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Police may be sued for releasing mentally ill detainee, rules 7th Circuit

By: RENI GERTNER//May 2, 2012//

Police may be sued for releasing mentally ill detainee, rules 7th Circuit

By: RENI GERTNER//May 2, 2012//

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Police officers who arrested a woman who exhibited symptoms of a mental health disorder in a safe location but released her into a dangerous neighborhood may be sued under §1983, the 7th Circuit has ruled.

The woman was arrested after she was singing loudly and screaming at people in a bus terminal outside Chicago Midway Airport. She had developed bipolar disorder the prior year after a car accident.

While in custody, she refused to answer questions and screamed on a few occasions. In phone calls, her mother and stepfather informed the police of her mental health status, but the information either wasn’t taken seriously or wasn’t recorded in her file.

She was released in an area with a high crime rate and soon went with a group of men to an apartment in a public housing project where she was raped at knifepoint. She then fell out of a window, either because she was trying to escape or was pushed out, and suffered permanent brain damage.

Her mother sued the city of Chicago and several police officers and station aides under §1983.

The police officers argued that they were entitled to qualified immunity.

But the court said some of the officers could be sued.

“The police arrested [the woman] at Midway Airport, where she was safe, and let her go 7.3 miles away, just before nightfall, in a dangerous neighborhood. … [T]he police, who not only created the extra risk by moving [her to a station in another district] but also were aware of the crime problem in and near the [housing project] – and, we must assume, aware that [the detainee] was mentally unstable and unable to protect herself – did nothing to mitigate that risk,” the court said.

It went on to hold that “[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, and it is also clearly established that police must arrange for medical treatment of serious conditions while custody continues.”

Under this standard, the court said that certain defendants were entitled to immunity, others were not and two required further proceedings.

U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit. Paine v. Cason, 10-1487.

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