Full opinion text
AGEE, Circuit Judge: Cleaven Williams stabbed his pregnant wife, Veronica ("Mrs. Williams"), outside a Baltimore, Maryland, courthouse where she had just obtained a protective order against him. Mrs. Williams and her unborn child died from their injuries a few days later. Carlin Robinson, the Personal Representative of Mrs. Williams' estate and Guardian and Next Friend of her children, and Eunice Graves, Mrs. Williams' mother, filed federal and state claims against Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD) officer Daniel A. Lioi. The Complaint alleged that Lioi was responsible for Mrs. Williams' death because he enabled Williams to postpone his self-surrender on a misdemeanor arrest warrant, which provided Williams the opportunity to murder his wife. We previously affirmed, on interlocutory appeal, the district court's denial of Lioi's motion to dismiss the claims against him as being barred by qualified immunity. Robinson v. Lioi , 536 F. App'x 340 (4th Cir. 2013). Thereafter, Robinson and Graves (collectively "Robinson") amended their complaint to add another BCPD officer, Major Melvin Russell, as a defendant. Following discovery, the district court granted summary judgment to both officers, Robinson v. Lioi , No. 1:12-cv-00192-CCB, 2017 WL 2937568 (D. Md. June 30, 2017), concluding that the evidence was not sufficient to allow a verdict in Robinson's favor and, in the alternative, the officers were entitled to qualified and public official immunity. Robinson now appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court. I. In reviewing the propriety of granting summary judgment, we consider the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, here, Robinson, and draw all reasonable inferences in her favor. See Doe v. Rosa , 795 F.3d 429, 436 (4th Cir. 2015). A. In the summer of 2008, Williams met Deputy Major Lioi and Major Russell of the BCPD's Eastern District in the course of Williams' role as the president of a Baltimore-area community association. The men interacted at a handful of civic events that summer and fall. The events forming the basis of Robinson's claims occurred over a nine-day period from Sunday, November 9, 2008, when a misdemeanor arrest warrant was issued for Williams' arrest, to Monday, November 17, 2008, when Williams fatally stabbed his pregnant wife. On the evening of Sunday, November 9, Mrs. Williams obtained a temporary protective order against Williams based on an assault that occurred the prior month in which he physically restrained her and cut off some of her hair. Based on the same incident, the Baltimore City Court Commissioner also issued an arrest warrant for Williams charging him with the misdemeanor offenses of second-degree assault and unauthorized removal of property. Minutes after the warrant issued, a police dispatcher notified BCPD Officer Jose Arroyo that a misdemeanor warrant was ready to be picked up from the Court Commissioner's office. Had Arroyo followed normal procedure, he would have taken the warrant directly to the "hot desk" at Central Records to have it logged into the police computer database. J.A. 575. Instead, Arroyo took the warrant to the BCPD's Eastern District office. Arroyo indicated that he sometimes bypassed the normal procedure if a supervisor ordered him to do so, but he could not remember whether anyone had issued such an order regarding this warrant. Nor could he provide any explanation for why he deviated from the procedure this time. After Arroyo arrived at the Eastern District, an unidentified person instructed him to leave the arrest warrant on the desk handling the Sector 1 region. Arroyo could not recall who told him to leave the warrant there, or why, but the address listed on the warrant for Williams was located in Sector 1. Arroyo knew both Lioi and Russell, and when he was specifically asked if Russell or Lioi had instructed him to bring the warrant to the Eastern District, Arroyo testified that he "d[id]n't recall." J.A. 578. He then clarified that, given the chain of command, he would not have received an order directly from either officer and that he "d[id]n't know" whether either of them had given such an instruction to someone else. J.A. 579-80. At some point over the weekend, Williams contacted Russell and was concerned that his wife "got papers on him." J.A. 706. Williams asked Russell if he could find out what happened. In his deposition, Russell stated that he first learned of the arrest warrant when he returned to work on Monday or Tuesday (November 10 or 11) and Officer Adrienne Byrd showed it to him. Russell had observed Byrd holding the warrant for Williams in her hands, but he testified that he never took physical possession of the warrant at that time or later. Russell later spoke with Williams, confirming that there was a warrant for his arrest and encouraging him to turn himself in. J.A. 451-54, 707. Russell advised that Williams should not wait to turn himself in because if he were arrested on a Friday and his arraignment were to be delayed, he could be detained over the weekend. Beginning on Monday, police officers attempted to arrest Williams at his residence, but were unsuccessful. J.A. 112, 451-52, 485, 707-08, 762, 815. Russell said he personally went by Williams' residence to arrest him "once, maybe twice," but it was dark and no one answered the door. J.A. 451. On Wednesday (November 12), Williams texted Russell to say that he would like to turn himself in the following Tuesday in order to have time to raise sufficient bond money. Russell called Williams and encouraged him to turn himself in without delay. J.A. 451-52, 482-83. Later that afternoon, Russell informed Lioi-who was the next senior officer in the Eastern District-that Williams would be turning himself in the next evening. Russell asked Lioi to oversee the process because Russell was not scheduled to work Thursday evening. On Thursday afternoon (November 13), Williams texted Russell that he was "running behind," but "should be there in 15." J.A. 480. Russell replied, "K." J.A. 480. Both men stated in their depositions that the texts referred to Williams self-surrendering, but Williams did not show up at the station that afternoon. Instead, at about 9:00 p.m., Williams arrived at the Eastern District to self-surrender. Lioi called Central Records to get the arrest warrant and learned that it had not been logged into their database and they did not have the warrant. Lioi enlisted help in searching for the warrant at the Eastern District and in calling other possible locations, but no one could locate it. For example, Lioi called Russell to see if he could help them locate the warrant, but Russell did not answer his phone, so Lioi left him a voice mail message. And when Lioi called the court commissioner, he was told "that the warrant possibly could be at the North Avenue Courthouse," which he also tried to reach, but it was closed for the night. J.A. 562. After concluding that they were not going to promptly locate the arrest warrant, Lioi allowed Williams to leave the Eastern District station so long as he agreed to return once they found the warrant. Williams agreed and asked if he could self-surrender after the weekend. He mentioned having several things to do and not wanting to risk being detained if the arraignment was delayed on Friday. It's not clear from the record what agreement Lioi and Williams reached at that time, but Williams departed the police station. Shortly thereafter, Russell returned Lioi's call and recommended that Lioi contact Byrd because he had seen her with the warrant earlier that week and believed she had attempted to arrest Williams. In addition, Russell suggested that Lioi search Byrd's patrol car for the paperwork. After Russell's call, Sergeant Todd Tugya, who was helping Lioi search for the warrant, telephoned Byrd. She "advised that she did, indeed, have possession of the warrant ... and that she had attempted to serve it. However, she advised that she left the warrant in the visor of her patrol car because she intended to continue her attempts to serve it on her next shift." J.A. 112. She told Tugya which patrol car she had used, so that they could search it. Just after midnight on Friday (November 14), officers located the warrant over the visor of Byrd's patrol car. Later that day, Lioi "confirmed" with Russell that Williams could self-surrender after the weekend. J.A. 277. Russell indicated to Lioi that was "fine." J.A. 277. Lioi also called Williams to let him know they had found the warrant and he needed to turn himself in. Williams indicated he would self-surrender on Tuesday, and Lioi agreed. Later that evening, Williams contacted Lioi and said that he was meeting with his lawyers to prepare for his criminal case. Williams suggested that having a letter explaining that he had attempted to self-surrender, but that the warrant could not be located, may help him in court. Lioi agreed to write the letter because those were "the facts." J.A. 285. His letter explained that Williams had been "very cooperative and willing to turn himself in" but that Central Records did not have the warrant on file and had "advised that the warrant was being held at North Avenue Court House, which was closed for the night." J.A. 631. Williams later asked Lioi for a second letter because his lawyers had discovered an arrest warrant from another Maryland locality charging a "Cleaven Williams" with offenses unrelated to those known to be pending against him. Williams asked Lioi to write about that warrant, too; Lioi provided a letter stating that he had reviewed the other arrest warrant and observed that it contained minimal identifying information about the named individual, referenced an address that "[t]o [Lioi's] understanding[,] [Williams] had never resided at," and that the wanted individual "should not be considered to be [Williams] based on the name alone." J.A. 632. In texting about the letters, Williams asked Lioi for "an overview of the night" and "not too much detail." J.A. 101. When Lioi agreed, Williams expressed his appreciation, texting "There is a method to my madness:- /," to which Lioi replied, "That's what I'm afraid of." J.A. 101. On Monday afternoon (November 17), Williams and Lioi exchanged another set of text messages- [Williams:] ... I just left my home 2 meet w/my lawyer...I saw my wife drive by...can I go home or what? [Lioi:] I wouldn't be alone with her. She could say you did anything. Have a witness with you if you meet. [Williams:] Thanks Dan[.] [Williams:] Can she do another protection order & try 2 keep me from the house? [Lioi:] She could. I would avoid her. She could call the police and say u have the warrant and she is afraid of you. It would force our hand to serve the warrant. J.A. 559. Williams later called Lioi from his lawyer's office to discuss the two warrants again, at which time Lioi "t[old] him that he should, you know, turn himself in, the weekend's over, let's get this taken care of today." J.A. 286. Williams indicated Tuesday was still better, and Lioi told him to call after leaving the lawyer's office. A few hours later, Williams stabbed his wife, which resulted in her death and that of her unborn child. B. Robinson filed a complaint in Maryland state court alleging that Lioi was liable for Mrs. Williams' death under several state and federal laws. Lioi removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and moved to dismiss on the basis of qualified immunity. The district court denied Lioi's motion. He appealed, and we affirmed in an unpublished decision. Robinson , 536 F. App'x at 340. Critically, our decision on the motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) necessarily accepted as true all of the allegations in Robinson's Complaint. Id. at 341. On that basis, we concluded that the Complaint adequately alleged that Lioi engaged in affirmative acts that could make him liable to Robinson for a violation of Mrs. Williams' due process rights under the state-created danger doctrine. Id. at 343-44 (discussing the development of the doctrine that had its genesis in DeShaney v. Winnebago Cty. Dep't of Soc. Servs. , 489 U.S. 189, 109 S.Ct. 998, 103 L.Ed.2d 249 (1989) ). Robinson alleged that Lioi "withheld the warrant [from the unit that should have served it] so that [the Eastern District] could retain control over whether it would be served or not;" "warned Mr. Williams of the warrant and their feigned efforts to serve him;" "purposefully refused to serve or arrest [Williams when he self-surrendered], falsely claiming instead that the warrant allegedly could not be found. This was an intentional and malicious act ... for the purpose of allowing Mr. Williams to remain free despite the warrant;" and "placed Mrs. Williams in a police-created zone of danger by intentionally conspiring with Mr. Williams to permit him to remain free despite ample opportunity to arrest him." Complaint at 4-5, 9, Robinson v. Lioi , No. 1:12-cv-00192-CCB, 2012 WL 2992251 (D. Md. July 18, 2012), ECF No. 2. When we considered whether Lioi was entitled to dismissal of the claims against him, we specifically pointed to these allegations as the basis for our decision. Robinson , 536 F. App'x at 341, 344. We concluded that, as a whole, these allegations encompassed affirmative acts that could have "directly enabled" Williams to harm Mrs. Williams. Id. at 345. Accordingly, we held that the Complaint adequately alleged a due process violation for Rule 12(b)(6) purposes. In so doing, we rejected Lioi's reliance on Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales , 545 U.S. 748, 125 S.Ct. 2796, 162 L.Ed.2d 658 (2005), in which the Supreme Court held that no due process violation occurred when police officers failed to enforce a restraining order. Robinson , 536 F. App'x at 345. We explained that "Lioi's alleged conduct in this case was not confined to a failure to execute [an] arrest warrant," but rather included allegations that he "affirmatively acted to interfere with execution of the warrant by conspiring with Cleaven Williams to evade capture and remain at large." Id. C. After Lioi's prior appeal, Robinson amended her Complaint to add Russell as a defendant. She alleged the following claims against both officers: violation of Mrs. Williams' due process rights, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ; conspiracy to violate Mrs. Williams' constitutional rights, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985 ; and numerous Maryland state law claims. The alleged factual basis of the claims remained substantively the same as in her original Complaint. After discovery, Lioi and Russell moved for summary judgment, challenging the substantive claims and arguing that they were entitled to qualified immunity on the federal claims and to public official immunity on the state claims. In addition to deposition statements, affidavits, and other records from the participants in the events described above, Lioi and Russell submitted an affidavit from an expert witness, Stanford O'Neill Franklin, an officer with thirty-four years of law enforcement experience in Maryland, including time with the BCPD. In relevant part, Franklin stated that, in his experience, if Williams had "been arrested and processed" following his Thursday evening self-surrender, "he would have been released within 24 hours on his personal recognizance, or required to post minimum bail, which means he would have been back on the street by Saturday morning, November 15, 2008." J.A. 127-28. The district court awarded summary judgment to Lioi and Russell. Robinson , 2017 WL 2937568, at *14. It concluded that a jury could not find in favor of Robinson on the substantive question of whether the officers' conduct constituted a state-created danger because Robinson's evidence did not show that Lioi and Russell "committed affirmative acts that created or enhanced the danger to" Mrs. Williams. Id. at *9. The district court held in the alternative that Lioi and Russell were entitled to qualified immunity because, even if a violation had occurred, it was not clearly established. The court explained: "the facts are not sufficient to show that a reasonable officer in either defendant's position would have understood he was violating" Mrs. Williams' rights by "using [his] discretion not to aggressively serve an arrest warrant and instead allow Mr. Williams to delay his date of voluntary surrender by several days." Id. at *10. The district court also granted Lioi and Russell summary judgment on Robinson's other claims. Id. at *10-14. In relevant part, it held that the conspiracy claims could not survive because Robinson produced no evidence of a conspiracy to violate Mrs. Williams' constitutional rights and no evidence that Lioi's and Russell's conduct caused her death. Id. at *10-11. Similarly, the court held that the officers were entitled to summary judgment on the gross negligence claim because Robinson produced no evidence that they intended to injure Mrs. Williams or were so utterly indifferent to her rights that they acted as if her rights did not exist. Id. at *11-12. In addition, it held that the causation element had not been satisfied. Id. at *12-13. The district court also granted Lioi and Russell summary judgment on the wrongful death and survival actions because they were entitled to public official immunity under Maryland law for any negligent conduct and no evidence supported intentional misconduct or gross negligence. Id. at *14. It further concluded those claims would also fail on causation grounds. Id. Robinson noted a timely appeal, and the Court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. II. Robinson's appeal focuses on the district court's award of summary judgment to Lioi and Russell on her § 1983 substantive due process claim. She contends the record adequately demonstrates that Lioi and Russell committed various affirmative acts that could make them liable under the state-created danger doctrine. Robinson further challenges the district court's alternative holding that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity on the due process claim. Lastly, she challenges its judgment in favor of Lioi and Russell on her state-law claims. This Court reviews de novo the district court's grant of summary judgment. Doe , 795 F.3d at 436. Summary judgment is appropriate if the evidence shows that "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact," Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a), such that " 'a reasonable jury could [not] return a verdict for the nonmoving party,' " Doe , 795 F.3d at 436 (alteration in original) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. , 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ). Stating the standard of review is usually a fairly rote practice, but it has particular significance in this case given the contrast that it signals between this appeal and our prior review of Robinson's allegations. In this case, we are confronted with the view proposed in Robinson's briefs and adopted by the dissenting opinion that the outcome of this appeal should be dictated by our prior decision. E.g. , Opening Br. 19 (asserting the district court's opinion "virtually ignored" the Court's prior decision, which had "already held" that Lioi and Russell's conduct fell within the state-created danger theory). Relying on the law-of-the-case doctrine, the dissent accuses us of "rescind[ing] our prior holding, shielding [this] decision ... with the defense that we are now at the summary judgment stage." Infra at 340. But there is nothing remarkable in the black-letter law understanding that plaintiffs are held to different standards at different stages of the proceedings in the district court, or that appeals from those decisions are also subject to different standards. It cannot be put more plainly: we previously considered whether Robinson's allegations stated a claim against Lioi because we were considering only the district court's decision to deny a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). Now, we are reviewing whether Robinson's evidence supports a claim against Lioi and Russell because we are considering the district court's decision to grant a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56(a). Bennett v. Spear , 520 U.S. 154, 168, 117 S.Ct. 1154, 137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997) (contrasting the pleading stage, where "on a motion to dismiss [courts] presume that general allegations embrace those specific facts that are necessary to support the claim" with the summary judgment stage, where "a plaintiff must set forth [specific facts] by affidavit or other evidence" (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted)). This "wholly different substantive and procedural context" matters when analyzing Robinson's claim. See SD3 II LLC v. Black & Decker (U.S.) Inc. , 888 F.3d 98, 109 (4th Cir. 2018). Unlike the first time this case came before us, we are no longer obliged to accept Robinson's allegations as true. While Robinson is still entitled to have the record viewed in the light most favorable to her, we can no longer simply accept her characterizations of what occurred. Now that the parties have completed discovery, we have a "fully-developed record" to apply "to those allegations upon a motion for summary judgment," id. , and Robinson must present more than a "scintilla" of evidence to support her allegations, Sylvia Dev. Corp. v. Calvert Cty. , 48 F.3d 810, 818 (4th Cir. 1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). There is also nothing remarkable in concluding that some plaintiffs whose claims survive a motion to dismiss are unable to meet their burden to survive summary judgment. In Behrens v. Pelletier , 516 U.S. 299, 116 S.Ct. 834, 133 L.Ed.2d 773 (1996), for example, the Supreme Court held that a defendant was entitled to raise the defense of qualified immunity in more than one interlocutory appeal-initially, after denial of a motion to dismiss, and, subsequently, after denial of summary judgment. The Supreme Court explained that more than one appeal was warranted because the legally relevant factors ... will be different on summary judgment than on an earlier motion to dismiss. .... It is no more true that the defendant who has unsuccessfully appealed denial of a motion to dismiss has no need to appeal denial of a motion for summary judgment, than it is that the defendant who has unsuccessfully made a motion to dismiss has no need to make a motion for summary judgment. Id. at 309, 116 S.Ct. 834. Nothing inherent in our prior decision or the law-of-the-case doctrine precludes our conclusion in this appeal that Robinson has failed to meet her burden on summary judgment. The law-of-the-case doctrine recognizes that "when a court decides upon a rule of law, that decision should continue to govern the same issues in subsequent stages in the same case." Arizona v. California , 460 U.S. 605, 618, 103 S.Ct. 1382, 75 L.Ed.2d 318 (1983). But it poses no bar to the assessment of past holdings based on a different procedural posture when, as is the case in the progression from review of a motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment, that later review expands the court's inquiry based on development of actual facts underlying a plaintiff's claims. Wiest v. Tyco Elecs. Corp. , 812 F.3d 319, 329-30 (3d Cir. 2016) (rejecting the plaintiff's argument that because the court had previously held that her complaint sufficiently alleged a claim, the district court was precluded from granting summary judgment under the law-of-the-case doctrine and describing that argument as resting on a "critical misapplication of the fundamental distinction between a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) and a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56"). Indeed, consistent with this recognition, this Court's articulation of the law-of-the-case doctrine also acknowledges that different facts will lead to a different legal analysis to which the doctrine cannot apply. Sejman v. Warner-Lambert Co. , 845 F.2d 66, 69 (4th Cir. 1988) (stating that the law-of-the-case doctrine applies "unless" one of several exceptions applies, including the subsequent development of "substantially different evidence"). As the dissent acknowledges, nothing in the law-of-the-case doctrine or our prior decision compelled a particular result in this appeal except to the extent the facts remained the same as the allegations. Infra at 340-42. The cases the dissent relies on to support the doctrine's applicability reiterate that when a court is presented with a different record at a new stage of the case, the law-of-the-case doctrine will no longer constrain the court's review. E.g. , TFWS, Inc. v. Franchot , 572 F.3d 186, 191 (4th Cir. 2009). But only when the facts alleged in a complaint are subsequently proven during discovery will the law-of-the-case doctrine continue to govern how the law applies to those facts. U.S. ex rel. Oberg v. Pa. Higher Educ. Assistance Agency , 804 F.3d 646, 665-66 (4th Cir. 2015) (holding that the law-of-the-case doctrine was relevant to the Court's review because the case's evidence developed during discovery and considered as part of the motion for summary judgment "confirmed the existence of the[ ] facts" previously relied on in considering the propriety of a motion to dismiss). Discovery produced substantially different facts than Robinson alleged in her Complaint which requires us to alter our understanding of the factual underpinnings of Robinson's claim for purposes of summary judgment. Based on this divergence, the law-of-the-case doctrine does not constrain our review of how the governing legal principles apply to Robinson's claim. At bottom, the evidence that Robinson marshaled during discovery demonstrates that Russell and Lioi's conduct cannot support a state-created danger substantive due process claim and that the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. III. Individuals can hold state actors liable under § 1983 for deprivations of "any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution," 42 U.S.C. § 1983, including deprivations of a person's "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," U.S. Const. amend. XIV. Because the Due Process Clause protects individuals "against arbitrary action of government," with "arbitrary" in this context encompassing "only the most egregious official conduct," no constitutional violation occurs where the state actor "negligently inflicted harm." Cty. of Sacramento v. Lewis , 523 U.S. 833, 845-46, 49, 118 S.Ct. 1708, 140 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1998) (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, the Due Process Clause "cannot fairly be extended to impose an affirmative obligation on the State to ensure that those interests do not come to harm through other means." DeShaney , 489 U.S. at 195, 109 S.Ct. 998. And "because 'the Due Process Clause does not require the State to provide its citizens with particular protective services, [state actors] cannot be held liable under the Clause for injuries that could have been averted had it chosen to provide them.' " Doe , 795 F.3d at 437 (quoting DeShaney , 489 U.S. at 196-97, 109 S.Ct. 998 ). Based on this understanding of the Due Process Clause, the Supreme Court held in DeShaney that a county social services department had not violated a four-year-old's substantive due process rights by failing to protect the child from his abusive father. 489 U.S. at 191-94, 109 S.Ct. 998. The department had received numerous reports of abuse but failed to remove the child from his father's custody. Id. at 192-93, 109 S.Ct. 998. The Supreme Court recognized that although "in certain limited circumstances the Constitution imposes upon the State affirmative duties of care and protection" based on a "special relationship," no such relationship existed in this case because the child was not in the State's custody (e.g., through "incarceration, institutionalization, or other similar restraint of personal liberty") when his father harmed him. Id. at 197-200, 109 S.Ct. 998. As part of its due process analysis, the Supreme Court observed that the department was also not liable because, "[w]hile the State may have been aware of the dangers that [the child] faced in the free world, it played no part in their creation, nor did it do anything to render him any more vulnerable to them." Id. at 201, 109 S.Ct. 998. "This language in DeShaney is commonly acknowledged as the genesis of the state-created danger doctrine." Robinson , 536 F. App'x at 343. But the state-created doctrine is a "narrow" exception to the general rule that state actors are not liable for harm caused by third parties. Doe , 795 F.3d at 437. It applies only when the state affirmatively acts to create or increase the risk that resulted in the victim's injury. Specifically, "a plaintiff must show that the state actor created or increased the risk of private danger, and did so directly through affirmative acts, not merely through inaction or omission." Id. at 439. A direct, affirmative act is necessary because liability is premised on the understanding that state actors cannot "disclaim liability when they themselves throw others to the lions" and that where they have engaged in affirmative conduct that creates or increases "the dangerous situation that resulted in a victim's injury," "it becomes much more akin to a[ ] [state] actor itself directly causing harm to the injured party." Pinder v. Johnson , 54 F.3d 1169, 1177 (4th Cir. 1995) (en banc). The doctrine's conception of an "affirmative act" is also quite limited: "[i]t cannot be that the state commits an affirmative act or creates a danger every time it does anything that makes injury at the hands of a third party more likely. If so, the state would be liable for every crime committed by the prisoners it released." Id. at 1175 (internal quotation marks omitted). This narrowly confines the scope of qualifying "affirmative acts" to those that directly create or increase, i.e., cause, the risk a third party posed to the victim. In this appeal, Robinson argues that the district court erred because the record demonstrates that Lioi and Russell took "affirmative acts" from which a reasonable jury could conclude that they directly increased the risk Williams posed to his wife. To support her argument that the officers are liable for a state-created danger, Robinson relies on the following eight "affirmative acts" that she claims made summary judgment inappropriate: (1) Lioi "acted affirmatively" to free Williams from the Eastern District station after he could not locate the arrest warrant instead of placing Williams under arrest without the warrant and temporarily detaining him in the holding cell while the search for the missing warrant continued; (2) Lioi "affirmatively agreed" to permit Williams to remain free between the time Williams tried to self-surrender and the time of Mrs. Williams' stabbing; (3) Lioi wrote two letters to Williams "in an effort to aid Williams in avoiding lawful arrest on valid warrants"; (4) "Lioi texted Williams regarding when it was safe to return home without fear of arrest and how to avoid service of his warrant"; (5) "Lioi prevented other officers from attempting to arrest" Williams by not assigning anyone to serve the arrest warrant and not logging it into a system that would have allowed other officers to serve it; (6) "Russell ordered that the warrant not be logged in with Central Records"; (7) "Russell orchestrated the unavailability of the warrant during" the time when Williams appeared to self-surrender; and (8) "Russell affirmatively ordered that Williams not be arrested" after the warrant was located. Opening Br. 17-18. Having reviewed the record, we conclude that Robinson's arguments lack merit. Contrary to Robinson's argument and the dissent's conclusion, discovery did not strengthen her earlier allegations that BCPD officers actively conspired to help Williams avoid arrest by interfering with the execution of his arrest warrant. Quite to the contrary. Even viewing the evidence in Robinson's favor, none of the "affirmative acts" she relies on can support a due process claim. Our conclusion follows from a straight-forward application of the Supreme Court's decisions in DeShaney and Town of Castle Rock , as well as this Court's decisions in Pinder and Doe . As discussed in greater detail below, most of Robinson's characterizations of the record are not supported by the record or are pure speculation. Several of Robinson's key allegations in her Complaint concerning Lioi's supposed affirmative acts ultimately proved to be untenable. And other distinctions between Robinson's allegations in her Amended Complaint and the evidence now in the record show that her claim is mostly based on conduct properly categorized not as legally cognizable affirmative acts, but as nonactionable inactions and omissions. Equally fatal to Robinson's claim, she has failed to produce evidence demonstrating the requisite causal link between the officers' purported "affirmative acts" and the harm that befell Mrs. Williams. Without evidence to support the conclusion that their conduct increased the danger Williams posed to his wife, we can hold neither Lioi nor Russell liable under the state-created danger doctrine. In short, what occurred in this case is not the sort of conduct that the Supreme Court or this Court has said can give rise to liability. The state-created danger doctrine requires proof that Lioi or Russell created the harm that befell Mrs. Williams or directly "render[ed] [her] any more vulnerable to" Williams. Doe , 795 F.3d at 438 (emphasis omitted) (quoting DeShaney , 489 U.S. at 201, 109 S.Ct. 998 ). That is, it requires proof that Lioi or Russell were more than merely negligent or that they could have done more to ensure Williams was arrested earlier, which is the most that Robinson's and the dissent's view of the record allows. A. Lioi's Letters and Texts to Williams Cannot Support Liability The record confirms that Lioi wrote two letters at Williams' request and responded to a few texts Williams sent between his attempted self-surrender Thursday evening and Mrs. Williams' murder the following Monday. Robinson, however, mischaracterizes those acts and draws conclusions that the record does not support. These events cannot support a state-created danger claim because the record does not allow for the conclusion that they created or increased the risk Williams posed to his wife. Before turning to the legal principles, it is necessary to first understand what the record shows Lioi actually did. Robinson points to the letters Lioi wrote for Williams, which she characterizes as giving Williams " 'get out of jail free' cards." Opening Br. 27. Neither letter provides any such instruction or request. The first letter truthfully describes the contents of the arrest warrant, Williams' voluntary appearance at the Eastern District station "to turn himself in to be processed," and his permitted departure when "Central Records did not have the warrant on file." J.A. 631. It also truthfully states that when Lioi decided to allow Williams to leave, he had been told that the warrant may be in the courthouse, which was closed for the night. The second letter accurately recounted that another warrant issued by a different Maryland locality sought the arrest of "a Cleaven Williams, black male with no date of birth or any other identifiers such as a social security number, height, weight, etc.," and listing an address that-to Lioi's understanding-had never been Williams' address. J.A. 632. The second letter observed that the arrest warrant's information was "very limited and should not be considered to be [Williams] based on the name alone." J.A. 632. A jury could not conclude from these letters that Lioi wrote them "in furtherance of a conspiracy to allow Williams to evade arrest ... that ultimately enhanced the danger to Mrs. Williams." Infra at 342. Both letters state facts and neither makes any demands on a recipient or requests that anyone who reviewed their contents not arrest Williams on either warrant. Nor is the first letter misleading, as the dissent suggests, as Lioi accurately described the events leading to the decision not to arrest Williams on the evening he attempted to self-surrender. The "omission" of additional information about where the warrant was eventually located has no bearing on Williams' cooperation or Lioi's decision to allow him to leave. Similarly, the second letter simply concludes that the warrant had few details; it does not purport to be the result of a thorough investigation or a final conclusion as to the proper subject of the warrant. In short, Robinson has provided no facts to support her continued characterization of the letters as evidence that Lioi "scheme[d] to secure [Williams'] freedom." Opening Br. 28. Lioi's texts cannot support liability either. Robinson posits that Lioi "texted Williams regarding when it was safe to return home without fear of arrest and how to avoid service of his warrant." Opening Br. 18. The record does not support that characterization of the texts. The texts instead show that Lioi relayed factual information about the status of the warrant and its possible execution before Williams' intended self-surrender date and that Lioi encouraged Williams to "avoid" Mrs. Williams. J.A. 559 ("I wouldn't be alone with her. .... Have a witness with you if you meet. .... I would avoid her."). Contrary to Robinson's contention, the texts do not reasonably suggest that Lioi was helping Williams to "avoid[ ] his lawful arrest" or otherwise endangering Mrs. Williams in any way. See Opening Br. 30. Nothing else the dissent points to alters this analysis. For instance, the dissent asserts "Lioi had never written such letters before in his twenty years of law enforcement experience." Infra at 338 (citing J.A. 287-88). But Lioi never stated that he had not previously written such letters; instead, he responded by reflecting on Williams having been "a community leader" who was "known to us, and one of the key factors in everything would be is he a flight risk, is he attempting to turn himself in, which he did, so I think all that weighed into the - the process." J.A. 287. Even granting Robinson the inference that the letters were a "first," that fact would not allow for any inference concerning Lioi's intent or to connect Lioi's letters to Mrs. Williams. In addition, the dissent posits that Lioi's texts suggest "his desire not to do his job and instead to defer to Williams's prearranged self-surrender schedule." Infra at 343. Even accepting the dissent's view, that would show only (1) that Lioi decided not to serve the warrant sooner, a decision amounting to no more than an omission or failure to act that falls under the ambit of Town of Castle Rock , or (2) that Lioi may have been negligent in pursuing service of the warrant, a decision that also could not give rise to a due process claim. See Lewis , 523 U.S. at 849, 118 S.Ct. 1708 (stating that "liability for negligently inflicted harm is categorically beneath the threshold of constitutional due process"); Slaughter v. Mayor & City Council of Balt. , 682 F.3d 317, 321 (4th Cir. 2012) (reiterating that negligence cannot support a due process violation). Regardless, neither the letters nor the texts can support a cognizable due process claim because they are not causally connected to Mrs. Williams' harm. Whatever "affirmative acts" a plaintiff relies on must have a direct causal connection to the harm that ultimately befell the victim. See Doe , 795 F.3d at 439 ; see also Gray v. Univ. of Colo. Hosp. Auth. , 672 F.3d 909, 916-17 (10th Cir. 2012) (calling "unremarkable" the proposition that a state-created danger claim must prove "a sufficient causal link between the danger created by an affirmative act of the State and the harm inflicted upon the victim by a private party"); Kaucher v. Cty. of Bucks , 455 F.3d 418, 432 (3d Cir. 2006) ("[A] specific and deliberate exercise of state authority, while necessary to [state a claim under this theory], is not sufficient. There must be a direct causal relationship between the affirmative act of the state and the plaintiff's harm. Only then will the affirmative act render the plaintiff more vulnerable to danger than had the state not acted at all." (internal quotation marks omitted)). Neither Lioi's letters nor his texts created any danger to Mrs. Williams. Indeed, Lioi "could not have created a danger that already existed." See Doe , 795 F. 3d at 439 (internal quotation marks omitted). As the circumstances of the misdemeanor assault warrant and other evidence in the record indicate, any threat that Williams posed to his wife existed prior to and independent of Lioi's interactions with Williams. Nothing in the record suggests Lioi had any particularized reason to believe that Williams posed an ongoing-let alone imminent-threat to his wife; at most, he knew that probable cause supported issuance of a misdemeanor arrest warrant for assaulting her in the past, which is the only information contained in the arrest warrant. As such, Lioi's letters and texts did not create any danger to Mrs. Williams. Nor did Lioi's letters or texts increase the risk Williams posed to Mrs. Williams. In Doe , we held that a state actor did not increase the risk a child predator posed to his victims where the state actor's conduct placed the victims in "no worse position than that in which [they] would have been had [he] not acted at all." Id. (first alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). That's precisely the case here. For instance, the record does not indicate that Williams ever showed the letters to anyone, let alone that he used them to avoid arrest. Similarly, it would be patently unreasonable to conclude that texts encouraging Williams not to see his wife at all, or at least not alone, heightened any risk to her. Nor can any viable connection be made between any threat Williams posed to his wife and his texts to Lioi concerning the contents of the letters. In short, the letters and texts simply do not establish the requisite connection between Lioi and Mrs. Williams that would create liability under the state-created danger doctrine. See Pinder , 54 F.3d at 1177 (providing that, to state a claim, there must be evidence that the state actors did something "akin to ... directly causing harm to the injured party"). These "acts" do not constitute the sort of direct acts the state-created danger doctrine requires for a state actor's conduct to create or increase the risk that a third party poses to a victim. As in Doe , we conclude that the sort of "downstream, but-for connection alleged here simply stretches the 'affirmative acts' concept too far." 795 F.3d at 442. Consequently, they cannot support Robinson's claim against Lioi. B. Russell's Conduct Concerning the Arrest Warrant Cannot Support Liability The three "acts" Robinson asserts that Russell took do not support her claim against him. Robinson asserts as fact that Russell "ordered that the warrant not be logged in with Central Records"; "orchestrated the unavailability of the warrant during the attempted surrender"; and "ordered that Williams not be arrested ... even after the warrant was found." Opening Br. 18. But Robinson's characterizations of the record stretch beyond permissible inferences to impermissible speculation. Moreover, they do not demonstrate that Russell engaged in the sort of affirmative acts that created or increased any danger to Mrs. Williams as required for a state-created danger claim. Even assuming Russell had the warrant "pulled" and routed to the Eastern District office, the record contains no evidence that Russell was aware that the warrant had not been logged into Central Records prior to its arrival there, that he directed that it not be logged into Central Records, or that he instructed his officers not to attempt to arrest Williams. Nor does the record contain evidence to allow the inference that Russell "orchestrated the unavailability of the warrant" when Williams arrived to self-surrender on Thursday, November 13. See Opening Br. 18. To support her view, Robinson weaves mischaracterizations of the record with pure speculation to contend that a jury could infer that her allegations actually occurred. That is not a valid means of surviving summary judgment, which requires evidence, not unsupported conjecture. See, e.g. , Shirvinski v. U.S. Coast Guard , 673 F.3d 308, 320 (4th Cir. 2012) (rejecting plaintiff's "attempt[ ] to build his case through pure inference"); Hinkle v. City of Clarksburg , 81 F.3d 416, 423 (4th Cir. 1996) (holding a claim was "ripe for an adverse summary judgment determination" when "it was based upon a theory without proof" and dependent on "speculation and the piling of inferences"); Barwick v. Celotex Corp. , 736 F.2d 946, 962 (4th Cir. 1984) (rejecting plaintiff's "attempt[ ] to build one vague inference upon another vague inference to produce a factual issue"). By way of background, Robinson relies on a supposed "friendly relationship" between Russell and Williams, Opening Br. 33, pointing out that they communicated via their cell phones throughout the days in question and that Williams used informal language when texting Russell. In addition, she notes that Russell had been to Williams' home and met his family and had discussed a spiritual matter with Williams in the past. These isolated parts of the record do not support Robinson's conclusion that the men were more than professional acquaintances. Even if they did, these facts offer no information about Russell's conduct with respect to the warrant. Robinson also points to a text Williams sent to Russell on Thursday afternoon saying, "I'm running behind. I should be there in 15," J.A. 480, as the basis for accusing Williams and Russell of having a "secret meeting," Opening Br. 34. But no evidence suggests that such a meeting occurred, and both men explained that the text referred to Williams intending to self-surrender on Thursday earlier than when he eventually arrived. Moreover, neither the text nor even an imagined secret meeting could demonstrate that Russell made the warrant unavailable or did anything else regarding the warrant; Robinson is impermissibly piling inference upon inference to reach her desired conclusion. Next, Robinson takes Lioi's deposition testimony concerning the decision to let Williams leave the Eastern District Thursday evening and speculates that Russell and Williams "had already agreed" to a Tuesday surrender date because Russell "assured that the warrant [would be] unavailable" on Thursday. Opening Br. 34-35. That conjecture is an unsupported reading of what Lioi said. Instead, Lioi testified that prior to allowing Williams to leave on Thursday evening, he ensured that Williams agreed to return and self-surrender once the warrant was found. Lioi knew that "Russell had communicated with [Williams] that if he turn[ed] himself [in] on a Friday, [he] could get stuck in the system all weekend." J.A. 277. Williams told Lioi he wanted to wait to turn himself in until after the weekend. Lioi then confirmed with Russell that this would be acceptable. Contrary to Robinson's contention, Lioi's statement does not permit the inference that Russell and Williams had previously arranged for a Tuesday self-surrender because Russell knew (or orchestrated that) Williams would not be able to self-surrender on Thursday. Nor does Lioi's statement support any conclusion about Russell and the location of the warrant. Robinson further posits that Russell put the warrant in the visor of Officer Byrd's squad car, where it was found several hours after Williams attempted to self-surrender. As "proof" for that conclusion, Robinson points to evidence that Russell saw Officer Byrd with the warrant earlier, that Byrd denied having put the warrant in the visor, and that Russell suggested Lioi search there for the warrant. The conclusion Robinson draws from the gaps between these three fragments leaps well beyond the bounds of permissible inferences and crosses into rampant speculation. Although Robinson is entitled to all reasonable inferences in her favor, we cannot ignore undisputed evidence that contradicts her allegations. Russell explained that he suggested to Lioi several places where the warrant might have been, based on his past experience and knowledge of where officers habitually put paperwork. J.A. 456-58. What's more, Tugya stated that the warrant was eventually located based on specific information Byrd provided to them via telephone Sunday evening. No jury could conclude that Russell orchestrated the warrant's unavailability on Thursday evening when the evidence shows that Russell provided Lioi with general information about the warrant's whereabouts and that same evening Byrd confirmed with specific information about its location. Nor do any of the dissent's additional considerations connect the dots between record evidence and facts from which a jury could hold Russell liable. For instance, the dissent overstates what could be reasonably inferred from Byrd's inability to remember the details of her role in these events. She testified only that she did not "recall" driving to Williams' residence to attempt to arrest him; she was not sure what had happened to the paperwork on Williams; and she did not know prior to her deposition that the warrant was found in the visor of her patrol car. J.A. 106. Byrd's testimony does not implicate Russell in anything, nor does it give rise to the inference that he took the paperwork from Byrd and hid it in her patrol car. Simply put, a witness's statement that she does not know that something happened or how it happened is not affirmative evidence that something else happened or how. This commonsense conclusion is particularly apt given the additional evidence in the record that fills in gaps in Byrd's recollection in a way that contradicts Robinson's speculation as to Russell's conduct. Specifically, Tugya's affidavit states that when he called Byrd during the Thursday evening search for the warrant, she advised that she had put the warrant in the visor of her patrol car earlier in the day, that he tracked down which patrol car she had used, and that officers found the warrant. Thus, the record evidence shows that Russell's conversation with Lioi led officers to Byrd and eventually to the discovery of the warrant. No reasonable jury could conclude in the face of this evidence that Russell had orchestrated the warrant being unavailable when Williams' self-surrendered or that Russell conspired to help Williams to evade arrest. To bolster its conclusion that Russell could be held liable, the dissent takes certain statements out of context to create the illusion that Russell's willingness to allow Williams to self-surrender was unprecedented. But the record demonstrates that Lioi estimated 15 to 20 people a year would self-surrender in the Eastern District, and Russell agreed that sounded right. J.A. 468. And while Russell admitted that "it could have been the only time" at the Eastern District that someone called and said he would self-surrender "more than 24 hours after the call," he immediately stated that "during [his] tenure, that has happened not an enormous amount, but it has happened before." J.A. 469. Moreover, Russell and Lioi stated repeatedly that the turn-ups revealed that Williams was not staying at his residence; that they did not know his precise whereabouts; that they repeatedly encouraged him to turn himself in; and that they wanted to keep him communicating and cooperating with them rather than go silent, so they were willing to have him return to self-surrender. To recap, the record demonstrates at most that Russell had the arrest warrant "pulled" and routed to the Eastern District. But the record does not support either Robinson's or the dissent's remaining characterizations of Russell's behavior during the events in question. When comparing this proper view of the record against what is required to survive summary judgment, Robinson has not proffered sufficient evidence to show that a jury could find that Russell's conduct created or increased any danger to Mrs. Williams. Russell could not create a pre-existing danger. See Doe , 795 F.3d at 439. Nor would his "act" of pulling the warrant to the Eastern District be the sort of conduct that could render him liable under the state-created danger theory. Not every act that could possibly "make[ ] injury at the hands of a third party more likely" gives rise to liability, only acts that are "more akin to ... directly causing harm" to Mrs. Williams would do so. Pinder , 54 F.3d at 1175, 1177. Russell's decision had only the sort of "downstream, but-for connection [that] simply stretches the 'affirmative acts' concept too far." Doe , 795 F.3d at 442. As such, this cannot be the basis of a state-created danger due process claim against Russell. C. Lioi and Russell's Decisions to Allow Williams to Leave the Eastern District Office and Self-Surrender "After the Weekend" Cannot Support Liability What remains is Robinson's reliance on Lioi and Russell's decisions relating to Williams' attempted and agreed-to self-surrenders. Given the evidence that developed at discovery, Robinson's argument concerning these events merely recharacterizes inactions or omissions related to executing a misdemeanor arrest warrant, conduct that makes this case indistinguishable from Town of Castle Rock , DeShaney , Pinder , and Doe . Given the "narrow limits ... to establish § 1983 liability based on a state-created danger theory," it is unsurprising that plaintiffs often attempt to recharacterize inactions and omissions as affirmative acts to satisfy their pleading and proof obligations. Doe , 795 F.3d at 439. What is more, we have previously cautioned that "courts should resist the temptation" to accept plaintiffs' attempts to "artfully recharacterize[ ]" inaction as action. Pinder , 54 F.3d at 1176 n.*. In Pinder , we observed that a plaintiff brought "purely an omission claim" when she argued that a police officer had affirmatively acted to enhance the danger posed by her ex-boyfriend when the officer reassured her that the ex-boyfriend would be "locked up overnight," but then decided to charge the ex-boyfriend with less serious offenses that resulted in his immediate release. Id. at 1172, 1176. That decision proved fatal, as it allowed the ex-boyfriend to return to the plaintiff's home and set it on fire, resulting in the deaths of the plaintiff's three children. Id. at 1172. In analyzing the plaintiff's state-created danger claim, we explained that "[n]o amount of semantics can disguise the fact that the real 'affirmative act' here was committed by" the ex-boyfriend, not by the officer. Id. at 1175. "[T]he state did not 'create' the danger, it simply failed to provide adequate protection from it," meaning that, at most, the state actors "stood by and did nothing when suspicious circumstances dictated a more active role." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). We held that the officer's conduct could not support a claim and further cautioned that were we to accept the plaintiff's definition of an "affirmative act," "every representation by the police and every failure to incarcerate would constitute 'affirmative actions,' giving rise to civil liability." Id. A decade after our decision in Pinder , the Supreme Court reiterated that "the benefit that a third party may receive from having someone else arrested for a crime generally does not trigger protections under the Due Process Clause, neither in its procedural nor in its 'substantive' manifestations." Town of Castle Rock , 545 U.S. at 768, 125 S.Ct. 2796. As often occurs in this type of case, Town of Castle Rock arose out of "horrible" circumstances-a woman obtained a restraining order against her husband, but the order gave him the right to visit the home to have limited interaction with the couple's three children on alternating weekends and, "upon reasonable notice," allowed for a "midweek dinner visit." Id. at 751-52, 125 S.Ct. 2796 (internal quotation marks omitted). Without any notice or coordination with his wife, the husband took his daughters from the home early on a weekday evening. Id. at 753, 125 S.Ct. 2796. When she discovered their absence, the wife called the police and asked them to enforce the restraining order. Id. The police "refused to do so," telling her to wait until 10:00 p.m. to see if the husband returned the girls home. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). She called the police again at 10:00 p.m. because they had not returned, and the police told her to wait until midnight. Id. She called a third time shortly after midnight, then went to her husband's apartment and found it empty, called the police again, and was told to wait for a police officer to arrive. Id. When no officer arrived, she went to the police station to file a report. Id. at 753-54, 125 S.Ct. 2796. "The officer who took the report made no reasonable effort to enforce the [restraining order] or locate the three children. Instead, he went to dinner." Id. at 754, 125 S.Ct. 2796 (internal quotation marks omitted). About two hours later, the husband appeared at the police station and opened fire. Id. After the husband was killed, police discovered that he had already murdered his three daughters. Id. The Supreme Court rejected the wife's claim that the police officers violated the Due Process Clause by "fail[ing] to respond properly to her repeated reports that her estranged husband was violating the terms of a restraining order." Id. at 751, 125 S.Ct. 2796. It observed that, despite the language mandating enforcement of the restraining order, "[a] well established tradition of police discretion has long coexisted with apparently mandatory arrest statutes." Id. at 760, 125 S.Ct. 2796. The Supreme Court noted that even if enforcement was mandatory, "that would not necessarily mean that" a private citizen has an "entitlement" to the enforcement of such an order. Id. at 764-65, 125 S.Ct. 2796. And, in any event, the Court concluded that any such right under state law would not necessarily "constitute a 'property' interest for purposes of the Due Process Clause." Id. at 766, 125 S.Ct. 2796. Consequently, the wife "did not, for purposes of the Due Process Clause, have a property interest in police enforcement of the restraining order against her husband." Id. at 768, 125 S.Ct. 2796. In so holding, the Court cautioned that the Fourteenth Amendment should not be treated "as a font of tort law." Id. (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Slaughter , 682 F.3d at 323 (discussing the dangers of constitutionalizing ordinary state tort claims). At its core, Robinson's claim suffers the same fundamental problem identified in Town of Castle Rock , DeShaney , Pinder , and Doe -an attempt to turn inactions and omissions into affirmative acts and to convert what might be a basis for state tort liability into a federal constitutional violation. As the Supreme Court recognized in Town of Castle Rock , even mandatory language in a temporary restraining order-or, here, an arrest warrant-does not strip police officers of enforcement discretion. When Lioi and Russell allowed Williams to self-surrender, they were exercising the long tradition of police discretion concerning the circumstances of enforcing a misdemeanor arrest warrant. See Town of Castle Rock , 545 U.S. at 760-61, 125 S.Ct. 2796. Exercising this sort of routine police discretion does not give rise to a state-created danger. Id. To hold otherwise would turn the thousands of instances where the police agree to allow a charged individual to self-surrender into a conspiracy to evade arrest. No precedent c