underneath him and there was too much weight on his back. (Id. at 61.)

■ Strong testified that she saw’the officers in a circle around Plaintiff, with their hands linked together, and that they were hitting him in the head, back, and side with their batons. (1/26/16 Tr; 128-29, Strong.) Marilyn Murphy, Plaintiffs sister-in-law, testified 'that a “whole swarm of police officers ... were beating [Plaintiff] down” and “wouldn’t stop beating on [him]” with billy clubs. (1/29/16 Tr. 57-68, Murphy.) She also testified that she saw the officers use a taser on him. (Id. at 65.) Marcus Johnson testified that the officers pulled Plaintiff outside in handcuffs and started beating him. (1/29/16 Tr. 91, M. Johnson.)

When the officers got off of him, Plaintiff “stuck [his]- arm out” and “let them put the. cuffs” on because he “figured it would be over” and they could “straighten this out.” (1/27/16 Tr. 62, Jackson.)

After he was handcuffed, Plaintiff “looked up to one of the officers” and said “Guys, this was’unnecessary.... I’m a fellow cop, too.” In response, they pepper sprayed him. (Id. at 62.) The officers proceeded to search Plaintiff, at which point Czulada ran over to Plaintiff, called him a “fucking dirt bag”, and said, “If you’re really a cop, where’s your ID?” (Id. at 64.) After, Plaintiff told Czulada that the ID was in his right front pocket, an officer pulled it out of Plaintiffs pocket. (Id. at 64.) As the officer was retrieving the ID, Plaintiff looked up and noticed Defendant Tellado, a captain, standing there, with between seven and nine officers standing around... (Id. at 64-65.) -Plaintiff testified that when Captain Tellado -looked at the ID, he made a “facial gesture” like “oh, shit.” (Id. ■ at 66-67.) .Plaintiff then heard Captain Tellado tell one of the .officers to get Plaintiff up and take the handcuffs off. (Id. at 67.) At that point; all of the officers left except Captain Tellado and the officer Captain Tellado had told to take the handcuffs-off, presumably MacNear. (Id. at 68.) MacNear did not remove Plaintiffs handcuffs, and Tellado again told him to do so. (Id. at 68-70.) Tellado then left, saying that he would be back, but was going to .check on the lady that .needed assistance. (Id. at 70.)

Two additional non-defendant officers arrived at the scene, and the officer with Plaintiff asked them to put Plaintiff in the police car. (Id. .at 70.) Plaintiff told.the two officers that Captain Tellado had directed the other officer to take off the handcuffs, but the two officers responded that they had not been told that. (Id. at 71.) The two officers put Plaintiff in the back of the police car without removing the handcuffs. CM) ■ • . :

Plaintiff was taken to the police station, where he remained for several hours' before being released. (M at 96.)

B. Defendant MacNear’s Testimony

Defendant MacNear testified that he responded to Plaintiffs house with Czulada after receiving a dispatch call for a man with a gun, followed by a call stating that an officer needed assistance. (1/28/16 Tr. 67, 73, 77, MacNear) MacNear heard screams coming from inside the house and followed Czulada inside. (Id. at 78-79.) As MacNear entered the home, he observed ten to fifteen people inside, including three different individuals “pushing and shoving” each other, and Czulada trying to break things , up. (Id. at 84, 90.) Having, decided that the scene was “getting out of hand,” MacNear requested that additional units come to the location. (Id. at 84-85.) Mac-Near observed Plaintiff standing between the two individuals who were fighting — the same men Czulada was trying to separate. (Id. at 92.) MacNear did not know whether Plaintiff was trying to break up the fight. (Id.) MacNear, who was trying to break up a different fight, did • not “continuously” observe Czulada arid Plaintiff. (Id. at 94.) When he next saw Czulada, Czulada was “on the ground,” with Plaintiff “standing above him” “swinging his arms” with his “fists cocked.” (Id. at 95-97, 99.) MacNear then saw Plaintiff strike Czulada in the head while Czulada was on the floor. (Id. at 100, 115.) MacNear did not know what had happened before he ■ saw Plaintiff strike Czulada. (Id. at 104.)

The next timé MacNear saw Plaintiff, he •was outside of the house in handcuffs. (Id. at 103, 106; 2/1/16 Tr. 134, Czulada.) Czu-lada told MacNear he had been struck in the head and pointed to Plaintiff as the person who had hit him. (Id. at 104, 105.) MacNear assumed Plaintiff was in handcuffs for hitting Czulada. (Id. at 106.) Mac-Near told Captain Tellado that Plaintiff had struck Czulada, at which time Tellado explained that Plaintiff was an off-duty officer. (Id. at 111.) Tellado told MacNear to remove Plaintiffs handcuffs, but Mac-Near “didn’t have the key” on him. (Id. at 113.) Tellado also ordered MacNear to move the police vehicles so that the ambulances could pull up, and MacNear moved the vehicles, leaving Plaintiff in handcuffs. (Id. at 113-14.)

C. Defendant Czulada’s Testimony

Defendant Czulada arrived at Plaintiffs home with MacNear, in response to a radio transmission of a man with a gun, which turned into a report of an officer in need of assistance. (2/1/16'Tr. 79-80, Czulada). He heard someone calling for help inside the house and ran inside. (Id. at 85-86.) Once inside, Czulada saw people “pushing, yelling, screaming” at each other, and “got in between [Plaintiff] and the pile of people that were fighting.” (Id. at 90, 92.) Czulada “kind of pushed [Plaintiff] back a little bit,” at which time Plaintiff “turned toward [him]” and “pushed [him] with both hands.” (Id. at 90.) After Czulada “nudged” Plaintiff back from the crowd, Plaintiff “pushed” Czulada. (Id. at 95-96.) Czulada’s back was against a wall and Plaintiff, appearing to be angry, approached “in a threatening manner”. (Id. at 95-96.) Czulada responded by punching Plaintiff in the face. (Id. at 96-97.) Plaintiff then punched Czulada in the head multiple times, and Czulada fell and hit the back of his head on a doorknob. (Id. at 100.) Plaintiff continued to punch Czulada while he was on the floor: (Id. at 100-01.)

Czulada then went outside and told Mac-Near that he had been assaulted, and identified Plaintiff, who, at that point, was lying in the street in handcuffs, as the person who had assaulted him. (Id. at 134.) Czulada admitted on cross-examination that the reason he didn’t tell anyone that he had punched Plaintiff in the face was because he “knew that [he had] operated outside the [police] department guidelines.” (Id. at 109.) When Czulada saw Plaintiff handcuffed in the street, Czulada called him a “liar.” (Id. at 112.)

D. Defendant Gherardi’s Testimony

Defendant Gherardi arrived at Plaintiffs home with his partner Defendant Dunn in response to a radio call of a man with a firearm. (2/2/16 Tr. 184, Gherardi.) Before they arrived, he heard MacNear yelling over the radio for additional units. (Id. at 185.) After arriving at the scene and entering the house, Gherardi saw a “large group” of people inside, and Plaintiff “holding Officer Czulada up against the wall with his left hand.” (Id. at 187.) He saw Plaintiff “striking” Czulada “in the face” with “hard” force. (Id. at 188, 196.) Gherardi “placed [his] hand” on Plaintiffs shoulder to get him to move away from Czulada. (Id. at 191.) Gherardi then turned away, in an effort to “set a perimeter” around Plaintiff and Czulada, but “one of the civilians from the home grabbed [him] from behind and threw [him] to the floor.” (Id. at 193.) Gherardi then got up and helped clear the house. (Id. at 194.)

E. Defendant Dunn’s Testimony

Defendant Dunn arrived with Gherardi in response to radio transmissions about a man with a gun, shots fired, and an officer in need of assistance. (2/1/16 Tr. 26, Dunn.) When Dunn arrived, he heard an officer inside the house call for assistance. (Id. at 28.) While standing at the doorway, he saw a “big fight” in the house, “people pushing, cursing at each other, some people throwing punches.” (Id. at 30.) Once he entered the house, he saw Plaintiff punching Czula-da against a wall. (Id. at 30, 33.) He also saw Plaintiff “[tjhrowing punches while Czulada was in the fetal position.” (Id. at 36.) He made his way to Czulada and Plaintiff, “got behind [Plaintiff][,] ... put [his] arms around [Plaintiffs] ... waistline and just leaned backwards, to try to get him off Officer Czulada.” (Id. at 36.) Dunn and Plaintiff “fell over the couch.” (Id. at 37.) At that point, Dunn “scurried out from underneath” Plaintiff, and “that was that.” (Id. at 42.) That was the last time Dunn saw Plaintiff. (Id. at 44.)

F. Defendant Braumann’s Testimony

Defendant Braumann arrived at Plaintiffs home with his partner, Kurian, in response to a radio dispatch that started out as a dispute with a firearm, and then switched to officer in need of assistance. (2/2/16 Tr. 10, Braumann.) When Brau-mann and Kurian were a block or two from the location, Braumann “heard an on-duty officer, which was either Sergeant Mac-Near or Officer Czulada[,] scream over the radio for additional units.” (Id. at 11.) When they arrived, Braumann and Kurian ran to the front door. (Id. at 13.) Brau-mann testified that he saw a “giant fight inside the house”, and observed both Mac-Near and Czulada inside. (Id. at 14.) Brau-mann did not see Plaintiff inside the house, and did not know if Plaintiff was inside when Braumann entered. (Id. at 17-18.) Braumann testified that he had his ASP baton in his hand when he walked into the house, because he “felt there was a threat of some sort in the house,” but when he saw the large crowd, he put it back in his holster because he “didn’t want [it] to be taken out of [his] hands.” (Id. at 20.) Soon after Braumann entered the house, a “pile of people fell down on top of [him]”, causing him to fall to the ground. (Id. at 14.) Captain Tellado then entered the living room, and told everyone to leave the house. (Id. at 22.)

G.Defendant Kurian’s Testimony

Defendant Kurian entered the house with Braumann. (2/2/16 Tr. 47, Kurian.) The first thing Kurian saw when he entered was MacNear on top of a broken coffee table. (Id. at 47-48.) He also saw Czulada “pinned” up against the wall by Plaintiff. (Id. at 60.) Kurian saw Plaintiff “striking” Czulada “[u]p above the face or the neck/chest area.” (Id. at 52.) Kurian ran over and “grabbed [Plaintiffs] right arm,” “wrapped both [his] hands around [Plaintiff!,] and ... was trying to pull [Plaintiff] [to] prevent him from striking Officer Czulada.” (Id. at • 53.) Kurian grabbed Plaintiff “with both ... hands, as if in a bear hug around [Plaintiffs] right arm.” (Id. at 54.) .Kurian had his ASP baton with him, but did not have it out. (Id. at 55.) As Kurian was wrapped around Plaintiffs arm, Dunn “had come around to the other side and grabbed [Plaintiff] either by his hand, his other arm or the other part of his body ... and was trying to pull him off [of Czulada].” (Id. at 58.) Then Kurian, Dunn, and Plaintiff all fell back onto the sofa, (Id.) Kurian did not recall if Plaintiff was saying that he was an officer. (Id. at 62.)

Kurian’s attention was. diverted by a teenage girl who assaulted him and started clawing at his face. (Id. at 63-65.) After he attempted to arrest her, Captain Tellado arrived and told everyone to get out of the house. (Id. at 69-70.) Kurian met up with Braumann, and they got in their duty car and left the scene. (Id. at 73-74.)

H. Defendant Reo’s Testimony

.Defendant Reo arrived at Plaintiffs house in response to a call for additional units from someone he thought was Mac-Near. (1/29/16 Tr. 179, Reo). He arrived to see four police cars and about twenty to thirty people outside. (Id. at 179-80.) In order to protect the officers inside the house, Reo placed himself in the entrance to the house and blocked people from entering. (Id.) Plaintiff approached Reo. in the doorway and tried to enter the house, but Reo would not let him through. (Id. at 182.) Suddenly, Reo heard Jackson yelling, while looking past Reo, “You all can’t fucking do that, you, all can’t do that,” in the direction of two officers who were taking a shirtless man in handcuffs .out of the house. (Id.) Reo. told Plaintiff, who was trying to push past him, “You’re not getting by me.” (Id. at 182-83.) Plaintiff “g[ave] [Reo] a two-handed shove to [his] chest,” (Id.) At that point, “two, maybe three officers grabbed [Plaintiff] and tried to place him in handcuffs.” (Id. at 185.) When Reo regained his footing, he attempted to arrest Plaintiff for having shoved him. (Id. at 185-86.) He approached and “tried to grab [Plaintiffs] arm” and “tried to grab a leg.” (Id. at 190.) Plaintiff “went down to the ground.” (Id. at 190-91.) “[M]aybe four, five, six officers were trying to- pull [Plaintiffs] arms [to] get them behind his back to handcuff him,” and “[eventually, he was handcuffed.” (Id. at 191.) Reo was the arresting officer. (Id. at 196-97.) Captain Tellado arrived and gave an order to un-handcuff Plaintiff. (Id. at 192.)

Reo did not see any ASP batons out, and did not see any officers strike Plaintiff. (Id. at 191.) However, he did not have an “unobstructed view” of Plaintiff while Plaintiff was in the street and he “[didn’t] know what everybody else was doing.” (Id. at 192-93.)

I. Defendant Boneta’s Testimony

Defendant Boneta arrived at .the scene as an officer was bringing a shirtless man out of the house in what Boneta assumed were handcuffs. (2/1/16 Tr. 10,13, Boneta). Boneta heard someone say, “you can’t do that, I’m on the job.” (Id. at 10.) He turned and saw a person he later came to believe was Plaintiff “push[ ]” Reo “right in front of me.” (Id, at 10-11.) Before Boneta could confront Plaintiff, other officers did so, “box[ing] [Boneta] out”. (Id. at 10, 14.) Thinking that the other officers “got this”, Boneta. “turned around and ... exercised crowd control.” (Id,, at 10, 14.) Boneta did not look to see what was happening between the officers and Plaintiff. (Id. at 14.) After a few minutes, Captain Tellado advised the officers to resume patrol, and Boneta left the scene with his partner. (Id. at 13,16-17.)

J. Defendant Tellado’s Testimony

Defendant Tellado, the duty captain present at the scene, testified that when he arrived at the house, he saw upward of 50 people outside. (2/1/16 Tr. 171-72, Tellado.) When he entered the house, he saw people lying on the floor handcuffed with police officers next to them, and heard yelling and screaming. (Id. at 173-75.) He did not see Plaintiff inside the house. (Id. at 178.) Tellado ordered officers to take the two handcuffed individuals out of the house. (Id.) Tellado then realized that an ambulance was needed for two individuals inside the house — the elderly woman and an individual who might have been injured. (Id. at 178.) Tellado then left the house because the situation was “calming down.” (Id. at 180.)

Once outside, Tellado walked to the street because he saw “a certain' commotion” with three or four officers struggling with somebody. (Id. at 183.) He saw three or four, officers standing around an individual lying on the ground handcuffed. (Id. at 183-84.) At some point, an officer told Tellado that “the reason [Plaintiff] was in handcuffs is because he hit a police officer.” (Id. at 187.) At that time, none of the officers had weapons in their hands. (Id. at 184.) After Plaintiff told Tellado that Plaintiff was a police officer, and that the other officers had pulled his badge out of his pants, Tellado “asked the officers to assist [Plaintiff] and lift him up on his own two feet”, and “asked them to remove the cuffs.” (Id. at 190.) After giving that order, Tellado did not stay there to see if anyone removed the handcuffs because he heard screaming from inside the house and “went [to] the person that needed medical attention. ...” (Id. at 196-97.)

K. Defendant Deferrari’s Testimony

Defendant Deferrari testified that while en route to the scene, he heard over the radio that there was “possibly an MOS” at the location, as well as an officer screaming for assistance. (2/2/16 Tr. 109-11, De-ferrari.) When Deferrari arrived, he ran toward the house, (Id. at 113.) From the doorway, he saw people “fighting, pushing, shoving, [and] throwing people to the ground” inside. (Id.) He briefly entered the house, and then was “pulled from the house by an/ unknown person” and “punched in the face,” after which he “barricaded [him]self at the doorway.” (Id. at 113-14;) Deferrari could not see exactly what was going on inside the house and “wasn’t able to see any officers inside the house.” (Id. at 119.)

Later, Deferrari saw Plaintiff exiting the house with an officer following him and pointing at him, yelling, “he’s under ... arrest, he’s a collar, he’s a collar.” (Id. at 121.) Plaintiff kept walking, and “officers approached [Plaintiff] to place him in handcuffs.” (Id. at 124.) Plaintiff “pulled his arms away from them, [and] swung his arms to keep them from arresting him.” (Id. at 124-25.).

Deferrari saw “about five or 10” officers surround Plaintiff, “grabbing at his arms trying.to pull them behind his back,!’ and “[s]ome had their ASPs out hitting him in the legs trying to get him down to the ground.” (Id: at 131-32.) Deferrari did not see the officers .striking Plaintiff on other parts of his body. (Id. at 132.) Deferrari did not tell the officers to stop “because it wouldn’t have made a difference” since Plaintiff was resisting arrest. (Id. at 134— 35.)

L. Defendant Failla’s Testimony

When Defendant Failla arrived on the scene, he saw Plaintiff standing in the middle of the street with a circle of police officers around him. (1/29/16 Tr. 156-58, Failla.) He saw Plaintiff “flailing and punching with closed fists at the other officers.” {Id.) Failla was trying to “assess the whole situation”. {Id. at 159.) He did not see “anybody with anything in their hands.” {Id.) He saw Plaintiff “punch at a police officer.” {Id. at 160.) At some point thereafter, Defendant Heerey, Detective Russo, and a “couple of other police officers” brought Plaintiff to the ground. {Id. at 160-61.) Plaintiff was still “rolling and flailing his arms,” so Failla, rather than help to restrain Plaintiff, “thought it better to spray [Plaintiff] in the face with pepper spray” in order to stop Plaintiff from “resisting arrest.” {Id. at 161.) Failla testified that after he pepper-sprayed Plaintiff, “miraculously ... [Plaintiff] put his hands behind his back.” {Id. at 162.) At that point, “they were able to get [Plaintiff] handcuffed and then .he [lay] ... on the ground for a minute.” {Id. at 163.)

Although Failla had been trained that when he pepper-sprayed someone, he was supposed to give them water to wash out their eyes, he did not give Plaintiff any water, because he “didn’t have [it] at the scene” and because he knew an ambulance would be going to the stationhouse. {Id. at 167.) He walked away “shaking [his] head in disgust” because he had “never seen an individual who calls himself a police officer act that way to on-duty police officers.” (Id.)

M. Defendant Heerey’s Testimony

Defendant Heerey arrived at the scene with Failla. (1/29/16 Tr. 121, Heerey.) Heerey saw a group of officers “trying to apprehend” Plaintiff, and Plaintiff was “waving his arms and indicating that he was not going to be apprehended.” (Id. at 122.) Heerey did not know what had transpired before he arrived. (Id. at 123.) He “ran up ... [and] grabbed one arm,” another officer “had the other arm”, and they “took [Plaintiff] to the ground and ... attempted to ... handcuff[ ] him.” (Id.) Heerey attempted to arrest Plaintiff because he “appeared to be irrational, not compliant.” (Id. at 123-24.) Plaintiff “was face first and his hands were underneath him and [Heerey and Russo] were instructing him to give [them] his hands behind his back and he would not do so.” (Id. at 125.) Heerey grabbed and struggled with Plaintiff for a while, attempting to handcuff him. (Id. at 128.) Once Plaintiff was handcuffed, Heerey frisked him for weapons, and discovered his ID, which identified Plaintiff as an officer. {Id. at 136-38.) Czulada arrived and yelled angrily at Plaintiff. {Id. at 138.) Heerey helped lift Plaintiff up, and turned Plaintiff and his property over to another officer, who “knew what was going on.” (Id. at 139-40.)

III. THE JURY’S VERDICT

A. Liability and Damages

After seven days of trial, the jury returned a verdict finding that three Defendants — Deferrari, Reo, and Heerey— were personally involved in falsely arresting Jackson, that four Defendants — Tel-lado, MacNear, Boneta, and Failla — failed to intervene to prevent Jackson’s false arrest, and that one Defendant — MacNear— was liable as a supervisory officer for Plaintiffs false arrest. (Dkt. 95 (“Verdict Sheet”), at 1-2.)

On excessive force, the jury found that four Defendants — Czulada, Kurian, Reo, and Failla — were personally involved in subjecting Plaintiff to excessive force, that eight — Tellado, MacNear, Gherardi, Dunn, Deferrari, Braumann, Boneta, and Heer-ey — had failed to intervene to prevent Jackson from being subjected to excessive force, and that one — MacNear—was liable as a supervisory officer for Plaintiff having been subjected to excessive force. (Id. at 3-4.)

The jury awarded compensatory damages in a lump-sum amount of $12,500,000, and found each Defendant liable for punitive damages, awarding specific amounts as to each Defendant. See supra n.l.

B. Qualified Immunity & the Special Verdict Sheet

Following the procedure outlined by the Second Circuit in Stephenson v. Doe, 332 F.3d 68 (2d Cir. 2003), the Court presented the questions of liability to the jury, and reserved the question of qualified immunity for the Court to decide post-trial if there was a verdict in Plaintiffs favor. See id. at 80 (“The court should charge the jury on [plaintiffs § 1983 claim], but not on qualified immunity. If the jury returns a verdict ... against [defendant], the court should then decide'the issue of qualified immunity.”). Following the verdict in Plaintiffs favor on two counts, the Court presented the jury with a series of factual questions, known as special interrogatories (“Special Verdict Sheet”), to aid the Court in its determination of the qualified immunity issue. See Zellner v. Summerlin, 494 F.3d 344, 368 (2d Cir. 2007) (explaining that when material facts pertaining to immunity are in dispute, the appropriate procedure is to allow the jury to resolve any disputed facts that are material to the qualified immunity issue). The jury was asked, as to each Defendant, whether that Defendant believed, even if mistakenly, that: (1) Plaintiff had assaulted Czulada; (2) Plaintiff had shoved Reo; (3) Plaintiff was = “throwing punches at police officers while out in the, street”; and (4) Plaintiff was “resisting arrest while out in the street”. (Dkt. 99 (“Special Verdict Sheet”).) The jury answered in the affirmative as to at least one of these questions for each Defendant, except for Tellado and Braumann. (Id.) The specific responses are discussed below where relevant .to a particular Defendant’s entitlement to qualified immunity.

DISCUSSION

Defendants argue that they are all entitled to qualified immunity as to both Plaintiffs false arrest and excessive force claims. As a preliminary matter, the Court notes that it has, where possible, adopted a view of the jury’s findings that reconcile apparent inconsistencies between the jury’s verdict and its answers on the Special Verdict Sheet. See Harris v. Niagara Mohawk Pwr. Corp., 252 F.3d 592, 598 (2d Cir. 2001) (instructing courts faced “with seemingly inconsistent verdicts” that they “must adopt a view of the case, if there is one, that resolves any seeming inconsistency”); see also Gallick v. Baltimore & Ohio RR Co., 372 U.S. 108, 119, 83 S.Ct. 659, 9 L.Ed.2d 618 (1963) (stating that, when dealing with special interrogatories, “it is the duty of the courts to attempt to harmonize the answers, if it is possible under a fair reading of them,” and explaining that “[wjhere there is a view of the case that makes the jury’s answers to special interrogatories consistent, they - must be resolved that way”).

I. LEGAL STANDARDS

Qualified immunity protects government officials from civil damages liability “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’” Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct; 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982)).

To determine whether the relevant law was clearly established, a court considers “the specificity with which a right is defined, the existence of Supreme Court or Court of Appeals case law on the subject, and the understanding of a reasonable officer in light of preexisting law.” Terebesi v. Torreso, 764 F.3d 217, 231 (2d Cir. 2014), cert. denied sub nom. Torresso v. Terebesi, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 1842, 191 L.Ed.2d 723 (2015). “Even if this Court has not explicitly held a course of conduct to be unconstitutional, we may nonethéless treat the law as clearly established if decisions from this or other circuits ‘clearly foreshadow a particular ruling on the issue.’ ” Id. (quoting Scott v. Fischer, 616 F.3d 100, 105 (2d-Cir. 2010)).

“Whether a defendant officer’s conduct was objectively reasonable is a mixed question of law and fact.” Zellner, 494 F.3d at 367. The ultimate question of qualified • immunity, i.e., whether it was objectively reasonable for an officer to believe that his conduct did not violate a clearly.established right, is -to be decided by the.court. Id. However, whether it was objectively reasonable for an officer to believe that his acts did not violate the plaintiffs clearly established rights “has its principal focus on the particular facts of the case.” Kerman v. City of New York, 374 F.3d 93, 109 (2d Cir. 2004) (quoting Hurlman v. Rice, 927 F.2d 74, 78-79 (2d Cir. 1991)). Therefore, as noted above, where facts are in dispute,' those “factual questions must be resolved by the factfin-der.” Id.

A court should review the facts that are material to the qualified immunity issue, as resolved by the jury, to determine whether the officer’s conduct was objectively reasonable. Zellner, 494 F.3d at 368; see also, e.g., Stephenson, 332 F.3d at 81 (after the district court receives the jury’s decision as to “what the facts were that the officer faced or perceived,” the court then may “make the ultimate legal determination of whether qualified immunity attaches on those facts”) (citation and quotation marks omitted); Lennon v. Miller, 66 F.3d 416, 421 (2d Cir. 1996) (the ultimate question of entitlement to qualified immunity is one of law for the court to decide once disputed factual issues are resolved) (quotation marks omitted); Warren v. Dwyer, 906 F.2d 70, 76 (2d Cir. 1990) (“If there are unresolved factual issues which prevent an early disposition of the defense, the jury should decide these issues on special interrogatories.... The ultimate legal determination whether ... a reasonable police officer should have known he acted unlawfully” should be made by the court “on the facts found” by the jury).

Qualified immunity is an affirmative defense that a defendant bears the burden of proving. Coollick v. Hughes, 699 F.3d 211, 219 (2d Cir. 2012). “To the extent that a particular finding of fact is essential to a determination by the court that the defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, it is the responsibility of the defendant to request that the jury be asked the pertinent question.” Zellner, 494 F.3d at 368. See also Thomas v. Kelly, 903 F.Supp.2d 237, 254 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) (“Because qualified immunity is an affirmative defense, the defendant bears both the . burden of proof and the obligation to request the specific factual interrogatories that would be necessary to enable the court to make the appropriate legal determination,” such that “[t]o the extent [ ] a particular finding of fact is essential to a detérmination by the court that the defendant is entitled to qualified immunity, it is the responsibility of the defendant to request that the jury be asked the pertinent question.’’) (emphasis in original) (quotation marks and citations omitted). “If the defendant does hot make such a request, he is not entitled to have the court, in lieu of the jury, make the needed factual finding.” Zellner, 494 F.3d at 368.

II. FALSE ARREST

Defendants argue that they are all entitled to qualified immunity because no reasonable police officer in their position would have believed that arresting Jackson would violate his Fourth Amendment rights. The Court finds that five of the seven officers found liable for false arrest — Deferrari, Reo, Heerey,: MacNear, and Boneta — are entitled to qualified immunity. Failla and Tellado are not.

A. Legal Standards

1. False Arrest Standard

A claim for false arrest “rest[s] on the Fourth Amendment right of an individual to be free from unreasonable seizures, including arrest without probable cause.” Morris v. Silvestre, 604 Fed.Appx. 22, 24 (2d Cir. 2015) (summary order) (quoting Weyant v. Okst, 101 F.3d 845, 852 (2d Cir. 1996)), Probable cause to arrest exists where the arresting officers have “knowledge or reasonably trustworthy information of facts and circumstances that are sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution in the belief that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing a crime.” Jenkins v. City of New York, 478 F.3d 76, 84-85 (2d Cir. 2007) (quoting Weyant, 101 F.3d at 852); see also Dickerson v. Napolitano, 604 F.3d 732, 751 (2d Cir. 2010) (same). Probable cause must be evaluated based on the “totality of the circumstances,” United States v. Thomas, 788 F.3d 345, 350 (2d Cir. 2015), including on the facts available to the officer or officers at the time of the arrest, Jenkins, 478 F.3d at 87. Under the collective or imputed knowledge doctrine, “an arrest ... is permissible where the actual arresting ... officer lacks the specific information to form the basis for probable cause ... but sufficient information to justify the arrest ... was known by other law enforcement officials initiating ... the investigation, and the other officers have communicated the information they possess individually, thereby pooling their collective knowledge to meet the probable cause threshold.” Brown v. City of New York, 798 F.3d 94, 99 (2d Cir. 2015) (internal' citations and quotations omitted).

“Liability may attach where an officer fails to intervene, but observes or has reason to know ... that a citizen has been unjustifiably arrested,” if the officer “had a reasonable opportunity to intervene to prevent the violation from happening.” Sanabria v. Tezlof, 11-CV-6578, 2016 WL 4371750, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 12, 2016); see also Morris v. City of New York, 14-CV-1749, 2015 WL 1914906, at *5 (E.D.N.Y. 2015) (describing the “affirmative duty [of law enforcement officials] to intervene to protect the constitutional rights of citizens from infringement by other law enforcement officers in their presence” if there was a realistic opportunity to intervene).

Additionally, a supervisor may be held liable if he is a “direct participant” in a constitutional violation such as a false arrest, meaning that he “authorizes, orders, or helps others to do the unlawful acts, even if he ... does not commit the acts personally.” Terebesi, 764 F.3d at 234.

2. False Arrest and Qualified Immunity

Even if probable cause is lacking in a given case, an officer “will still be entitled to qualified immunity ... if he can establish that there was ‘arguable probable cause’ to arrest.” Zalaski v. City of Hartford, 723 F.3d 382, 389 (2d Cir. 2013); see also Jenkins, 478 F.3d at 84-85 (“An officer’s determination is objectively reasonable if there was ‘arguable’ probable cause at the time of arrest — that is, if ‘officers of reasonable competence could disagree on whether the probable cause test was met.’ ”) (quoting Lennon, 66 F.3d at 423-24). In other words, “[ajrguable probable cause exists when a reasonable police officer in the same circumstances and possessing the same knowledge as the officer in question could have reasonably believed that probable cause existed in ... light .of well established law.” Zellner, 494 F.3d at 369 (quoting Cerrone v. Brown, 246 F.3d 194, 202-03 (2d Cir. 2001)) (internal quotation omitted). See also Figueroa v. Mazza, 825 F.3d 89, 99 (2d Cir. 2016) (explaining that the doctrine of qualified immunity “aims to give officials room to act with confidence in gray areas by absolving from personal liability ‘all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.’”) (quoting Mullenix v. Luna, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 305, 308, 193 L.Ed.2d 255 (2015)); Mesa v. City of N.Y., 09-Civ.-10464, 2013 WL 31002, at *9 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2013) (“[S]o long as an officer’s actions are objectively reasonable in light of the factual circumstances at hand, he will remain immune' from suit, whether or not probable cause actually existed.”) (emphasis in original). In the context of a failure to intervene claim, “[a] police officer cannot be held liable for failure to intervene unless such a failure permitted fellow officers to ‘violate a suspect’s clearly established statutory or constitutional rights’ and was under circumstances making it objectively unreasonable for him to believe that his fellow officers’ conduct did not violate those rights.” Morris, 2015 WL 1914906, at *6.

B. Five Defendants — Deferrari, Heerey, Reo, Boneta^ and Mac-Near — Are Entitled to Qualified Immunity on the False Arrest Claims; Two Defendants — Failla and Tellado — Are Not

1. Defendants Found Liable for Personally Participating in the False Arrest

. All three Defendants' found to have personally participated in the false arrest of Plaintiff — Deferrari, Reo, and Heerey — are entitled to qualified immunity on the basis of arguable probable cause to believe that Plaintiff had committed a crime. The jury found that Deferrari, Reo, and Heerey all believed, even if mistakenly, that Jackson was throwing punches at police officers while out in the street, and that Reo also believed, even if mistakenly, that Jackson shoved him. (Special Verdict Sheet, at 4, 6, 7) Based on these beliefs, even if mistaken, these three Defendants had at least arguable probable cause to arrest Plaintiff, ie., for attempted assault in the third degree, harassment in the second degree, and/or resisting arrest. Although the Special Verdict Sheet did not ask if Defendants’ beliefs were reasonable, the Court finds that because the jury found that four Defendants believed Plaintiff was throwing punches at police officers in the street, those beliefs were sufficiently reasonable to establish “arguable” probable cause, at a minimum, that Plaintiff resisted arrest. See Zellner, 494 F.3d at 369 (“[A]n officer’s ‘subjective reason for making the arrest need not be the criminal offense as to which the known facts provide probable cause,’ ... an arrest is not unlawful so long as the officer has knowledge of, or reasonably trustworthy information as to, facts and circumstances sufficient to provide probable cause to believe that the person arrested has committed any crime.”) (citations omitted) (emphasis added); see also Mesa, 2013 WL 31002, at *11-12 (where plaintiff made “forcible contact” with defendant police officer’s body, “inadvertent or not,” and where plaintiff and defendant had an “altercation over [a] camera and [an] exchange of words,” this was enough to warrant qualified immunity, as “a reasonable officer could have believed that probable cause existed to arrest [plaintiff] for at least one of the misdemeanor offenses” of “harassment, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct,” even where all three were ultimately dismissed against plaintiff).

The Second' Circuit has made clear that “the tests for .probable cause and arguable probable cause are -... not congruent.” Zellner, 494 F.3d at 370. Thus, it is possible for a jury to find that officers did not have probable cause for an arrest, and yet for a court to find after the fact that an “officer[] of reasonable competence” could have found probable cause in light of the facts. Id. at 369-70 While it is not clear why the jury concluded that the three officers who believed they saw Plaintiff throwing punches at other officers did not have probable cause to arrest him,'the Court concludes that those" beliefs provide at least arguable probable cause that entitles Deferrari, Reo, and Heerey to qualified immunity on the false arrest claims.

2. Defendants Found Liable Based on Failure to Intervene and . Supervisory Liability

The jury found that Tellado, MacNear, Boneta, and Failla were liable for failure to intervene to prevent Jackson’s false arrest, and that MacNear was.also., liable for false arrest as a supervisory officer. (Verdict Sheet, at 2.)

a) ■ Defendants’ Theory of Derivative Qualified Immunity for Non- ■ • Intervening Defendants

The Court addresses, as an initial matter, Defendants’ assertion, made without elaboration, that “a finding of qualified immunity [for the Defendants who personally participated in the false arrest] would extinguish the liability [as to all other officers] for failure to intervene and supervisory liability.” (Dkt. 10?, at 24.) Although there is no definitive case law on this issue, the Court rejects what, amounts to a theory of derivative qualified immunity for the non-intervening, officers, ie., that because the, officers who arrested Plaintiff had arguable probable cause and are entitled -to qualified immunity as to that arrest, the officers, and supervisors who failed to intervene are automatically, or in effect, derivatively, entitled to qualified immunity as well. The Court instead finds that, under the facts of this case, the grant of qualified immunity to the three. arresting Defendants does not preclude the denial of qualified immunity as to other Defendants for failure to intervene as to the arrest."

In Ricciuti v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth., 124 F.3d 123 (2d Cir. 1997), the Second Circuit held that “[a] police officer cannot be held liable in damages for failure to intercede unless such failure permitted fellow officers to violate a suspect’s -‘clearly established statutory or constitutional rights’ of which a reasonable person would' have known[.]” Id. at 129. On its face, this standard would seem to support Defendants’ argument, in that it suggests that if the incident in which the officers failed to intervene did not violate a suspect’s “ ‘clearly established statutory or constitutional rights’” — which ordinarily would entitle the arresting officers to qualified immunity — the non-intervening officers cannot be held liable for the failure to intervene. However, the' Court finds that the qualifying phrase “of which a reasonable person would have known” is best read as applying to what the non-intervening officer would have known, not to what the arresting officer would have known.- As a result, an arresting officer could violate a suspect’s rights (i.e. arrest him without probable cause) while objectively having arguable probable cause, while a non-intervening officer with additional information available to him could or should have known there was no arguable probable cause.

The language of Ricciuti itself corroborates this interpretation. See id. at 129 (stating that “the failure to intercede must be under circumstances making it objectively unreasonable for [the non-intervening officer] to believe that his. fellow officers’ conduct did not violate those rights”); id. (“To obtain summary judgment on qualified immunity . grounds ⅛ connection with a claim of failure to intercede to prevent an illegal arrest, a defendant must show that the only résult a fair jury could reach -is that reasonably competent police officers, faced with the information available to the non-intervening officer at the time of the arrest, could disagree about the legality of the arrest”) (emphasis added).

Consistent with this analysis, this oft-quoted language from • Ricciuti does not appear to have been applied to the situation presented here, where the jury has found that there was an arrest without probable cause, but also found facts that support a grant of qualified immunity to the arresting officers, as well as facts that warrant denying qualified immunity to the non-intervening officers. The Court does not construe Ricciuti as precluding the denial of qualified immunity to the non-intervening officers under these unusual circumstances. See Harris, 252 F.3d at 598 (courts faced “with seemingly inconsistent verdicts” “must adopt a view of the case, if there is one, that resolves any séeming inconsistency”); Gallick, 372 U.S. at 119, 83 S.Ct. 659 (“Where there is a view of the case that makes the jury’s answers to special interrogatories consistent, they must be resolved that way.”). And neither Ricci-uti nor its progeny expressly provides that officers who fail to intervene in an unlawful arrest áre entitled to qualified immunity simply because the arresting officers are entitled to qualified immunity for the arrest itself. Thus, the Court finds that the grant of qualified immunity to the arresting officers does not preclude a denial of qualified immunity to the non-intervening officers.

As this case illustrates, the different treatment of the arresting and non-intervening officers is justified by the differences in what the two sets of officers reasonably believed about the existence or non-existence of probable cause for the arrest. Indeed, the jury’s Special Verdict findings in this case bear out this critical distinction. Here, the jury found that the three officers who were personally involved in the arrest believed, even if mistakenly, that Plaintiff had committed a crime by assaulting Czulada or other officers in the street; whereas it found that some of the non-intervening Defendants did not believe that Plaintiff had committed a crime. (Special Verdict-Sheet, at 1, 4, 6, 7) Given the difference in what the two sets of officers — arresting, versus non-intervening — knew or believed about the circumstances giving rise to the arrest, it is entirely consistent with Ricciutti to grant qualified immunity to the arresting officers, who believed their actions were lawful, while denying qualified immunity to. the non-intervening officers who did not believe the arrest was lawful, yet failed to intervene. See Robison v. Via, 821 F.2d 913, 921 (2d Cir. 1987) (noting that “it has long been clearly established that an arrest without probable cause is a constitutional violation,” even though qualified immunity might be appropriate where there is arguable probable cause). Therefore, the Court finds that Ricciuti permits a situation like this one, where the observing officer would not reasonably' believe an arrest is lawful, despite the fact that the arresting officers are entitled to qualified immunity based on their belief that there was a proper basis for the arrest.

b) Defendants MacNear and Boneta Are Entitled to Qualified Immunity as to , . the False Arrest

Notwithstanding the Court’s rejection of Defendants’ theory of derivative qualified immunity for all of the non-intervening officers, the Court finds that Mac-Near and Boneta are entitled to qualified immunity for their false arrest verdicts. The jury’s responses to the special interrogatories on qualified immunity indicate that MacNear and Boneta reasonably, even if mistakenly, believed they saw Plaintiff committing crimes, and/or relied upon the allegations of fellow police officers in concluding that the arresting officers’ conduct was lawful. See Panetta v. Crowley, 460 F.3d 388, 395 (2d Cir. 2006) (“ “When making a probable cause determination, police officers are entitled to rely on the -allegations of fellow police officers.’ ”)' (quoting Martinez v. Simonetti, 202 F.3d 625, 634 (2d Cir. 2000)).

The jury found that MacNear believed, even if mistakenly, that Jackson assaulted Czulada. (Special Verdict Sheet, at 2.) As noted, the jury found that Czulada, Gher-ardi, Dunn, and Kurian also believed that Jackson assaulted Czulada, leading the Court tb conclude that this belief was reasonable. MacNear’s reasonable belief that he saw Plaintiff assault Czulada provides arguable probable cause to arrest for assault in the third degree, and thus entitles him to qualified immunity for his failure to intervene. (Id.) For the same reason, Mac-Near is entitled to qualified immunity with respect to the jury’s finding of supervisory liability for the arrest as well.

Boneta is similarly entitled to qualified immunity for his false arrest verdict. As to Boneta, the jury found that he believed, even if mistakenly, that Plaintiff had shoved Reo, and was throwing punches at police officers in the street. These reasonable beliefs provide arguable probable cause for Plaintiff’s arrest and, in turn, provide qualified immunity to Boneta for his failure to intervene. (Id.)

c) Defendants Failla and Tellado

With respect to Failla and Tellado, however, the Court denies qualified immunity on the false arrest claims. .

(1) Failla

As to Failla, the jury’s verdict reflects a finding that Failla failed to intervene to prevent Plaintiffs false arrest, despite having reason to know that it was not supported by probable cause, and despite having a reasonable opportunity to intervene. On the Special Verdict Sheet, the jury did not find that Failla believed that Plaintiff had committed any of the specified illegal acts, except resisting arrest. However, the arrest that Plaintiff was resisting was an arrest that the jury found Failla believed or had reason to believe was unlawful. The Second Circuit, in Curry v. City of Syracuse, 316 F.3d 324 (2d Cir. 2003), made clear that under New York law, there must be probable cause to arrest someone for an independent crime apart from “resisting arrest” in order to defeat a false arrest verdict. Id. at 336. The Curry court noted that under New York law, “ ‘[a] person is guilty of resisting arrest when he intentionally prevents or attempts to prevent a police officer or peace officer from effecting an authorized arrest of himself or another person.’ ” Id. at 336 (quoting N.Y. Penal Law § 205.30). It is “well established in New York that ‘probable cause to arrest is a prerequisite for making an authorized arrest,’ and if there is no probable cause to arrest a person, that person ‘cannot be guilty of resisting arrest.’ ” Id. (quoting People v. Mokamadou, 182 Misc.2d 77, 698 N.Y.S.2d 445, 447-48 (N.Y. Crim. Ct. 1999)); see also People v. Stevenson, 31 N.Y.2d 108, 335 N.Y.S.2d 52, 56, 286 N.E.2d 445 (1972) (explaining that “the crime of resisting arrest does not occur if the arrest is illegal or unláwftíl”). Based on the jury’s answers on the Special Verdict Sheet, Failla did not have knowledge of probable cause to arrest Plaintiff for the independent crimes of assault in the third degree or ággravated harassment in the second degree. See Special Verdict Sheet, at 6 (showing that the jury did. not believe that Failla believed that Plaintiff had assaulted Czulada, shoved Reo, or thrown punches at officers in the' street).

The Court also considers .whether the jury’s finding that Failla believed Plaintiff was “resisting arrest”- could provide “arguable probable cause” for an arrest for disorderly conduct. Disorderly conduct is when, inter alia, someone engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creates a risk thereof, N.Y. Penal Law § 240.20. In light of the fact that Defendants did not -request that the jury be instructed on the elements of resisting arrest, the jury’s finding that Failla believed Plaintiff was “resisting arrest” cannot be, treated as a legal conclusion; instead, it could mean a range of behavior that literally means resisting, being arrested. Plaintiff testified that while he was in the street, officers were sitting on his back holding him down, which made it impossible for him to pull his arm out from under him despite orders, to do so. (1/27/16 Tr. 60-61, . Jackson.) (testifying that an officer was “poking me in the side with the ASP and kicking me telling me, Give me your arm, stop resisting me, give me your arm ... I said I can’t. It’s too much weight on my. back”). The jury’s finding that Failla believed Plaintiff was resisting arrest could have been referring to Plaintiffs inability to pull his arm out from under him, which officers could have interpreted as a refusal to do so. The Court therefore does not - find that this conduct supplies arguable probable cause to arrest Plaintiff for disorderly conduct, which consists of “engaging in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior”. N.Y. Penal Law § 240.20.

(2) Tellado

The jury also found Tellado liable for failing to intervene in Plaintiffs false arrest. This means that the jury found that Tellado knew or had reason to know thát the arrest was without probable cause. (Dkt. 97 (“Jury Instructions”) at 16.) The jury also found, in the Special Verdict Sheet, that Tellado did not believe that Plaintiff - had assaulted Czulada, shoved Reo, thrown punches at officers in the street, or resisted arrest. (Special Verdict Sheet, at 1.) Based on these findings by the jury, the Court is compelled to deny Tellado qualified immunity. ■

(3) - Collective Knowledge Doctrine Does Not Benefit Failla or Tellado

The collective knowledge doctrine does not help either Failla or Tellado, because as noted, collective knowledge requires that the relevant knowledge actually have been communicated. Here, the jury’s finding that Failla and Tellado did not believe that. Plaintiff had committed a crime necessarily means that the arresting officers’ knowledge about Plaintiffs arguable crimes was not communicated to Failla and Tellado, or if it was, they did not believe it.

In sum, with respect to the jury’s false arrest verdicts, qualified immunity is granted as to Defendants Deferrari, Heer-ey, Reo, Boneta, and MacNear, and denied as to Defendants Failla and Tellado. '

III. EXCESSIVE FORCE

Defendants argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity as to the jury’s excessive force verdicts, because Defendants used reasonable force under the circumstances:

A. Legal Standards

1. Excessive Force Standard

Fourth Amendment jurisprudence contemplates that law enforcement has a “right to usé some degree of physical coercion or threat thereof’ as part and parcel of the “right to make an arrest or investigatory stop.” Rogoz v. City of Hartford, 796 F.3d 236, 246 (2d Cir. 2015). This right is limited, however, by the requirement that the use of such force be objectively reasonable “in' light of the facts and circumstances confronting” the law enforcement officers effecting the arrest, under penalty of violating the Fourth Amendment. Id. “Whether the force used to effect an arrest is ‘reasonable’ or ‘excessive’ turns on ‘a careful balancing of the nature and quality of the intrusion on the individual’s Fourth Amendment interests against the countervailing government interests at stake.’ ” Figueroa v. Mazza, 825 F.3d 89, 105 (2d Cir. 2016) (quoting Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989) (internal quotation marks omitted)). This balancing contemplates a number of factors, including “the need for the application of force, the relationship between the need and the amount of force that was used, the extent of injury inflicted,; and. whether force was applied in a good faith effort to maintain or restore discipline or maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.” Id. (citing Johnson v. Newburgh Enlarged Sch. Dist., 239 F.3d 246, 251-52 (2d Cir. 2001)).

Just as in the false arrest context, “[[liability may attach where an officer fails to intervene, but observes or has reason to know ... that excessive force is being used,” if the officer “had a realistic opportunity to intervene to prevent the violation from happening.” Sanabria, 2016 WL 4371750, at *5. And as with false arrest, a supervisor may be liable for excessive force if he “authorizes, orders, or helps others” to carry out the excessive force.