United States District Court, W.D. Arkansas, Texarkana Division
ORDER
SUSAN
O. HICKEY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Before
the Court is Defendant Lisa Goodwin's Motion to Dismiss.
(ECF No. 10). Plaintiff has filed a response. (ECF No. 21).
The Court finds this matter ripe for consideration.
I.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff
is currently an inmate in the Miller County Detention Center
(“MCDC”) in Texarkana, Arkansas. On September 12,
2018, Plaintiff filed his Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983. (ECF No. 1). His application to proceed in
forma pauperis was granted the same day. (ECF No. 3). In
addition to Goodwin, Plaintiff names Charles Black, Brian
Tribble, and Zachery White as Defendants in this lawsuit.
Plaintiff
alleges that Defendant Goodwin is the manager at the
Whataburger restaurant in Texarkana. He claims she violated
his constitutional rights when she “accused me of
stealing out of a business . . . I didn't do it.”
Plaintiff states that because of Defendant's actions, he
was arrested and incarcerated based on charges that were
eventually nolle prossed. (ECF No. 1, pp. 4-7).
Attached
to Plaintiff's Complaint is the Affidavit of Defendant
Brian Tribble, dated June 7, 2018.[1] Defendant Tribble is a
Texarkana police officer. The Affidavit states in part:
That on Tuesday, 5th day of June 2018, the Texarkana Arkansas
Police Department, received a call at Whataburger, located at
4110 North State Line Avenue, of a theft already occurred.
That Officer Cobin Brown and Officer Landon Loe, made contact
with the complainant, Lisa Goodwin. Goodwin advised that an
unknown black male and an unknown white female entered the
building and split up. She states the white female entered
the restroom where she stayed for approximately 10, minutes,
meanwhile, the black male went to the counter and asked an
employee for a water cup. Goodwin advised the employee asked
her to keep an eye on the suspect as he thought the male was
attempting to steal a fountain drink because of his
suspicious behavior. Goodwin stated she watched the suspect
while trying to count the money in the manager's office
and watched him go to the fountain get a beverage. The
employee then made the suspect pay for the drink, due to it
not being water. Goodwin said after that she turned her head
for a few seconds to enter numbers on the computer. She said
when she turned back to look at the suspect, he was gone.
. . .
That Goodwin advised a short time later, the white female
exited the bathroom and also approached the counter to ask
for a water cup. Goodwin stated at this time, she observed
the laptop missing from the table and asked the employees
where it was. She was able to pull up security footage that
showed the male suspect walking over towards the booth table
that the laptop was sitting on and place his drink on the
table next to it. He then walks over to the outlet and
unplugs the laptop charger, collects the laptop and charger,
and exits the store using the West side entrance and walking
in an unknown direction.
. . .
I made contact with the complainant, Lisa Goodwin[, on the
same date]. I explained to her that we attempted to get a
photo of the suspects today from the store and were not able
to. She advised she could email me a photo of the suspects. A
short time later I received a photo of suspects.
(ECF No. 1, pp. 21-34). Defendant Goodwin later identified
Plaintiff as the individual she saw in the video taking the
laptop from her place of employment from a separate
photograph shown to her by Defendant Tribble. Plaintiff was
then charged and arrested for theft of property.
In the
instant Motion to Dismiss, Defendant Goodwin argues that
Plaintiff failed to state any claim that entitles him to
relief because she was not acting under color of law when she
provided information to the Texarkana police concerning the
theft of the laptop from Whataburger. (ECF No. 10). Plaintiff
filed a Response stating “the Fraud[u]lent Accusations
of Lisa Goodwin in The Police Report generated by Detectives
Brian Tribble and Sergeant Zachary White Insinuated felonious
Activities Perpetrated by Another Indivi[d]ual that Legally
and Publicly Impugh [sic] my chara[c]ter, and stole my
freedom.” (ECF No. 21). Plaintiff is ...