Mucha v. Jackson

Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendants-police officers’ motion to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds plaintiff’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendants-police officers violated plaintiff-off-duty police officer’s constitutional rights by detaining him without warrant or justification and taking him to local mental health facility after defendants had become aware of report that plaintiff had thoughts of suicide and of shooting others on police force. Wisconsin statute (Wis. Stat. section 51.15) allowed defendants to take plaintiff to appropriate mental health facility if they had cause to believe that plaintiff was mentally ill and had demonstrated substantial probability of imposing physical harm to himself or others. Moreover, defendants had complied with Wisc. Statute where record showed that plaintiff had previously told psychiatrist about threat to shoot people in police command, and that treatment director at mental health facility believed that plaintiff should be committed. Fact that instant three-day confinement occurred 15 days after police dept. had received psychiatrist’s report, or that plaintiff had acted rationally when defendants spoke to him prior to taking him to mental health facility did not require different result.