Training.

U.S. District Court

FAILURE TO TRAIN

Craw v. Gray 159 F.Supp.2d 679 (N.D.Ohio 2001). An arrestee sued law enforcement officers under [section] 1983 asserting claims for use of excessive force. The district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the officers, finding that the allegations did not support a claim for inadequate training of an officer and that past "use of force" incident reports did not support the claim for inadequate supervision of the officer. According to the court, the assertion that a particular officer may be unsatisfactorily trained does not alone "suffice to fasten ?? 1983 liability" on a municipality for failure to train. The court noted that none of the reports showed that the deputy acted improperly. The officer had brought the arrestee to a county jail and during the booking process an altercation between the arrestee and the officer resulted in a right hip fracture and dislocation for the arrestee. (Mercer County Jail, Ohio)

FAILURE TO TRAIN

U.S. District Court

McCray v. City of Dothan 169 F.Supp.2d 1260 (M.D.Ala. 2001). A deaf African-American plaintiff brought a civil rights action against police officers and a city. The district court declined to enter summary judgment in favor of the defendants on assault and false imprisonment claims. The court held that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the city was guilty of failure to take disciplinary action against police officers for constitutional violations, such that its inaction amounted to the type of informal policy or custom that was actionable under ?? 1983. According to the court, the frequency of constitutional violations may, in itself, provide sufficient circumstantial evidence that a municipality has chosen to allow its officers to act without adequate training. The court held that officers did not act with deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's medical needs even though they delayed treatment. The court held that summary judgment for the defendants was precluded by a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the officers acted in bad faith, with malice or willfulness, in unlawfully stopping and arresting the plaintiff and by misstating that he resisted arrest and assaulted them. (City of Dothan, Alabama)

FAILURE TO TRAIN

U.S. Appeals Court

Watkins v. City of Battle Creek. 273 F.3d 682 (6th Cir. 2001). The personal representative of the estate of a prisoner who died in jail custody, after denying that he had ingested cocaine and refusing medical treatment, brought a federal civil rights suit against a city, county and various officials and employees. The district court entered summary judgment for the defendants and the appeals court affirmed. The appeals court held that the arresting officers and jail personnel were not deliberately indifferent to the detainee's rights in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that the detainee was not punished in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The court found that the city and county could not be held liable for failure to train, in the absence of a constitutional violation by individual defendants. According to the court, jail personnel were not deliberately indifferent to the medical needs of the detainee even though he exhibited some behavioral symptoms at the time of intake, where the personnel aske d the detainee whether he had swallowed drugs, stated that they would get him medical help if he had and that he would not face additional charges, and generally kept him under observation even though one officer failed to do so. The court noted that detainee repeatedly denied ingesting drugs, refused medical treatment, and offered an alternative explanation for his symptoms. (Battle Creek Police Department and Calhoun County Jail, Michigan)