United States District Court, D. Arizona
ORDER
DAVID
C. BURY, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
FINDINGS
OF FACT
To the
extent these Findings of Fact are also deemed to be
Conclusions of Law, they are hereby incorporated into the
Conclusions of Law that follow.
1. The
plaintiffs appear in court having filed a Federal Tort Claim
Act (FTCA) suit seeking damages for a battery committed by
Border Patrol Agent Joseph Spann, pursuant to 28 U.S.C
§1346(b)(1).
2. On
March 31, 2014, at about 12:15 a.m., Agent Spann was on foot
outside of his marked Border Patrol pickup truck, standing
between the open driver's side door and the driver's
seat, in a dirt area at the intersection of Federal Route 19
and San Miguel East. He was facing west towards Federal Route
19 and holding a GPS device.
3.
There was no moon light. There were neither street lights nor
any lights that illuminated the scene except for vehicle
lights.
4.
Agent Spann had parked his vehicle perpendicular to Federal
Route 19 with its headlights directed across the highway
toward the community center building in the small, spread
out, village of San Miguel and approximately 40 to 50 feet
from each roadway, with a small mesquite tree within
approximately 12 feet from the driver's side door.
5.
Shawn Miguel, Amon Chavez and Raymus Listo, the occupants of
Miguel's double cab pickup truck, Dodge Ram, were
intoxicated from malt liquor and had gone for a ride.
6.
Miguel drove to the community center and either pulled into
the parking area in front of the community center building
which was closed and U-turned back onto Federal Route 19 or
was just proceeding south on Federal Route 19, but either way
he turned left from Federal Route 19 towards Agent
Spann's parked vehicle, with the headlights of
Spann's parked vehicle shining directly at him.
7.
Agent Spann saw Miguel's truck coming southbound on
Federal Route 19 had slowed down or come to a stop almost
directly in front of where he was facing.
8.
Agent Spann heard the engine of the Dodge Ram bog down,
noticed its lights dim, and saw it turn left off Federal
Route 19 and come towards him.
9.
Miguel drove to the right of Agent Spann's parked
vehicle, first, towards the small mesquite tree and then to
avoid hitting the tree he veered towards Agent Spann's
parked vehicle, and the driver's side front bumper of
Miguel's truck clipped the door and rear panel of
Spann's vehicle as Miguel stopped his truck.
10. As
Miguel's vehicle approached, Agent Spann jumped into his
vehicle's driver seat moments before the Dodge Ram
collided with his driver's side door. The collision
pressed Agent Spann's driver's side door inward,
trapping his leg in the doorway and bruising it just above
the ankle causing Agent Spann to believe his leg was broken.
11.
Miguel immediately stopped his truck. At rest, his
driver's window was directly across from ...