Copeland v. Northwestern Memorial Hosp.

• Decision Date: 30 May 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96 C 1270.,96 C 1270.
• Parties: Clyde J. COPELAND, Plaintiff, v. NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

964 F.Supp. 1225

Clyde J. COPELAND, Plaintiff, v. NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, et al., Defendants.

No. 96 C 1270.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

May 30, 1997.

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Clyde J. Copeland, pro se.

Douglas Howard Momeyer, Hinshaw & Culbertson, Chicago, IL, for defendant Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Patricia Jo Kendall, City of Chicago Law Department, Corporation Counsel, Susan Sher and George John Yamin, Jr., City of Chicago, Law Department, Chicago, IL, for defendant City of Chicago.

James Michael Kuhn, U.S. Attorney's Office, Chicago, IL, for defendants Lee Harbaugh and Abel Pena.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ALESIA, District Judge.

Before the court are numerous motions by the parties in this case. Defendants Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the City of Chicago, Abel Pena, and Lee Harbaugh have brought motions to dismiss plaintiff Clyde Copeland's complaint. Plaintiff Clyde Copeland has brought motions related to various discovery requests, for production of transcripts, for issuance of a subpoena, to substitute parties of interest, and for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, the court grants defendants' motions to dismiss, and strikes some and denies some of Copeland's motions as set forth below.

I. BACKGROUND¹

Early in the morning on March 3, 1994, plaintiff Clyde Copeland suffered a stressful encounter that resulted in a panic attack, so he took his prescribed anxiety medication, Xanax. Copeland then blacked out. The next thing Copeland remembered occurred seven or eight hours later and miles away; he was running north on LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago.

At the moment Copeland's cognizance returned, he was having memories of robbing or attempting to rob the Harris Bank at the Board of Trade in downtown Chicago on four occasions in 1981, 1982, and 1983. Copeland's mood was vacillating between disorientation and hopelessness, agitation and fear, anxiousness and melancholy. For relief, Copeland went on a cocaine binge that lasted until the next day.

When Copeland's binge was over, his distraught mood returned. So, in the late afternoon on March 4, 1994, Copeland presented himself at the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital ("Northwestern" or "the hospital"), seeking psychiatric intervention and treatment and admission to the hospital. A nurse interviewed Copeland prior to his admission. He told her that he was frightened after coming down from his cocaine binge and wanted to speak with a psychiatrist. He also told her that he recently had been released from the psychiatric unit at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago, and gave her the names of his doctor there and the medications he was taking.

When the nurse asked Copeland how much cocaine he had consumed, Copeland told her about $1,400 worth. The nurse asked where Copeland got the money to buy the cocaine, and he replied, "I don't know. Yesterday I had a blackout after taking my Xanax and when I came to I had the money. That's why I'm so scared — I don't know what happened yesterday."

The nurse then referred Copeland to an admissions clerk to complete the necessary paperwork for hospital admission. After Copeland was finished, the nurse again asked him how he got the money for the cocaine. He said that he did not remember. The nurse asked Copeland if he ever had committed any crimes, and Copeland responded that he was a convicted felon. The nurse asked Copeland about the last crime he had committed; he told her it was a bank robbery at the Board of Trade building at LaSalle and Jackson in Chicago. The nurse told Copeland that that was all she needed and that a doctor should be available soon.

After a long wait, Copeland began to feel extremely anxious and asked the nurse if she had a cigarette. She did not but told a security guard to find Copeland a cigarette. When Copeland walked outside the emergency room to smoke, the nurse had the security guard accompany him. A little while later, the nurse told Copeland that the doctor was available and that the security guard would escort Copeland to the doctor.

The security guard took Copeland to his office, where he told Copeland that Copeland had to submit to a strip search. Copeland protested, stating that it seemed like he was being arrested. The guard explained that because Copeland was going to be admitted to a psychiatric ward, he had to submit to the search for everyone's safety, including his own, and that the search was hospital policy. Copeland then consented to the search.

The guard then escorted Copeland to a locked observation room, which could be opened only from the outside. At one point while Copeland was in the observation room, a doctor entered with six to eight students, and asked Copeland if he would answer some questions. Copeland agreed. Copeland recounted his recent status as a psychiatric patient at Illinois Masonic, his blackout the day before, his cocaine binge, and the extreme emotions that precipitated Copeland's presentment to Northwestern.

The doctor stated that the nurse told him that Copeland had robbed the bank at the Board of Trade, which Copeland acknowledged. The doctor then asked Copeland if that was how he got his money to buy cocaine. Copeland replied that he did not know; that he could not remember what he did for several hours the previous day; and that he already had the money when his memory returned. The doctor reframed and asked again the questions about Copeland's criminal past, but Copeland answered as before. The doctor and students then left the observation room, the doctor telling Copeland on his way out that Copeland would be put in the psychiatric unit soon, and that when he got there, he and the doctor would talk about his medication.

Some time later, the nurse entered the observation room with two Chicago police officers. The officers handcuffed Copeland without speaking to him. One of the officers asked the nurse if Copeland was on any medication or had any medical or psychiatric conditions that would require special handling. She replied, "We haven't done anything with him but hold him for you."

The officers took Copeland from the hospital and brought him to the police station. During the ride, one officer said that they had a long night ahead of them, interrogating Copeland and typing up the reports of the investigation. The other officer replied that this was the easiest duty they could have received, because that night they were just "errand boys for the Feebees," meaning the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"). The first officer asked for the arrest warrant from the "feds" to go along with his report. The second officer replied that they did not need a warrant, since this was not their "collar," and that all they had to do was hold Copeland overnight.

At the police station, Copeland was photographed and fingerprinted and placed in a cell. The next morning, March 5, 1994, the Chicago police transferred custody of Copeland to Lee Harbaugh, special agent for the FBI. Harbaugh handcuffed Copeland's hands in front of him and placed Copeland in the front seat of Harbaugh's car. Harbaugh removed his jacket and got in the car. His weapon was holstered on his right side and was accessible to Copeland, making Copeland fear that Harbaugh was tempting Copeland to make an escape attempt. As Harbaugh began driving, Copeland began fidgeting in his seat. Harbaugh said he wished that Copeland would try it. Harbaugh then said, "If you don't cooperate with me I might just kill you. You see we can do anything we want with you. You're nothing. A nigger and a nut. Who'll care if we lose you? Nobody. I'll be a hero. Go ahead, try it." Copeland did not respond for fear of provoking Harbaugh to kill him.

At FBI headquarters, Harbaugh took Copeland to a large room with rows of desks and handcuffed him to a desk chair. Harbaugh placed a rights waiver in front of Copeland and demanded that he sign it. Copeland ignored Harbaugh's demands. Harbaugh then appeared to lose his temper and placed a sharp object against Copeland's throat, saying, "I'll cut your throat if you don't cooperate." When Copeland refused to respond, Harbaugh scraped Copeland's throat, causing abrasions to it. Copeland still did not respond.

After Harbaugh verbally and physically assaulted Copeland for about an hour and a half, FBI agent Abel Pena arrived. Pena examined the abrasions on Copeland's throat and asked Harbaugh how they got there. Harbaugh told Pena that "Sambo" probably got them while in the city lock-up, and that they were probably his "love bites." After several hours, Pena asked Copeland if he was hungry and went for food. While Pena was gone, Harbaugh resumed harassing Copeland, saying, "You're a nigger, a non-entity, nobody. You're a convicted bank robber ... of the same bank that was robbed two days ago and you look like the perp. Case closed."

Copeland was brought before a magistrate judge, charged by information with bank robbery, and ordered detained pending a psychiatric competency evaluation. Harbaugh and Pena brought Copeland to the Metropolitan Correctional Center ("MCC"). While waiting for Copeland to be admitted to the MCC, Harbaugh examined the contents of Copeland's wallet, and then put the wallet and its contents into his pocket. Copeland told him to make sure that those items were left with the MCC. Harbaugh then jumped out of the car, opened the rear passenger door, pulled Copeland out of the vehicle, and slammed him face down on the concrete. Harbaugh kept him in this position by placing his foot on Copeland's neck, holding him in that position for 15 to 20 minutes while awaiting permission to enter the MCC.

Once inside the MCC, Harbaugh continued to manhandle Copeland, even throwing him against a wall, in the presence of two correctional officers. After learning of Harbaugh's treatment of Copeland and seeing...