Elaine v. Anderson
| Decision Date | 25 August 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. 16 Civ. 983 (NSR),16 Civ. 983 (NSR) |
| Parties | ELAINE CASE, as Administratrix of the Estate of KASEEM J. PANKEY, Plaintiff, v. ADRIAN H. ANDERSON, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of the County of Dutchess; JOHN DOE (1) and RICHARD ROE (1), Deputy Sheriffs of the County of Dutchess; THE COUNTY OF DUTCHESS; RONALD J. SPERO, individually and in his official capacity as Chief of the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, JOHN DOE (2) and RICHARD ROE (2), Police Officers in the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department; TOWN OF POUGHKEEPSIE; JOHN DOE (3) and RICHARD ROE (3), Police Officers and/or Dispatchers in the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department; WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER HEALTH CARE CORPORATION, doing business as, WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER, through its subsidiary, THE MIDHUDSON REGIONAL HOSPITAL OF WESTCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER; and CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL CARE, INC., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
This case concerns the events surrounding the pre-trial detainment and eventual suicide of Mr. Kaseem J. Pankey, who was admitted to and escaped from a mental health facility at The MidHudson Regional Hospital of Westchester Medical Center (the "Hospital"), later arrested by police officers from the City of Poughkeepsie (the "City") pursuant to an outstanding criminal warrant previously issued by the Town of Poughkeepsie (the "Town"), thereafter transferred to the custody of the Town and arraigned on the warrant, and held at the County of Dutchess (the "County") jail for two days until his death on November 26, 2014. Plaintiff Elaine Case, grandmother to the deceased and administratrix of his estate, alleges that during these events Mr. Pankey was subjected to negligence and deprivations of his Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
On behalf of Mr. Pankey's estate, Plaintiff brings this action against the County, the County Sheriff Adrian H. Anderson ("Sheriff Anderson"), Deputy Sheriffs for the County John Doe (1) and Richard Roe (1) (the "County Deputies"); Correctional Medical Care, Inc. ("CMC"); the Town, the Town Chief of Police Ronald J. Spero ("Chief Spero"), Town Officers John Doe (2) and Richard Roe (2) (the "Town Officers"); the City, Police Officers and/or Dispatchers in the City Police Department John Doe (3) and Richard Roe (3) (the "City Officers"); and Westchester Medical Center Health Care Corporation, doing business as Westchester Medical Center through its subsidiary the Hospital, for the alleged violations of state and federal law. All Defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) or 12(c). Plaintiff has cross-moved to amend the operative complaint in order to specifically allege claims against the City Officers.1
For the following reasons, Plaintiff's motion to amend is GRANTED and Defendants' motions to dismiss are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
Over the span of less than a week, Kaseem J. Pankey was, as Plaintiff alleges, negligently allowed to leave the Hospital and subjected to additional negligence and deliberate indifference to his mental health problems as he was shuffled between various law enforcement agencies.
On November 20, 2014, Mr. Pankey was admitted to Defendant Hospital's facilities as a psychiatric patient. (PAC ¶ 23.) At that time, he was accompanied by City of Poughkeepsie police officers (id. ¶ 53) and his grandmother, Plaintiff Elaine Case—who informed the Hospital of her relationship to Mr. Pankey and that he lived with her, and provided the Hospital with her contact information (id. ¶ 24). This was not the first time Mr. Pankey had been admitted to the Hospital as a psychiatric patient or that they were informed of his familial and living relationship with Mrs. Case. (Id. ¶ 25.)
After he was admitted, the Hospital's mental health treatment unit diagnosed him with, among other disorders, suicidal behavior and psychosis, and provided him with medication. (Id. ¶¶ 26-27.) At this time, he expressed to Hospital staff members that he sought protection from "devils and their demons." (Id. ¶ 28.) On the same day as his admission to the Hospital, the staff determined he required inpatient mental health stabilization. (Id. ¶ 30.)
Over the course of the next two days, Mr. Pankey was agitated and disruptive during meals, refused the medication provided for him, and shouted at staff members. (Id. ¶¶ 31-32.) He stated his belief that he was being held hostage and made frequent requests to leave the facility. (Id. ¶ 32.) The staff determined he was "disorganized, delusional, and in need of reorienting." (Id.) During this time, Mr. Pankey caused a number of "Code Green" events to occur—i.e., he tried to leave the facility despite the staff determining he required inpatient services. (Id. ¶ 29.)
On November 22, 2014, after becoming increasingly unstable and agitated, stating to staff members that he was "God" and "God does not have to take meds," he pushed past a staff member near a safety exit door and absconded from the Hospital. (Id. ¶¶ 34-35.) The Hospital issued a Code Green and staff members tried to locate Mr. Pankey, but could not. (Id. ¶ 36.)
Plaintiff alleges the Hospital was negligent in allowing Mr. Pankey to leave the facility, for not properly restraining him, for failing to have adequate security measures in place to prevent him from leaving, for failing to supervise him, and for failing to properly medicate him. (Id. ¶ 159.)
After Mr. Pankey escaped, a psychiatrist employed at the Hospital issued an order pursuant to § 9.55 of the New York State Mental Hygiene Law requiring Mr. Pankey be apprehended by law enforcement authorities. (Id. ¶ 38.)3 Hospital staff called various police agencies within the County of Dutchess, including the City of Poughkeepsie police and the Town of Poughkeepsie police. (Id. ¶¶ 39-40, 54, 57.) Plaintiff alleges the Hospital was negligent,however, because it failed to send copies of the Mental Hygiene order to all local law enforcement agencies. (Id. ¶ 159.)
When the Defendant Town police received the call from the Hospital, they informed the staff member that he should contact the City police because Mr. Pankey's home address was within the City's jurisdiction. (Id. ¶¶ 40-41, 55.) The Town is alleged to have made no efforts to apprehend Mr. Pankey. (Id. ¶ 46.) The Hospital also contacted the Defendant City Officers, who were familiar with Mr. Pankey and knew of his psychiatric problems, and informed them that he needed to be apprehended pursuant to a Mental Hygiene order issued that day. (Id. ¶¶ 56-57.) The Hospital explained that he was a "threat to his [own] safety" and "to the safety and well-being of others[.]" (Id. ¶ 57.) Nevertheless, the City Officers made no efforts to apprehend Mr. Pankey, to return him to the Hospital, or to contact Mrs. Case. (Id. ¶ 58.)
On November 25, 2014, the City Officers apprehended Mr. Pankey (id. ¶ 59), but despite their knowledge of his psychiatric history and of the Mental Hygiene order, they did not attempt to enforce the order or to contact Mrs. Case (id. ¶¶ 60-61). Instead, the City advised the Town that Mr. Pankey had been apprehended and held for arraignment. (Id. ¶¶ 42, 59.) The City turned Mr. Pankey over to the Town because of an outstanding criminal warrant,4 and allegedly made no efforts to inform the Town of the Mental Hygiene order. (Id. ¶¶ 43, 47, 62.) Plaintiffalleges the Defendant City Officers were negligent or deliberately indifferent to Mr. Pankey's well-being as a result of these failings. (Id. ¶ 179.)
The Defendant Town similarly, despite its own independent knowledge, did not inform the City of the Mental Hygiene order that required Mr. Pankey be returned to the Hospital. (Id. ¶ 44.) Nor did the Town contact Mrs. Case. (Id. ¶ 46.) Plaintiff alleges these failings amounted to negligence on the part of the Town (id. ¶ 164) and that the Town Officers were either negligent or deliberately indifferent to Mr. Pankey's due process rights when they failed to return him to the Hospital (id. ¶¶ 169, 172-74).
The Defendant Town Officers brought Mr. Pankey to the Town Justice Court to be arraigned on the outstanding criminal warrant. (Id. ¶ 48.) During his arraignment and subsequent transfer to the Defendant County, the officers did not inform those involved that a Mental Hygiene order had been issued with regard to Mr. Pankey. (Id. ¶¶ 49-50, 63.) Plaintiff alleges the Town Officers were either negligent or deliberately indifferent to Mr. Pankey's due process rights when they failed to impart this material information to the court and the Sheriff. (Id. ¶¶ 170-74.)
At the time that Mr. Pankey was in the custody of the County, Defendant CMC was under contract with the Sheriff's department to provide medical and mental health services to all inmates held at the jail. (Id. ¶ 101.) Thus, once Mr. Pankey was in the Defendant Sheriff's custody, he was under the care of either the Sheriff's office or CMC.5 Mr. Pankey had been inthe custody of the County Sheriff before, and on at least three prior occasions the Sheriff had been made aware of Mr. Pankey's mental illness. (Id. ¶¶ 64-66.) But once he was taken into custody by the Sheriff and placed in the County Jail on this occasion, Deputy Sheriff Shane Roth—who was neither a psychiatrist nor a mental health professional—conducted a suicide prevention screening with Mr. Pankey. (Id. ¶¶ 63, 67-69, 103-104.) Deputy Roth noted Mr. Pankey was "bipolar" and "acting strange." (Id. ¶¶ 69, 105.) The Sheriff's office noted that he needed a psychiatric referral. (Id. ¶¶ 74, 109-10.)
The next day, November 26, 2014, members of the...
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