WEST PALM BEACH — A federal judge has declined to dismiss the lawsuit against fired Palm Beach Gardens officer Bethany Guerriero, who arrested an unarmed man at gunpoint after she said she mistook him for the gunman he called 911 to report.
Ryan Gould sued the officer in January over what his attorneys deemed false imprisonment and excessive use of force. Guerriero has denied violating any of Gould's "clearly established" constitutional rights and asked the judge to dismiss the suit before it goes to trial.
In an order released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks called parts of Guerriero's argument "misplaced" and "abandoned," a premature bid to invoke qualified immunity without actually calling it such. Qualified immunity protects officers so long as their conduct does not violate "clearly established" constitutional rights, or rights that a reasonable officer would know.
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"(Gould) has well plead that a gun was drawn on him while he was unarmed and the one who initially called the police for help," Middlebrooks wrote. "I cannot find as a matter of law, at this stage in the proceedings, that Defendant Guerriero is entitled to qualified immunity."
He added that Guerriero can revive the argument in a motion for summary judgement. The judge wrote that the facts surrounding Guerriero's conduct "create a question of reasonable force" — a question he said can be answered only after attorneys establish a record of evidence.
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Middlebrooks did not say whether he felt similarly about the conduct of Joseph Strzelecki, the rookie officer sued alongside Guerriero for helping arrest Gould. Strzelecki filed a motion for summary judgment last month asking the judge to forego a jury trial and rule in his favor.
The 28-year-old officer said he had no choice but to follow Guerriero's lead, brandishing his Taser for 23 seconds before re-holstering it. He told the judge he had no authority to tell Guerriero to put her gun away in the 12 seconds she aimed it at Gould and doubted she would have taken a rookie officer's directives anyway.
"Guerriero’s training and experience were significantly superior to Strzelecki," wrote his attorney, Scott Alexander of Fort Lauderdale. "In the moment, he could not question Guerriero’s observations since she was the one giving commands, and her vantage point different from his."
Middlebrooks has not yet ruled on Strzelecki's motion. If he grants summary judgment in Strzelecki's favor, the case would continue against Guerriero unless she, too, files a successful motion for summary judgment or settles the case outside of court.
Ryan Gould called 911 to report a crime but was accused of one instead
Guerriero and Strzelecki's encounter with Gould, captured in a viral YouTube video called "Innocent Man Arrested by Unhinged Cop," occurred in the parking lot of the Sabal Ridge apartment complex in Palm Beach Gardens on May 9, 2023. Two men had gotten into a verbal spat at the community swimming pool, and both called 911 to report the other.
The first caller, Benedetto Salvia, accused Gould of harassing his pregnant wife. The second, Gould, accused Salvia of threatening him with a gun. Surveillance-camera footage later refuted Salvia's account and confirmed Gould's.
Guerriero said she didn't know when she pulled into the apartment's parking lot which man had the gun. Though Gould wore only swim trunks and Crocs, Guerriero said she thought he may have concealed it in his pocket or beneath the towel on the ground behind him.
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She told Gould to keep his hands out of his pockets and drew her gun after he reached into one anyway. She held him at gunpoint for 12 seconds, appearing to grow angrier the more he insisted that he was a victim, not a suspect.
After holstering her gun, Guerriero made Gould lie bare-chested on the pavement while she handcuffed him. When asked why he was being arrested, Guerriero told him repeatedly to "shut your mouth."
"I've been here for 20 years, punk," she said. "I'm in charge. Not you."
She told her companions later that Gould was "possibly drugged" and kept reaching into his pockets despite her commands to stop — all of which was refuted by footage from the officer's body camera and the apartment's surveillance camera.
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Gould posted avideo of his arrestto YouTube days later. The YouTube channel LackLuster, which features videos of police misconduct,shared Gould's storyto an audience of more than 1 million viewers the following June.
The cityfired Guerriero two months laterfor violating several department policies, noting in its records that the filmed encounter brought "disrepute to the department on a large scale."
City officials did not elaborate on the incident that broughtGuerriero's careerto an end, but a 126-page investigative report released in September contained interviews with several colleagues who witnessed her behavior. Many described an officer who was "blinded" by rage, more interested in punishing Gould than in de-escalating the situation.
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"She's literally grimacing with her hands clutched," Sgt. Marc Glass said. "She has this scowl, tightened lips, the whole bit. Staring at him, Mr. Gould. She's just kind of moving back and forth with her hands."
Sgt. Dennis Beath said he had "never seen someone act like that."
Though she maintains she had probable cause to arrest Gould, Guerriero has said that a "cardiac incident" likely contributed to her conduct that day. While still at the apartment complex, Guerriero reported worsening pain in her chest and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she spent two days on the cardiac floor.
Guerriero earned more than $101,000 annually by the end of her career. She belonged to the department's hostage-negotiation team and was praised in several employee reviews for her composure during stressful situations.
Hannah Phillips covers criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her athphillips@pbpost.com.Help support our journalism andsubscribe today.
