Danese v. Asman
| Decision Date | 22 May 1987 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 84-9797 PH. |
| Citation | 670 F. Supp. 709 |
| Parties | Janet M. DANESE, Personal Representative of the Estate of David Danese, Dec'd., Louis Danese, Daniel Danese, Pamela Danese, Margaret Danese, Thomas Danese, Frances Danese and Louis Danese, Ind., Plaintiffs, v. Thomas A. ASMAN, Ind. and as Chief of Police for the City of Roseville, Howard Hill, Ind. and as Sergeant and Shift Commander for the City of Roseville Police Department, Frederick Stein, Ind. and as Sergeant for the City of Roseville Police Department, Robert Peters, Ind. and as Inspector for the City of Roseville Police Department, John Roe, Ind. and as Lieutenant for the City of Roseville Police Department, Gowsoski, R. Chuchran, Cardinal, and Kenyon, Ind. and as Police Officers for the City of Roseville Police Department, Roseville Police Department, Jeannie Riesterer, Ind. and as Mayor of the City of Roseville and the City of Roseville, a municipal corp., the Roseville Fire Department, Keith Pelt, Ind. and as Rescue Truck Attendant for the City of Roseville, Terry Hawkins, Ind. and as Roseville Fire Department Ambulance Attendant, Jointly and Severally, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
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William G. Povlitz, Petz & Povlitz, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., for plaintiffs.
J. Russell LaBarge, Roseville, Mich., for defendants — Office Kenyon and City of Roseville and Officer Gowsoski.
James S. Goulding, Detroit, Mich., for defendants — Pelt and Hawkins.
John R. Secrest, John H. Cowley, Jr., Farmington Hills, Mich., for defendant City of Roseville.
Thomas E. Spencer, Grand Rapids, Mich., for defendants — Asman, Hill, Peters and Stein.
This case arises from a November 9, 1982, incident in which David Danese committed suicide by hanging himself in a cell at the Roseville City Jail following his arrest for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Plaintiffs bring this suit on their own behalf. Janet M. Danese also brings suit as the mother of David Danese and the administrator of her son's estate. Plaintiffs seek relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, and also seek an injunction compelling defendants to comply with various Roseville Police Departmental and Michigan Administrative Code Rules.1
Named as defendants are the City of Roseville, the Roseville Police and Fire Departments, the Mayor of Roseville, Jeannie Riesterer, Chief of Police Thomas Asman, Inspector for the Roseville Police Department, Robert Peters, Police Sergeants Howard Hill and Frederick Stein, and officers Gowsoski, Churchran, Cardinal and Kenyon.2 Before the Court is a motion to dismiss on behalf of all eight police officers and a motion for partial summary judgment or dismissal filed by Mayor Riesterer, the City of Roseville and Roseville Fire Department. The Roseville Police Department has also filed a motion to dismiss, adopting by reference the brief in support of the motion filed by the Mayor, City and Fire Department.
Plaintiffs' ten-count complaint contains 151 paragraphs and fails to delineate which allegations are alleged against whom and under what constitutional provisions. Plaintiffs' apparent attempt not to inadvertently omit any potential claim renders the complaint almost unreadable. Nevertheless, a generous reading of the complaint in its entirety indicates that plaintiffs allege various constitutional claims under section 1983, as well as a claim under section 1985.
Plaintiffs allege claims under the eighth and fourteenth amendments against officers Hill, Stein, Cardinal, Churchran, Gowsoski and Kenyon for failing to provide the deceased with necessary medical treatment and to follow proper procedures in protecting the deceased from self-injury. (Am. Compl., ¶¶ 57-68, 123.)3
Plaintiffs allege that Reisterer, Asman, Peters and Hill violated both the eighth and fourteenth amendments by failing to properly train the police officers to recognize the risk of self-injury presented by individuals like Danese and because they failed to institute proper procedures for handling detainees who threaten self-injury. (Am. Compl., ¶¶ 121, 123 and 125). Plaintiffs further allege that Reisterer, Asman, Peters and Hill violated Danese's liberty interest in the fourteenth amendment by (1) wrongly imprisoning him against his will, and (2) unlawfully detaining him in a defective building in violation of several rules promulgated by the Michigan Department of Corrections. (Am.Compl., ¶¶ 103-109, 123, 124).4
Plaintiffs' attempt to hold the City and Police Department liable under (1) the eighth and fourteenth amendments for establishing a policy of inadequate training of the police officers (Am.Compl., ¶¶ 66-69), and (2) the fourteenth amendment for maintaining a policy of systematically violating state regulations governing the physical design of the lockup. (Am.Compl., ¶¶ 69-71, 103-109).
Plaintiffs allege that the Fire Department's failure to adequately train its employees in life saving techniques and its custom and policy of indifference ratified and condoned the deliberate indifference its employees displayed towards the deceased in failing to render any C.P.R. or other treatment which might have saved Danese's life. (Coml., ¶¶ 115-118).
Finally, plaintiffs allege that Asman and various other defendants conspired to cover up the events which led to the deceased's suicide in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985. Specifically, plaintiffs allege the defendants' did not allow inspection of the facilities or the release of information sought by plaintiffs in order to determine whether and to what extent the deceased's constitutional rights had been violated. (Am. Compl., ¶¶ 127-128).
All eight police officers move for dismissal of the section 1983 claims pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). They contend that the complaint fails to allege the violation of any clearly established statutory or constitutional law, and that they are thus entitled to qualified immunity under Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982).
To the extent plaintiffs have failed to state a section 1983 claim, defendants' qualified immunity defense is moot. Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 100 S.Ct. 553, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980); Carlson v. Conklin, 813 F.2d 769, 770-771 (6th Cir. 1987). Accordingly, the Court will first determine whether plaintiffs have stated a sufficient claim against each of the defendants.
The Sixth Circuit recently restated the applicable standard in ruling on a motion to dismiss:
A motion under Rule 12(b)(6) tests whether a claim has been adequately stated in the complaint. The basic requirements for a pleading are set out in Rule 8(a) and call for "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief...." In considering a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court must accept as true all factual allegations in the complaint. Windsor v. The Tennessean, 719 F.2d 155, 158 (6th Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 826, 105 S.Ct. 105, 83 L.Ed.2d 50 (1984). The court must deny the motion to dismiss unless it can be established beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. Id.; Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 101-102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957).
Nishiyama v. Dickson County, 814 F.2d 277, 279 (6th Cir.1987).
For purposes of this motion, the facts alleged by plaintiffs and which must be accepted as true, are that on November 9, 1982, Danese was arrested at approximately 2:50 a.m. by officers Churchran and Gowsoski for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Upon arrival at the Roseville jail, Danese cried intermittently and repeatedly made comments to Churchran, Goswoski and Cardinal, the officer who administered the breathalizer test, that he wished he were dead. He also discussed ways he should or could commit suicide and that he would, in fact, commit suicide. Danese further advised the officers that he was on medication for pain and that his physical condition rendered his detainment painful and uncomfortable. Danese's pain medication was taken from him by the officers.
The breathalizer tests given to Danese resulted in scores of .13% and established that Danese was legally drunk. He was then placed in a holding cell, fully clothed, and out of direct view of the supervising officer. The jail did not have a detoxification cell and the television monitor had been inoperable long before November 9.
At approximately 5:15 a.m., Danese advised Officer Cardinal that he was going to hang himself. Officer Cardinal told his supervisor, Sgt. Hill, of this threat. Sgt. Hill, shortly thereafter, left the station without advising the only remaining supervisor, Sgt. Stein, of the threatened suicide.
Sometime between 5:35 a.m. and 5:56 a.m. Danese hanged himself with his shirt from the cross bars of his cell. Upon finding him, Cardinal, Kenyon and Stein cut Danese down and called the Fire Department. The Fire Department's rescue truck arrived at 5:59 a.m., and the Fire Department ambulance arrived at 6:02 a.m. No C.P.R. or other life saving technique was attempted by either the Police or Fire Department personnel. Danese was pronounced dead at 7:08 a.m. His blood contained 0.14% by weight of ethyl alcohol.
In order to sustain a claim under section 1983, the plaintiffs need only allege that the conduct complained of was committed while defendants were acting under color of state law and that the defendants conduct deprived Danese of his constitutional rights. Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 535, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 1913, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981). Since none of the officers contest that they were acting under color of state law, the only issue before the Court is whether plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a deprivation of Danese's rights secured by the Constitution.
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