Shaw v. City of Dayton

• Decision Date: 02 May 2016
• Docket Number: Case No. 3:13-cv-210
• Citation: 183 F.Supp.3d 876
• Parties: Rachel Shaw, Plaintiff, v. City of Dayton, Ohio, and Alex Magill, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio

183 F.Supp.3d 876

Rachel Shaw, Plaintiff,

v.City of Dayton, Ohio, and Alex Magill, Defendants.

Case No. 3:13-cv-210

United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Western Division, at Dayton .

Signed May 2, 2016

James Edward Kolenich, Cincinnati, OH, Lorenzo Williams, Nicholas Voglio, Gary, Williams, Parenti & Watson, P.L.L.C., Stuart, FL, for Plaintiff.

Neil Frank Freund, Adam Christopher Armstrong, Kelly Marie Schroeder, Leonard J. Bazelak, Freund Freeze & Arnold, Dayton, OH, for Defendants.

ENTRY AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (DOC. 45)

THOMAS M. ROSE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This case is before the Court on the Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 45) filed by Defendants the City of Dayton, Ohio, and Alex Magill, a police officer with the Dayton Police Department. The material facts in this case are undisputed. On July 16, 2011, Officer Magill arrested Kylen English for attempted burglary and transported him to the Montgomery County jail. At the jail, while Officer Magill was processing a booking slip, English intentionally and repeatedly hit his head against a wall. As a result of the trauma to his head

, jail medical staff would not permit English to be booked into the jail without a medical evaluation.

Officer Magill transported English to a nearby hospital, where he was evaluated and released. Officer Magill then placed English in the backseat of his police cruiser and began the trip back to the jail. As Officer Magill drove over a bridge, English, who was handcuffed, rose to his knees and pounded his head against the police cruiser's backseat window. Officer Magill pulled the cruiser to the curb to assess the situation as English shattered the window's glass. While still handcuffed, English jumped out of the window, got to his feet, dove off the bridge. English fell approximately thirty feet onto a dry rock bed and later died from his injuries.

Plaintiff Rachel Shaw, Next of Kin and Administrator of the Estate of Kylen English, brought this action for damages against the City of Dayton and Officer Magill on June 27, 2013. (Doc. 2.) Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint (Doc. 41), filed December 28, 2015, on the grounds that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and Defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law. (Doc. 45.) Defendants' motion is fully briefed and ripe for the Court's review. (Docs. 45, 52, 55.) For the reasons discussed below, the Court GRANTS the Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Officer Magill Arrests English for Attempted Burglary

In the evening of July 16, 2011, Donna Johnson called 911 and reported that Kylen English was kicking her door and trying to get into her apartment to get to her 16-year-old niece. (Docs. 45-1, 45-2.) Johnson provided a description of English to the 911 dispatcher and waited for the police to arrive. (Id. )

Officer Magill was dispatched to Johnson's apartment on Yale Avenue in Dayton, Ohio on the report of a burglary in progress. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 8.) Shortly thereafter, Officer Magill encountered English, patted him down, and asked him to take a seat in his police cruiser. (Id. , ¶ 10-11.) English complied and positively identified himself as Kylen English. (Id. , ¶ 11.) English was not violent, and he did not exhibit any homicidal or suicidal tendencies. (Id. , ¶ 12.)

Officer Magill returned to Yale Avenue with English in his cruiser. (Id. , ¶ 13.) Officer Magill talked to Johnson, who said that English had been trying to kick in her door and was upset because she would not let him in to speak with her 16-year-old niece. (Id. at ¶ 14.) Johnson said that English had assaulted the niece in the past, so the family moved her to Johnson's house to prevent contact. (Id. ) Johnson did not indicate that English was suicidal or likely to harm himself. (Id. , ¶ 15.) After speaking with Johnson, Officer Magill decided to take English to jail for attempted burglary. (Id. , ¶ 16.)

Officer Magill placed handcuffs on English and transported him to the jail without incident. (Id. , ¶ 17-18.) During the transport, English was not violent and did not exhibit any suicidal tendencies. (Id. , ¶ 19.) At the jail, Officer Magill secured his firearm and Taser in the trunk of his cruiser and told English to walk towards the outer receiving room door of the sally port. (Id. , ¶ 20.) Officer Magill was printing out English's booking slip when English intentionally struck the back of his head on the wall three to five times in rapid succession. (Id. , ¶ 21; Magill Depo. at 16-17.) Officer Magill ran over and attempted to stop English, who then fell to the floor. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 21.) Officer Magill handed the booking slip and English's cell phone to Deputy Shiverdecker, so Officer Magill could use both hands to lift English to his feet. (Id. , ¶ 21; Doc. 47 at 17.)

Officer Magill escorted English into the inner receiving room where he was met by several correction officers and supervisors. (Id. , ¶ 23; Doc. 47 at 18.) The jail medical staff examined English and told Officer Magill that he would have to take English to the hospital for clearance before he could be booked at the jail. (Id. , ¶ 24; Doc. 47 at 19.) They were concerned about a potential head injury

or involvement with drugs. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 24.) The jail medical staff did not state English was suicidal. (Id. ) The consensus was that English was trying to avoid going to jail. (Id. )

English was able to walk to the cruiser on his own and Officer Magill directed him to sit in the back of the cruiser. (Id. , ¶ 25.) Officer Magill retrieved his firearm and Taser from the trunk, and drove English to Grandview Medical Center ("Grandview"). (Id. , ¶ 25; Doc. 47 at 21.) Officer Magill also notified a supervisor, Sergeant John Riegel, who responded to the hospital to investigate whether English was injured. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 26; Doc. 47 at 23.)

B. Kylen English is Evaluated at Grandview Medical Center and Released

At Grandview, English was evaluated by Dr. Christopher D. McIntosh. (Doc. 45-4, ¶ 3.) While being treated, English never stated that he had any intention of hurting himself or dying. (Id. , ¶ 5.) Nor did English make any statements about heaven, hell or end of life equivalents. (Id. , ¶ 6.) English told Dr. McIntosh that he did not want to go to jail, and that was his motivation for his behavior at the jail. (Id. , ¶ 7.) A CT scan

performed on English came back negative and English was released from Grandview with no diagnosis that he was a threat to himself, and no special instructions for care regarding his mental state. (Docs. 45-3, ¶ 7, 45-4, 45-5; Doc. 47 at 27.) Officer Magill observed English after he was released from Grandview and he was not aggressive, nor did he show any signs that he would be a threat to himself. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 28.)

C. While Being Transported Back to Montgomery County Jail, English Breaks Out of Officer Magill's Police Cruiser and Commits Suicide

Officer Magill activated the in-car cruiser camera/audio equipment and told English the camera was recording. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 30; Doc. 47 at 30.) Grandview is less than two miles from the jail. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 29.) Officer Magill did not fasten English's seatbelt because he was concerned about being vulnerable to injury or attack. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 31.) While en route to the jail, English asked Officer Magill if people went to hell if they commit suicide. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 32; Docs. 45-6, 45-7; Doc. 47 at 31.) Officer Magill replied, "it depends on what you believe in." (Docs. 45-3, ¶ 32, 45-6.)

A few seconds later Officer Magill heard commotion from the backseat. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 33.) Officer Magill asked, "hey partner, what are you doing?" (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 33; Doc. 45-7.) Officer Magill looked back and saw that English, while handcuffed, had maneuvered his body so that he was now kneeling and facing the rear passenger door. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 34; Doc. 47 at 31.) Officer Magill immediately activated his overhead lights and began to navigate traffic to pull to the right side of the road. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 35.) English hit his head two to four times on the window, and on the last hit English went out the window head first while the cruiser was still in motion. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 36; Doc. 47 at 31.) Officer Magill stopped the cruiser and tried to capture English. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 36.) Officer Magill made it to the rear of the cruiser just in time to see English get to his feet and jump over the railing of the bridge in a no-hands swan dive. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 36; Doc. 47 at 39-40.) Officer Magill was unable to get close enough to stop English from diving off the bridge. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 36; Doc. 47 at 39-40.) A citizen, Michael Tolliver, was traveling down Salem Avenue at the same time and witnessed the event. (Doc. 49 at 11.) He described the incident:

I just turned on the bridge, seen the cop car coming toward me. Like I said, I didn't have any license. I was looking at the cop car. He made like a sudden veer over to the right lane, and he stopped in the middle of the street; and that's what grabbed my attention so, of course, I slowed down. And then I seen glass shatter out the right side of the car. And then a body came out the right side of the car, and the cop hopped—he jumped out of his car, with his door open. I can't remember if he ran around the front of the car or if he ran around the back of the car; but I know about the time he got to the passenger side of the car, Kylen had already jumped over. He wasn't even close to even grabbing him or stopping him.

(Doc. 49 at 11-12.)

English landed more than 30 feet below on a dry rock bed. (Doc. 45-3, ¶ 36.) Officer Magill immediately called for medics and coordinated responding officers. (Id. , ¶ 37.) English died from his injuries. The Coroner determined that English's cause of death was "blunt force injury of chest and abdomen," and the manner of death was "suicide." (Doc. 45-8.)¹

D. The FBI Investigation into Kylen English's Death

The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") conducted a...