CA6: Arrest for public intox was not shown with a factual basis

The arrest of plaintiff for public intoxication was not shown to be objectively reasonable, so qualified immunity was properly denied. Haley v. Elsmere Police Dep’t, 452 Fed. Appx. 623, 2011 FED App. 0849N (6th Cir. 2011) (unpublished)*:

Under Haley’s version of the facts as they were known to Officer Markesbery, it was objectively unreasonable for an officer to believe he had probable cause to arrest Haley for alcohol intoxication. Though Haley stated that he had consumed two beers, and the officers saw him crouching down (perhaps appearing to be trying to vomit—though no one testified that he ever did vomit), nothing else about his conduct would have made a reasonable officer conclude he was “manifestly” intoxicated. Nor, under Haley’s version of the facts, was there any indication that he was unreasonably annoying anyone. A reasonable officer might have concluded that, had Haley been manifestly under the influence, he could have posed a danger to himself or others because he was in the parking lot, perhaps intending to get in his car. But since a reasonable officer could not have concluded he was manifestly intoxicated in the first place, that is irrelevant. And at any rate, Haley’s offer to submit to a breathalyzer undercuts any potential danger he might have posed by driving under the influence. Accepting Haley’s version of the facts, a reasonable officer could not have found the elements of the statutory offense of alcohol intoxication. The district court did not commit a purely legal error in denying summary judgment to Markesbery on the basis of qualified immunity.