Jump v. Village of Shorewood

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-police officers’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-estate’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendants violated decedent’s 4th Amendment rights by subjecting him to false arrest and by failing to protect him from self-harm when decedent hung himself in jail cell. While Dist. Ct. found that defendants had probable cause to arrest decedent on domestic violence charge, defendants could not rely on said charge to defeat false arrest claim, where said charge was not criminal liability statute under Wisconsin law. However, defendants had probable cause to arrest decedent on battery charge so as to defeat false arrest claim, where: (1) police came upon injured decedent’s roommate, who had fallen from fourth-story bedroom window; (2) police observed decedent naked, intoxicated and passed out on bed in disheveled room containing broken glass, broken lamp and drops of blood; and (3) police had previously received disturbance call in which roommate claimed that decedent was aggressor. Also, plaintiff could not proceed on failure to protect claim, where defendant-officer presented evidence that he did not act objectively unreasonable in events leading up to discovery of decedent hanging in his cell, where: (1) officer had no reason to think that decedent was suicidal during screening process, and decedent did not tell officer that he was suicidal; (2) decedent’s general distress and history of psychiatric treatment would not give notice of suicidal risk; and (3) 45-minute gap between last observation and discovery of decedent hanging in his cell was not unreasonable in absence of notice of suicide risk (Dissent filed.)