FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION APR 23 2015
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RAMON JOSE VASQUEZ, No. 12-17413
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 5:10-cv-00948-EJD
v.
MEMORANDUM*
BRIAN FERRANTE, individually and as
an officer of the San Jose Police
Department; TOM MORALES,
individually and as an officer of the San
Jose Police Department,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California
Edward J. Davila, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted April 17, 2015 **
San Francisco, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without
oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Before: TROTT and GRABER, Circuit Judges, and RESTANI, Judge.**
Ramon Jose Vasquez contests the district court’s grant of summary
judgment in favor of the law enforcement appellees in this action brought pursuant
to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 for wrongful arrest and subsequent detention
without probable cause. We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
The officers had probable cause to arrest Vasquez, causing him to be held in
jail for five months. The totality of the facts and circumstances known to them
included two separate photographic identifications by witnesses at the scene.
Moreover, Vasquez generally fit many of the descriptions given before his arrest of
the person who killed Rojelio Silva during the confrontation outside of In-N-Out
Burger; Vasquez was the part-owner of a distinctive vehicle identified as being at
the location of the shooting; and he was previously involved in a criminal incident
suggesting association with Norteño gang members.
The factors Vasquez claims negate probable cause do not. As Judge Davila
noted, they were irrelevant or immaterial. See Hervey v. Estes, 65 F.3d 784, 788-
90 (9th Cir. 1995). Also, Vasquez mistakenly attributes one of those factors --
**
The Honorable Jane A. Restani, Judge for the U.S. Court of
International Trade, sitting by designation.
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Vasquez’s “documented” gang association -- to Sgt. Morales in his application for
an arrest warrant. The statement of which Vasquez complains was made in an
application for a search warrant made by Sgt. Ferrante. The search warrant has
nothing to do with Vasquez’s complaint.
In fine, there are no falsehoods in this case attributable to Sgt. Morales, the
arresting officer, and no indication whatsoever of a reckless disregard for the truth.
Vasquez’s subsequent vindication by the court is of no consequence to what
went on before. The Supreme Court said in Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 126
(2000), “Indeed, the Fourth Amendment accepts [the risk of detaining innocent
people in a Terry stop] in connection with more drastic police action; persons
arrested and detained on probable cause to believe they have committed a crime
may turn out to be innocent.”
AFFIRMED.
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