Civil Rights — qualified immunity

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Civil Rights — qualified immunity

A detainee does not have a clearly established constitutional right that release be delayed pending mental-health treatment, but it is clearly established that the police may not create a danger, without justification, by arresting someone in a safe place and releasing her in a hazardous one while unable to protect herself.

“They did not warn Eilman about the neighborhood’s dangers. They did not walk her to the nearest CTA station (parallel to driving Stevens to a phone), from which she could have reached a safer neighborhood in minutes. They did not drive her back to the airport, where she could have used her ticket to return to California. They did not put Eilman in contact with her mother, who had called the stationhouse repeatedly. Her mother could have called a car service to pick Eilman up and drive her to a hotel (or the airport), and told her to remain at the stationhouse until the car arrived. They did not even return Eilman’s cell phone, which she could have used to summon aid. They might as well have released her into the lions’ den at the Brookfield Zoo. See Bowers v. DeVito, 686 F.2d 616, 618 (7th Cir. 1982), which anticipated DeShaney but added that throwing someone into a snake pit would violate the due process clause.”

Affirmed in part, and Reversed in part.

10-1487 Paine v. Cason

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kendall, J., Easterbrook, J.