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Governmental Liability: Supervision
Monthly Law Journal Article: Civil Liability for Use of Deadly Force-- Part Three. Supervisory Liability and Negligent/Accidental Acts, 2008 (1) AELE Mo. L.J. 101.
The plaintiffs, who were former participants in a county drug court, sued the county and other defendants, claiming that a former sheriff’s department lieutenant violated their substantive due process rights by committing repeated acts of sexual abuse against them while serving as the monitor (“tracker”) of drug court participants. Upholding the denial of the county’s post-verdict motion, a federal appeals court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s finding that the county was deliberately indifferent to the obvious risk that its failure to supervise the lieutenant would result in the violation of the plaintiffs’ rights. A total of $2,250,000 in damages were awarded to four plaintiffs. S.M. v. Lincoln County, Missouri, #16-3451, 2017 U.S. App. Lexis 21316 (8th Cir.).
A
police officer responding to a woman's 911 call about a fight with her teenage
son at her home late at night allegedly raped her. He was subsequently
arrested, fired, and committed suicide. The woman sued the police department,
asserting claims for inadequate hiring and training, inadequate investigation
of a prior sexual assault complaint against the officer, and inadequate
discipline and supervision. The trial court held that a reasonable jury could
conclude that the officer acted under color of state law, but granted summary
judgment for the defendants because the plaintiff failed to prove that they
caused the rape or acted with deliberate indifference to the risk that it would
occur. A federal appeals court agreed. "The events alleged in this case
are tragic, and Officer Coyne's alleged conduct was a terrible crime. The state
cannot prosecute Officer Coyne because he is dead, and Ms. Schneider is left
with suing his supervisors and employer. . . . to hold [defendants] liable for
Officer Coyne's actions, she faces stringent proof requirements under 1983 law,
proof she is unable to muster." Schneider v. City of Grand Junction,
#12-1086, 2013 U.S. App. Lexis 11247 (10th Cir.).
A man and woman were
attacked and bitten by the same canine unit police dog in separate incidents. A
federal appeals court upheld the denial of summary judgment to the dog's
handler, the chief of police, and the city on excessive force, failure to
supervise, and failure to properly train claims. There was evidence that the
dog was involved in biting incidents with growing frequency and that his
certifications had lapsed. The handler had told supervisors that he had been
unable to keep up with maintenance training of the dog and asked repeatedly for
time to attend training sessions, only to have those requests denied. The
handler was also not entitled to qualified immunity, since there was evidence
which could be interpreted as showing that he violated clearly established law
by using an inadequately trained dog to attempt to apprehend two non-fleeing
suspects, and did so without giving any warnings. There were disputed facts
suggesting that the police chief failed to create a needed training policy and
ignored complaints about the dog. Summary judgment was also properly denied on
state law assault and battery claims since there was evidence to suggest that
the handler used the dog with a malicious purpose. Campbell v. City of
Springboro, #11-3589, 2012 U.S. App. Lexis 24548, 2012 Fed. App. 393P (6th
Cir.).
A woman allegedly raped by a police officer
contended that the city had acted with deliberate indifference to her
constitutional rights in failing to properly supervise the officer. She pointed
to prior incidents, including the city becoming aware that the officer was
dating and having sex with a minor, that he consumed too much alcohol or was
drugged at a bar, and that he was found on the rooftop of a building with
cracked ribs. She also asserted that he had previously left his badge and
uniform with a minor, damaged his patrol car, did not respond in a timely
manner to a car accident, and failed to perform a field sobriety test when he
finally responded. While many of these incidents were not similar to the alleged
rape, the fact that the city and a sergeant allegedly knew of the officer's sex
with a minor who could not legally consent justified denying the city's motion
for summary judgment on the claim that this made it predictable that the rape
was a consequence of the failure of the city to adequately investigate,
supervise, and/or fire him. Arnold v. City of San Antonio, #SA-07-CA-877, 2009
U.S. Dist. Lexis 32744 (W.D. Tex.).
A family's assertion that a man was unarmed and
posing no threat to anyone when police officers shot and killed him during a
drug raid on a housing project stated a viable claim for excessive use of
force. The plaintiffs further stated a viable possible claim for supervisory
liability based on their allegations that a drug unit supervisor directly
participated in the raid and that a police department superintendent and the
supervisor both failed to adequately train, discipline, and monitor the police
officers involved in the incident. Rivera v. Sanchez-Ramos, Civil No. 05-2146,
2008 U.S. Dist. Lexis 60303 (D. P.R.).
A man was allegedly falsely arrested and
convicted for public indecency in exposing himself at a library. The
application for the arrest warrant allegedly failed to include the victim's
physical description of the offender or that given by witnesses, and did not
state that fingerprint analysis was incomplete and that the plaintiff had not
been identified by the witnesses or victim. His conviction was overturned after
fingerprints from books that the perpetrator had handled turned out to belong
to another man. But the arrestee failed to show that the town should be held
liable, as there was no defect in the police department's policies that caused
his arrest. The mere fact that the plaintiff was falsely arrested was insufficient
to show that the city failed to adequately train or supervise officers. Seri v.
Town of Newton, Civil Action No. 3:03cv1301, 2008 U.S. Dist. Lexis 66039 (D.
Conn.).
A woman who claimed that she was sexually
assaulted by a former police officer claimed that her rape was the result of
the police chief's failure to adequately supervise the officer. A federal
appeals court found that summary judgment for the police chief and city were
proper because there was insufficient evidence that the police chief acted with
deliberate indifference. While the chief knew of four prior excessive force and
unlawful arrest allegations against the officer, all arising from the same
incident, prior to the alleged rape, there were no accusations that the officer
engaged in sexual misconduct. In the absence of a pattern of similar incidents
involving sexual misconduct, the plaintiff could not establish deliberate
indifference as required for a failure to supervise claim. The appeals court
did, however, uphold a jury's award of $50,000 in compensatory and $250,000 in
punitive damages against the former officer, and rejected arguments that the
punitive damage award was excessive. Lewis v. Pugh, No. 07-40662, 2008 U.S.
App. Lexis 17748 (Unpub. 5th Cir.).
In a prior lawsuit concerning the fatal shooting
of a suspect by police, the shooting was found to be legally justified. The
decedent's mother and estate then sued another officer, seeking to hold him
liable for the death on the basis that he was the highest ranking officer
present. The result in the prior lawsuit barred this claim. Easley v. Reuss,
No. 06-1646, 2007 U.S. App. Lexis 22352 (7th Cir.).
Sheriff was not individually liable for alleged
use of excessive force against arrestee by deputy on the basis of failure to
properly supervise him when there were no prior complaints about the deputy's
conduct. Marley v. Crawford County, Arkansas, No. 04-2042, 383 F. Supp. 2d 1129
(W.D. Ark. 2005). [N/R]
The mere fact that a number of officers were
involved in the warrantless arrest of residents in their home, and that a
number of constitutional violations allegedly occurred during the incident was
insufficient to show that the city failed to properly train and supervise the
officers. There were no facts alleged to show how such purported inadequacies
in training or supervision caused the plaintiffs' damages. Gast v. Singleton,
No. Civ.A. G-05-427, 400 F. Supp. 2d 794 (S.D. Tex. 2005). [N/R]
Man exonerated, by DNA evidence, of attempted
rape after serving five years of a 70 year sentence failed to show that his
constitutional rights were violated, or his wrongful conviction and
imprisonment caused, by improperly conducted photo arrays or lineup,
destruction of evidence, racial discrimination, or claimed city policies of
inadequate training and supervising of officers. Alexander v. City of S. Bend,
No. 042535, 2006 U.S. App. Lexis 2 (7th Cir.). [2006 LR Feb]
Police officers were not entitled to summary
judgment on claim that they used excessive force against individuals seeking to
file a complaint at a police station, but there was no evidence on which to
base the plaintiffs' claims against the police superintendent and a police
sergeant for supervisory liability. Vega v. Vivoni, No. CIV.02-1754, 389 F. Supp.
2d 160 (D. Puerto Rico 2005). [N/R]
Commander of a local law enforcement drug unit
was entitled to qualified immunity from excessive force claims asserted by an
arrestee when there was no evidence showing that he personally participated in
any alleged unlawful conduct or created any rule or custom that led to such
conduct. Jones v. Pandey, No. 1:04-CV-99, 390 F. Supp. 2d 1371 (M.D. Ga. 2005).
[N/R]
D.C.'s failure to discipline a police officer for
allegedly improperly assaulting and arresting her brother-in-law was not an
adequate basis for a federal civil rights claim against the municipality for
inadequate supervision. The officer's conduct was investigated, her police
powers were suspended during the investigation, and the officer was then provided
with counseling about being involved in domestic disputes, which showed that
the District was not deliberately indifferent to any existing problem. McRae v.
Olive, No. CIV.A 03-00696, 368 F. Supp. 2d 91 (D.D.C. 2005). [N/R]
Police chief and SWAT team leader were entitled
to qualified immunity on claims for supervisory liability in case where SWAT
officer entering residence shot and killed a man inside the home within two
seconds, and the plaintiffs claimed that the decedent was unarmed. Nothing showed
that they made a deliberate choice to inadequately train or supervise the
officer, which caused the alleged deprivation of the decedent's rights. Estate
of Davis v. City of North Richland Hills, No. 04-10036, 2005 U.S. App. Lexis
5893 (5th Cir.) [2005 LR Jun]
Deputy who intentionally rammed a speeding
motorist he was pursuing, rendering the driver a quadriplegic, was not entitled
to qualified immunity when the motorist's only offense was speeding.
Supervisor, who authorized a safer "Precision Intervention Technique"
(PIT), which the deputy did not carry out, was entitled to summary judgment.
Harris v. Coweta County, No. 03-15094, 2005 U.S. App. Lexis 6721 (11th Cir.).
[2005 LR Jun]
In a lawsuit claiming that federal agents had
violated the Fourth Amendment in the course of retrieving documents from a
medical office responsive to a subpoena in a regulatory enforcement action, the
agents' supervisors could not be held liable for damages when they had no
personal involvement in the incidents in question. Van Eck v. Cimahosky, 329 F.
Supp. 2d 265 (D. Conn. 2004). [N/R]
There were genuine issues of fact as to whether police
officers arresting anti-abortion demonstrators who had chained themselves
together had used excessive force, precluding summary judgment in the
demonstrators' federal civil rights lawsuit. There were also factual issues as
to whether the town failed to adequately supervise its officers, but no
evidence that the town inadequately trained its officers on the use of force.
Amnesty America v. Town of West Hartford, #03-7332, 361 F.3d 113 (2nd Cir.
2004). [N/R]
Jury verdict awarding damages on the basis of
officer's alleged unreasonable use of deadly force in shooting and killing a
woman armed with two knives inside her house with family members upheld.
Intermediate California appeals court, however, rules that city, while
vicariously liable for officer's actions, could not be held liable on theories
of inadequate training or supervision or other "direct negligence"
theories, in the absence of a clear statutory duty which was breached. Munoz v.
City of Union City, No. A095846, 2004 Cal. App. Lexis 1187 (Cal. 1st App.
Dist.). [2004 LR Sep]
Supervisors of police officers who allegedly attacked
political demonstrators at Presidential Inaugural Parade could not be held
personally liable on alleged failure to properly train and supervise their
subordinates, in the absence of any knowledge of past transgressions making
such misconduct likely. International Action Center v. United States, No.
03-5163, 365 F.3d 20 (D.C. Cir. 2004). [2004 LR Aug]
Former Massachusetts Commissioner of Public
Safety was not liable, on the basis of his role as supervisor, for state
trooper's allegedly unlawful strip search of and lewd comments to female
motorist during vehicle stop. Commissioner's prior discipline of trooper
following investigation of four prior incidents, which included a six-month
suspension without pay, could not be said to show deliberate indifference to
the rights of female motorists. Clancy v. McCabe, 805 N.E.2d 484 (Mass. 2004).
[2004 LR Aug]
Police officials were not entitled to qualified
immunity on supervisory liability claims based on their allowing a sergeant to
supervise a "high impact" unit which was involved in the shooting
death of a suspect. This was based on the sergeant's past disciplinary record,
which allegedly showed that he could not control his emotions and was not
"truthful and honest." There was a factual issue as to whether the
officers allegedly involved in misconduct in the suspect's death acted on the
sergeant's orders and whether the failure of higher-up supervisors to take
stronger measures to discipline the sergeant had an "affirmative
link" to the alleged violation of the decedent's rights. Court also holds,
as to the officers, that there was a genuine factual issue as to whether the
decedent had been carrying a gun and whether the officers planted a rifle next
to his body after he was shot. Officers were therefore not entitled to
qualified immunity on excessive force claim or judgment as a matter of law on
defamation claim arising from publication in newspaper of photo showing gun
next to body. Gonzalez Perez v. Gomez Aguila, 312 F. Supp. 2d 161 (D. Puerto
Rico 2004). [N/R]
Arrestee's civil rights complaint, in
restating the legal standard for supervisory liability and then alleging that
the supervisor failed to train and supervise officers, was insufficient to
state a claim for supervisory liability for officers' alleged false arrest and
malicious prosecution of plaintiff, when there were no facts alleged to show
that the defendant police superintendent had notice of the officers' purported
misconduct or to connect his conduct to their actions. Also, as a matter of
federal law, the fact that the year that the plaintiff's claim accrued was a
leap year, with 366 rather than 365 days did not entitle him to an extra day to
file his complaint to comply with a one-year statute of limitations, when the
incident occurred past the month of February. Rodriguez Esteras v. Solivan
Diaz, 266 F. Supp. 2d 270 (D. Puerto Rico 2003). [N/R]
Officer acted in an objectively unreasonable
manner in placing a man under arrest merely for being present at a drug raid on
the basis of unsubstantiated evidence that he had arrived there by riding in a
truck owned by someone else in which drug paraphernalia had been found. He was
therefore not entitled to qualified immunity, although supervising officer on
drug raid was, since his alleged approval of the arrest was not based on
anything other than a brief conversation with the arresting officer. Evett v.
Detntff, No. 02-40686, 330 F.3d 681 (5th Cir. 2003). [2003 LR Oct]
Failure to show that alleged false arrest and
excessive use of force by deputies was caused by policies or customs of
sheriff's office amounting to inadequate training and supervision precluded
claims for liability against the sheriff in his official capacity. The sheriff
could also not be held liable personally when he played no personal role in the
incidents at issue. Seegars v. Adcox, 258 F. Supp. 2d 1370 (S.D. Ga. 2002).
[N/R]
Female motorist allegedly physically assaulted
without justification by state police officer following a routine traffic stop
adequately stated a claim for violation of her civil rights by supervisory
personnel based on officer's alleged history of past misconduct and their
failure to take corrective action. McGrath v. Scott, No. CIV.02-1605PHXROS, 250
F. Supp. 2d 1218 (D. Ariz. 2003). [2003 LR Aug]
Man who spent fourteen years in prison following
his conviction for sexually molesting his daughter before he was released based
on the non-disclosure of certain items of evidence failed to show that sheriff
and sergeant were aware or should have been aware of deputy's alleged creation
of false testimony. Modahl v. County of Kern, #01-15669, 61 Fed. Appx. 394 (9th
Cir. 2003). [N/R]
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and two
other high-level federal officials entitled to qualified immunity from
liability for alleged excessive use of force by armed federal agents who
executed search and arrest warrants to extract 6 year-old Cuban refugee from a
relative's house. Gonzalez v. Reno, No. 01-14475, 2003 U.S. App. Lexis 5762
(11th Cir). [2003 LR May]
Police supervisor was entitled to qualified
immunity for state trooper's alleged videotaping of female civilian who was
serving as a model for a training video while she undressed in an office to
prepare for her role. Poe v. Leonard, #00-9024, 282 F.3d 123 (2nd Cir. 2002).
[2002 LR Jun]
Sheriff could not be held liable for
"acquiescing" in deputy's alleged "improper conduct" with
female passenger in his vehicle when he never learned of it until after a
lawsuit was filed; deputy who filed bankruptcy could not be sued for this
conduct when plaintiff took no steps in court to object to the discharge of the
claim or to seek an exception to the discharge. Moor v. Madison County
Sheriff's Department, No. 00-6004, 30 Federal Appendix 417 (6th Cir. 2002).
[2002 LR Jun]
A possible claim for supervisory liability was
stated by plaintiffs who claimed that supervisors of undercover drug agents
selected agents with "inclinations" towards violence and "poor
psychological profiles," and knew about, yet failed to investigate prior
incidents of brutality. Adorno Colon v. Toledo Davila, 137 F. Supp. 2d 39 (D.
Puerto Rico 2001). [N/R]
Evidence of supervisor's "direct
participation" in arrest or gross negligence in supervising arresting
officer was insufficient for submission to the jury; supervisor's mere presence
in police headquarters and instructions to officer to "go handle" a
developing problem between the plaintiff and the desk clerk was insufficient
for liability. Court upholds jury's award, however, of $1 in nominal damages
and $10,000 in punitive damages against arresting officer, based on evidence
supporting argument that officer was not justified in believing that arrestee
made "unreasonable noise" within the meaning of disorder conduct
statute. Provost v. City of Newburgh, #00-7790, 262 F.3d 146 (2nd Cir. 2001).
[N/R]
Hospital employee's claim that deputy sheriff's
supervisor was present when the deputy handcuffed her to a metal cart in the
hospital elevator as a "joke," but did nothing to stop this was
sufficient to state a claim for supervisor liability for violation of her
Fourth Amendment rights. Lara v. County of San Mateo, No. C-01-1265, 163 F.
Supp. 2d 1107 (N.D. Cal. 2001). [2002 LR Feb]
345:131 Arrestee stated claim for supervisory
liability against police commissioner by alleging that he inadequately trained
officers in making traffic stops and detaining suspects, and also knew that
officers were "fabricating" cases against detainees in order to
"cover-up" their own illegal conduct, but did nothing to stop such
falsification. Cruz v. Municipality of San Juan, 140 F. Supp. 2d 140 (D. Puerto
Rico 2001).
343:103 City could not be held liable for deaths
of motorists killed in a collision with a pursued car, regardless of the
constitutionality of the city's policies, training and supervision on
high-speed pursuits, when individual officers involved in the chase did not
violate the decedents' constitutional rights. Trigalet v. City of Tulsa, Okl.,
#98- 5261, 239 F.3d 1150 (10th Cir. 2001).
City was not entitled to summary judgment on
arrestee's claim that there was inadequate training and supervision on how to
handle circumstances in which a judge has denied a warrant to search or seize
an individual but officers believe that there is probable cause to do so.
Pappas v. New Haven Police Dept., 175 F. Supp. 2d 288 (D. Conn. 2001). [N/R]
[N/R] Deliberate indifference or recklessness was
the proper legal standard for determining supervisory liability in a federal
civil rights claim, but supervisor was not liable for plaintiff's alleged
arrest without probable cause absent evidence that he was awar of a risk that
an officer was obtaining an unconstitutional arrest warrant. Schneider v.
Simonini, 749 A.2d 836 (N.J. 2000).
340:62 Sheriff had no supervisory liability for
deputy's theft of arrestee's gold ring when he had established a policy for
safeguarding arrestee property as well as procedures to investigate complaints,
and had no prior notice of deputy's alleged propensities. Miller v. Kupchunos,
106 F. Supp. 2d 340 (D. Conn. 2000).
340:51 Police supervisor who dispatched officers
to a field where a youth was threatening to kill himself had no liability for
the youth's subsequent death based on his failure to issue detailed commands
via radio to those on the scene; no "coverup" was shown simply based
on his instructions to two officers to prepare a joint report rather than
writing individual accounts, when he had no reason to think any crime had
occurred. Ford v. Moore, No. 99- 9303L, 99-9305, 99-9315, 237 F.3d 156 (2nd
Cir. 2001).
325:9 Arrestee could not seek to impose liability
on city for alleged policy of failure to supervise and discipline officers for
misuse of pepper spray when the evidence showed that city trained officers in
its use, required them to report its use in a form reviewed by supervisors, and
plaintiff himself failed to file any complaint with the department about its
use against him. Horrington v. City of Detroit, 49 F.Supp. 2d 1022 (E.D. Mich.
1999).
326:19 Mere conclusion in complaint that
officials inadequately supervised officers and prosecutors was insufficient to
state a civil rights claim, absent any concrete evidence of this; alleged town
policy of deliberate indifference to the rights of the public could not be based
on a single incident. Altman v. Kelly, 36 F.Supp. 2d 433 (D. Mass. 1999).
328:60 Lawsuit claiming that sheriff directed
deputies to conduct warrantless entry into apartment to serve eviction notice
on tenant stated claim for violation of Fourth Amendment rights; appeals court
rejects argument that both a search and a seizure are required for a Fourth
Amendment violation; sheriff's personal direction was a sufficient basis for
supervisory liability. Ryan v. Mary Immaculate Queen Center, No. 98-3849, 188
F.3d 857 (7th Cir. 1999).
321:138 City could not be liable for alleged
failure to adequately train, supervise, and discipline an officer who shot an
arrestee when officer's actions in shooting arrestee, who had come towards him
brandishing a screwdriver, were objectively reasonable; municipal liability
must be based on policy causing a violation of plaintiff's rights. Henderson v.
Municipality of Cool Valley, 17 F.Supp. 2d 1044 (E.D. Mo. 1998).
319:100 Supervisory police officials were not entitled
to qualified immunity when they knew of police officer's violent propensities
yet failed to take action against him to prevent him from coming into contact
with the public; officer had previously even held other officers and acting
police superintendent hostage at station, yet was restored to duty.
Camilo-Robles v. Hoyos, #97-2260-97-2262 & 97- 2264, 151 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.
1998).
317:67 City could not be held liable for
inadequate training or supervision concerning arrests for disorderly conduct or
proper use of handcuffs when plaintiff failed to show a record of prior
incidents which would indicate deliberate indifference to a known problem. Gold
v. City of Miami, #96-5395, 151 F.3d 1346 (11th Cir. 1998).
307:100 Woman with a knife who approached officer
fighting with her brother awarded $6 million for officers' actions in shooting
her eight times; jury finds that city failed to adequately train and supervise
officers. Willingham v. Boynton Beach, U.S. Dist. Ct. Miami Fla., April 11,
1998, reported in The New York Times, National Edition, p. 16 (April 12, 1998).
307:99 Evidence failed to show that police chief
inadequately supervised or trained part-time police officer who shot and killed
running youth; prior incident in which officer allegedly fired warning shots,
and another where officer allegedly used unspecified excessive force were
insufficient to put chief on notice that officer was prone to using excessive
force. Otey v. Marshall, 121 F.3d 1150 (8th Cir. 1997).
303:41 City not liable for shooting by officer
cooperating with internal investigation of fellow officer who called him a
"rat"; no showing that alleged policy of inadequate training or
supervision of such cooperators caused the incident. Morrissey v. City of New
York, 963 F.Supp. 270 (S.D.N.Y. 1997).
301:3 Police official could face supervisory
liability for shootings by officer with a long history of past disciplinary
complaints concerning use of his firearm, including incident in which he
captured a police station at gunpoint and took other officers hostage;
liability could be based on failure to identify officer, once he returned to
duty, as in need of remedial training. Diaz v. Martinez, 112 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.
1997).
{N/R} Claimed that police chief had allowed the
use of arrest warrant request forms pre-signed by prosecutor, which could
mislead judges into believing that prosecutor had reviewed them could be basis
for federal civil rights lawsuit for supervisory liability. Gibson v. Sain, 979
F.Supp. 557 (W.D. Mich. 1997).
298:148 City liable for $14 million to family of
suicidal individual shot and killed by officer responding to his suicide
threat, based on city's failure to have a training policy on suicide threat
intervention; officer also liable for alleged excessive use of force when
decedent stepped from his apartment holding a shotgun but may not have posed an
immediate threat to officer Wallace v. Estate of Davies, 676 N.E.2d 422 (Ind
App. 1997).
283:105 Federal appeals court reinstates a claim
of inadequate supervision by a police management, which allegedly failed to
monitor an identified "problem" officer after he was restored to
full-duty following a disciplinary suspension. The failure to use an existing
early warning system (EWS) to "red-flag" further civilian complaints
of alleged abuse by the officer could be a basis for a rational jury to find
deliberate indifference to an "obvious" need. Vann v. City of New
York, 72 F.3d 1040 (2nd Cir. 1995).
California appeals court rejects claim of
negligent supervisory liability by state for murder of female college student
by on-duty officer in case where jury awarded $75 million in damages against
killer; court rules that state could, however, be held vicariously liable for
officer's first degree murder of motorist during traffic stop; state to have
opportunity to relitigate amount of damages. Knott v. State, 28 Cal.Rptr.2d 514
(Cal App. 1994).
Police supervisors could be liable for failing to
take away gun of officer, with history of spousal abuse, who shot his wife
after requesting that they retain his gun Pereira-Gonzalez v. Lopez-Feliciano,
731 F.Supp. 574 (D.Puerto Rico, 1990).
"Conclusory allegations" were
insufficient to allow suit against police superintendent for officer's purported
unprovoked assault of minor Figueroa v. Molina, 725 F.Supp. 651 (D.Puerto Rico
1989).
"Boilerplate" allegation that police
commander was negligent in supervising officers was insufficient to hold him
liable for actions of subordinates Zralka v. Tures, 708 F.Supp. 948 (N.D.Ill.
1989).
Superior officers were not liable for fatal
shooting of man by deputy after deputy's wife told him she was having an affair
with him. Gulledge v. Smart, 691 F.Supp. 947 (D.S.C. 1988).
Court allows claim to continue against
Chicago superintendent of police in individual capacity concerning plaintiff's
arrest for being gay; "purposeful indifference" standard for
individual liability Monitor v. City of Chicago, 653 F.Supp 1294 (N.D.Ill.
1987).
Sheriff could be sued for allegedly inadequate
supervision despite showing that officers were trained and certified in use of
force Anderson v. Roberts, 823 F.2d 235 (8th cir 1987).
No liability for establishing alleged
"quota" arrest policy in absence of evidence that officers were
encouraged to make arrests without probable cause Jackson v. District of
Columbia, 672 F.Supp. 22 (DDC 1987).
City and superiors could be liable for shooting
James v. District of Columbia, 610 F.Supp. 1027 (D.DC 1985).
City liable for new officer's misuse of handcuffs
due to improper training; liability due to absence of insurance coverage Cutter
v. Farmington, 498 A.2d 316 (NH 1985).
Possible liability for failure to remedy
officer's behavior Edge Water v. Montesano, 477 So.2d 54 (Fla App. 1985).
Officer's past psychological exams properly
admitted in assault suit; compensatory and punitive damages awarded. David v.
City of Los Angeles, 209 Cal.Rptr. 227 (App. 1984).
Director of Police Department not liable for off-duty
officer's conduct in assault and shooting Brandon v. Allen, 719 F.2d 151 (6th
Cir. 1983); reversing 516 F.Supp. 1355
Detroit may be liable for negligently hiring,
training, and supervising officers who failed to provide for prompt medical treatment
of arrestee; case contains a discussion of Sec. 1983 regarding municipal
liability. Cook v. City of Detroit, 337 N.W.2d 277 (Mich.App.1983).
{N/R} NYPD pays
$300,000 in compensatory and $125,000 in punitive damages after an off-duty
NYCPD officer shot his wife five times, then himself, using an approved
off-duty weapon. There was evidence his superiors ignored the officer's
psychological problems. Bonsignore v. City of N.Y., 521 F.Supp. 394 (S.D.N.Y.
1981), aff'd 683 F.2d 635 (2d Cir. 1982).
" Also see: Firearms
Related: Intentional Use, Procedural: Section 1983
in General