Belcher v. Oliver, 89-2918

• Citation: 898 F.2d 32
• Decision Date: 12 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-2918,89-2918
• Parties: Phyllis Jean BELCHER, Administratrix of the Estate of Arthur Belcher, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sidney OLIVER, individually and as Mayor of Clendenin, West Virginia; J.R. Clendenin, individually and as Chief of Police of Clendenin, West Virginia; Frank Carnegie, individually and as Police Officer of Clendenin, West Virginia; Lloyd Lowe, individually and as Police Officer of Clendenin, West Virginia; City of Clendenin, West Virginia, a municipal corporation, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

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898 F.2d 32 Phyllis Jean BELCHER, Administratrix of the Estate of Arthur
Belcher, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Sidney OLIVER, individually and as Mayor of Clendenin, West
Virginia; J.R. Clendenin, individually and as Chief of
Police of Clendenin, West Virginia; Frank Carnegie,
individually and as Police Officer of Clendenin, West
Virginia; Lloyd Lowe, individually and as Police Officer of
Clendenin, West Virginia; City of Clendenin, West Virginia,
a municipal corporation, Defendants-Appellants. No. 89-2918. United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit. Argued Feb. 5, 1990.
Decided March 12, 1990.

Page 33

Steven Paul McGowan (argued) and W. Randolph Fife (on brief), Steptoe & Johnson, Charleston, W.Va., for defendants-appellants.

Matthew Joseph Hayes (argued) and William W. Pepper (on brief), Pepper & Nason, Charleston, W.Va., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before RUSSELL, HALL and WILKINSON, Circuit Judges.

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

On September 23, 1986, plaintiff's father, Arthur Belcher, committed suicide by hanging himself while detained at the Clendenin City jail on charges of public intoxication and hazardous driving. Plaintiff contends that the failure of jail officials to remove Belcher's belt and shoes and afford him medical screening and treatment constituted impermissible punishment under Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979), and "deliberate indifference" to his serious medical needs under

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the standard enunciated in Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). We disagree and hold defendants entitled to qualified immunity on these claims because they committed no violation of clearly established constitutional law. In so holding, we reverse the judgment of the district court.

I.

Arthur Belcher was arrested by police officer Lloyd Lowe on September 23, 1986, in Clendenin, West Virginia, and charged with public intoxication and hazardous driving. Belcher was transported to the Clendenin City Jail by officer Frank Carnegie. Clendenin Mayor and Municipal Judge Sidney Oliver received the complaints and issued warrants against Belcher. Belcher was placed in a city jail cell. Although it was their normal procedure to do so, the officers did not remove Belcher's shoelaces and belt before incarcerating him.

An hour and twenty minutes after Belcher was incarcerated, he was found by officer Carnegie and by plaintiff, who had arrived to post bond, to have hung himself with his belt. Belcher did not respond to the administration of CPR and was pronounced dead at a local hospital where he had been taken by ambulance.

Plaintiff filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia against the City of Clendenin and against Mayor Oliver, police officers Lowe and Carnegie, and Chief of Police J.R. Clendenin, individually and in their respective official capacities, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1981, 1983 and 1988. She alleged violations of decedent's constitutional rights under the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment as to all but the claims relating to medical care. The court held that there were genuine factual disputes as to whether the combination of defendant officers' failure to remove decedent's belt and shoelaces and the absence of medical screening and treatment constituted "deliberate indifference" to decedent's medical needs within the meaning of Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). Defendants appeal the denial of qualified immunity on these claims. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985).

II.

The question before us is "whether the facts alleged ... support a claim of violation of clearly established law" with regard to the rights of a pretrial detainee. Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 528 & n. 9, 105 S.Ct. at 2816 & n. 9. The Supreme Court has held that a pretrial detainee has a right to be free from any form of punishment under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. City of Revere v. Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 244, 103 S.Ct. 2979, 2983, 77 L.Ed.2d 605 (1983); Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 535, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1871, 60 L.Ed.2d 447 (1979). The Fourteenth Amendment right of pretrial detainees, like the Eighth Amendment right of convicted prisoners, requires that government officials not be deliberately indifferent to any serious medical needs of the detainee. Martin v. Gentile, 849 F.2d 863, 871 (4th Cir.1988) (citing City of Revere,...