PHILIP A. BRIMMER, District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on the Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge (the "Recommendation") [Docket No. 63] filed on November 13, 2012. The magistrate judge recommends that the Court grant the Motion for Summary Judgment [Docket No. 54] filed by defendants Jeffery Behnke and Micheal May. On February 19, 2013, plaintiff Darwynn Barwick filed timely objections [Docket Nos. 78, 83] to the Recommendation.
The Recommendation found that plaintiff could not pursue a Fourth Amendment claim based on defendants' alleged lack of probable cause for his arrest. Docket No. 63 at 2. Plaintiff does not raise any specific objections to this aspect of the recommendation. See United States v. 2121 East 30th St., 73 F.3d 1057, 1060 (10th Cir. 1996) (noting that "objections to [a] magistrate judge's report and recommendation must be both timely and specific to preserve an issue for de novo review by the district court"). In the absence of an objection, the Court may review a magistrate judge's recommendation under any standard it deems appropriate. See Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 150 (1985) ("[i]t does not appear that Congress intended to require district court review of a magistrate's factual or legal conclusions, under a de novo or any other standard, when neither party objects to those findings"). Upon review, the Court finds no error with this aspect of the Recommendation. Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b); see Docket No. 14 at 6-7 (noting that plaintiff's claims against defendants shall proceed with respect to the selective law enforcement claim only).
With regard to plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment claim, the Recommendation concluded that plaintiff did not present sufficient evidence from which a jury could find that defendants arrested plaintiff because of a discriminatory motive and that plaintiff's arrest had a discriminatory effect. Docket No. 63 at 9-10. Specifically, the Recommendation determined that the evidence in the record established that defendants had probable cause to arrest plaintiff based on Scott Sickler's testimony, which was corroborated by Ebony Cunningham, a witness to the events at issue. Id. at 10. Without evidence of a discriminatory motive, the Recommendation found that plaintiff could not establish that defendants violated his Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from racially selective law enforcement. Id. at 10-11.
In his objections, plaintiff argues that the Recommendation erred because it identified the date of the incident as July 27, 2012 and not July 27, 2010. Docket No. 78 at 1. Additionally, plaintiff contends that he should not have been arrested because his use of force against Mr. Sickler was justified as he used only the force reasonably necessary to protect his home. Id. at 3. Plaintiff also asserts that defendants arrested him because of his race, as opposed to Mr. Sickler, who is a white individual with a prior conviction for domestic violence. Id. Moreover, plaintiff claims that he can show that defendants had a discriminatory motive as shown by their not reviewing Mr. Sickler's criminal history and by their interviewing Mr. Cunningham, but none of plaintiff's other neighbors. Docket No. 83 at 8-9.
In order to establish an equal protection claim based on racially selective law enforcement, a plaintiff must present evidence that an officer's actions had a discriminatory effect and were motivated by a discriminatory purpose. Marshall v. Columbia Lea Reg'l Hosp., 345 F.3d 1157, 1168 (10th Cir. 2003). To show a discriminatory effect, a plaintiff must "make a credible showing that a similarly-situated individual of another race could have been, but was not, arrested . . . for the offense for which" plaintiff was arrested. United States v. James, 257 F.3d 1173, 1179 (10th Cir. 2001). The discriminatory purpose element requires a showing that a discriminatory intent was a "motivating factor in the decision." United States v. Alcaraz-Arellano, 441 F.3d 1252, 1264 (10th Cir. 2006); United States v. Hernandez-Chaparro, 357 F. App'x 165, 166 (10th Cir. 2009) ("Those seeking to establish an equal protection claim based on selective law enforcement face a high burden: they must dispel the presumption that a law enforcement official has not violated the Equal Protection Clause with `clear evidence to the contrary'") (citation omitted).
The Court finds that the Recommendation's reference to 2012 is merely a clerical error and does not call into question the Recommendation's legal conclusions. See Alcaraz-Arellano, 441 F.3d at 1264 (noting that to establish a claim of selective enforcement, a plaintiff must produce "some evidence" of both discriminatory effect and discriminatory intent). In addition, the fact that plaintiff is black while Mr. Sickler is white is, by itself, insufficient to show that defendants arrested plaintiff because of a discriminatory motive. Id. ("the standard for proving a selective-enforcement claim . . . [is] `a demanding one'") (citation omitted). It is undisputed that Mr. Cunningham, one of plaintiff's neighbors, told defendants that he witnessed plaintiff "knock [Mr. Sickler] on the ground and grab[] [Mr. Sickler] around his chest with [Mr. Sickler's] head in [plaintiff's] chest." Docket No. 54-4 at 1. Based on Mr. Cunningham's account of the incident, which was corroborated by Mr. Sickler, defendants had sufficient probable cause to arrest plaintiff.
Next, plaintiff claims that a jury could find that defendants had a discriminatory motive because they "cleared" his criminal record by checking his name and birth date in the criminal database, while they did not do the same for Mr. Sickler. Docket No. 83 at 6. However, there is no evidence that defendants reviewed plaintiff's criminal history because of plaintiff's race. Plaintiff also does not provide evidence showing that these Denver Police officers routinely review the criminal histories of individuals that are not arrested. See Blackwell v. Strain, 496 F. App'x 836, 846 (10th Cir. 2012) (finding that plaintiff had failed to show that a police officer behaved the way he did, even in part, because plaintiff was black because it was just as likely that the officer "behaves in this same manner toward all of the truckers he interacts with at the POE, regardless of their race"); Johnson v. Crooks, 326 F.3d 995, 1000 (8th Cir. 2003) (stating that "the Johnsons have offered no evidence that Crooks does not stop non-African Americans under similar circumstances," but instead, "rely on Ms. Johnson's personal opinion that she was stopped on account of her race, plus additional aspects of the encounter that do not directly evidence racial animus"). Without evidence that defendants acted contrary to their standard practices when they did not check Mr. Sickler's criminal history, the Court finds that no reasonable juror could conclude that defendants were motivated by a racially discriminatory motive. Blackwell, 496 F. App'x at 846.
Additionally, plaintiff does not explain the relevance of Mr. Sickler's prior conviction. The simple fact that Mr. Sickler might have a prior conviction for domestic violence does not rebut defendants' reasonable belief that Mr. Sickler's actions on that day did not warrant arrest. Moreover, to the extent plaintiff argues that a reasonable jury could find that defendants had a discriminatory motive because they relied on Mr. Cunningham's testimony and did not interview plaintiff's neighbors, plaintiff has not identified a single one of his neighbors that was a witness to these events and was willing to provide a statement to defendants. Docket No. 63 at 4. Without evidence that defendants intentionally ignored witnesses, no reasonable juror could find that defendants acted with a discriminatory motive when they did not interview plaintiff's neighbors. Blackwell, 496 F. App'x at 846. Thus, because plaintiff does not make a credible showing that defendants' discriminatory intent was a "motivating factor" in their arrest decision, the Court need not address whether defendants' actions had a discriminatory effect. See James, 257 F.3d at 1181 (declining to consider evidence of discriminatory intent because defendants failed to establish discriminatory intent); United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 463 (1996). Accordingly, the Court finds no error with the Recommendation's finding that plaintiff fails to raise a genuine dispute of material fact showing that his arrest was the result of racially selective law enforcement. Accordingly, defendants are entitled to summary judgment on this claim.
Given that plaintiff does not present sufficient facts establishing that defendants violated his constitutional rights, it is unnecessary for the Court to determine whether defendants are entitled to qualified immunity. Dubbs v. Head Start, Inc., 336 F.3d 1194, 1217 n. 15 (10th Cir. 2003) (upholding district court's ruling and finding that there was no need to reach the issue of qualified immunity because the defendants were objectively reasonable); Schnebelen v. Porter, 434 F. App'x 765, 766 (10th Cir. 2011) (same).
While this case was on appeal, plaintiff filed a Motion to Alter Judgment [Docket No. 75], and a Motion for an Extension of Time to file Objections to the Recommendation [Docket No. 76]. With regard to plaintiff's motion to alter judgment, a Rule 59 motion is warranted in the event of "(1) an intervening change in the controlling law, (2) new evidence previously unavailable, [or] (3) the need to correct clear error or prevent manifest injustice."
With regard to plaintiff's motion for an extension of time, given that plaintiff has already filed two objections to the Recommendation [Docket Nos. 78, 83], the Court finds that a further extension of time is not warranted and will deny the motion.
For the foregoing reasons, it is