Holscher v. Mille Lacs County

924 F. Supp. 2d 1044, 2013 WL 588717, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17789
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 11, 2013
DocketCivil No. 11-1458 (MJD/LIB)
StatusPublished

This text of 924 F. Supp. 2d 1044 (Holscher v. Mille Lacs County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holscher v. Mille Lacs County, 924 F. Supp. 2d 1044, 2013 WL 588717, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17789 (mnd 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF LAW & ORDER

MICHAEL J. DAVIS, Chief Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. [Docket No. 24] The Court heard oral argument on November 30, 2012.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

1. Deputy Lawler’s Visit to Cari Johnson’s House

On the morning of December 3, 2010, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Deputy Mitch Lawler responded to a domestic disturbance call at the home of Cari Johnson, the ex-girlfriend of Decedent Joshua Holscher. (Lawler Dep. 15-16; Johnson Dep. 5-6.) Johnson told Lawler that she had argued with Holscher earlier that morning, he was gone, and that when they had recently broken up, a few days or weeks ago, he had made suicidal comments to her. (Lawler Dep. 17-18, 30, 32.) She stated that a week or so earlier she had seen Holscher sitting next to, but not holding, a gun and stating that he wanted to kill himself. (Johnson Dep. 19-20.) She also told Lawler that Holscher had been out hunting deer at night from his truck with a muzzle loader. (Lawler Dep. 27.)

2. Holscher’s Arrest

Shortly after noon on the same day, a hunter stopped by the office of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources employee Stephen Piepgras a wildlife manager for the Mille Lacs Wildlife Management Area (“WMA”), and told Piepgras that there was a vehicle in a ditch. (Piepgras Dep. 6, 11.) Piepgras drove over to the spot to assist and saw a truck in a ditch, with Holscher sitting in the driver’s seat. (Id. 11-12.) Piepgras approached the truck and noticed that the radio was blaring. (Id. 12.) He greeted Holscher and asked how it was going, but Holscher did not acknowledge Piepgras’s presence and continued to face forward and look downward. (Id.) Piepgras then saw Holscher reaching for something near the center console of the vehicle. (Id. 12-13.) He also noticed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the windshield. (Id. 13.) Piepgras became concerned for his safety, so he got back in his vehicle and drove away to call the Mille Lacs County Sheriffs dispatch. (Id. 13, 17.) He told dispatch about Holscher’s strange behavior, and they told him that they were looking for him on another matter and would send out deputies. (Id.)

[1048]*1048About five minutes later, Lawler and a Minnesota State Trooper arrived at the scene and talked to Piepgras. (Piepgras Dep. 13; Lawler Dep. 21.) Lawler knew that the vehicle belonged to Holscher and that this was the individual involved in the domestic disturbance call from earlier that day. (Lawler Dep. 25.) Lawler and the trooper parked their vehicles approximately 100 to 150 feet away and ordered Holscher to exit the vehicle; he ignored them. (Lawler Dep. 24-26.) Because Lawler knew that Holscher had recently been hunting from his truck, he was concerned that Holscher might be armed, so he asked dispatch for more assistance. (Lawler Dep. 26-27.) Multiple other officers responded to the scene, including Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Deputies John Sammis and Todd Hass; Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Investigators Don Lorge, Brad Barnes, and Allen Tutland; and Mille Lacs Tribal Police Officers Robert Wall, Michael Dieter, and Joshua Kimball. (Mille Lacs County Sheriffs Office Incident Report 10010213.) Lawler told Kimball, Tut-land, Lorge, Barnes, Wall, and Dieter that Johnson had told him that Holscher had been suicidal in the past. (Lawler Dep. 31-32.) However, some officers, such as Sammis, were not aware that Johnson had told Lawler that Holscher had recently been suicidal. (Sammis Dep. 24-25; Lawler Dep. 28.)

Once Investigators Lorge, Barnes, and Tutland arrived on the scene, they took over. (Lawler Dep. 36.) For more than one and a half hours, Lorge used a loud speaker to attempt to persuade Holscher to exit the truck. (Id. 37.) Eventually, the officers charged the truck, broke the driver’s window, pulled Holscher from the truck, and handcuffed him. (Id. 41.)

Holscher was cold', appeared intoxicated, and had minor cuts on his hands from the glass shards. (Lawler Dep. 42-43.) Officers discovered empty prescription pill bottles with Holscher’s name on them in his vehicle. (Id. 44.) The officers were concerned that Holscher might have overdosed on prescription pills, so they had an ambulance transport him to the hospital for an evaluation. (Id. 44.) Barnes accompanied Holscher in the ambulance and asked him about the empty pill bottles. (Barnes Dep. 38, 42-43.) Holscher denied taking extra pills to Barnes and repeated that denial to Sammis at the hospital. (Id.; Sammis Dep. 49-50.)

3. Examination of Holscher at the Hospital

Once Holscher arrived at the hospital, he was examined and monitored. (Mille Lacs Health System, Emergency Department Report.) Officers did not request a suicide evaluation at the hospital. (Lawler Dep. 45.) Holscher’s grandmother, aunt, and sister were at the hospital during the evaluation. (Kickhafer Dep. 24.) Holscher’s mother, Debra Kickhafer, testified that they told a doctor at the hospital that they were concerned that Holscher would commit suicide. (Id.) When the hospital staff asked Holscher, he denied having suicidal thoughts and denied having overdosed on his medications. (Emergency Department Report at 1.)

The hospital tested Holscher’s blood for the presence of drugs and alcohol. (Emergency Department Report at 2.) Holscher had no alcohol in his system and the hospital opined that he had not taken an excess quantity of any prescription drugs. (Id.; Lawler Dep. 48.) The hospital discharged Holscher to police custody in stable condition. (Emergency Department Report at 2.) The hospital did not perform a mental health or suicide evaluation. Based on the hospital staffs evaluation, the officers decided to transport Holscher to jail. (Lawler Dep. 55.) Holscher’s discharge form included instructions to watch for symptoms such as nausea and vomiting or [1049]*1049changes in mental status; it stated “P[atient] is medically cleared to go to jail.” (Physician Order Sheet — Discharge.)

While the hospital was evaluating Holscher, Holscher’s brother, Christopher Holscher, approached Sheriff Brent Lindgren at a convenience store. (Lindgren Dep. 27.) Christopher Holscher gave Lindgren a cell phone and Lindgren talked with Holscher’s mother. (Lindgren Dep. 27-28; Kickhafer Dep. 20.) Kickhafer told Lindgren that Holscher had suffered a traumatic head injury years before and had not been quite right ever since. (Lindgren 28-29; Kickhafer Dep. 20.) Lindgren then informed Barnes, who was at the hospital with Holscher, of the prior head injury. (Lindgren Dep. 29-30.)

Holscher’s mother also spoke by phone to an unknown sheriffs deputy who was at the hospital during Holscher’s evaluation. (Kickhafer Dep. 21-22.) She told him that Holscher had attempted suicide six or seven years ago and she believed that he would do it again. (Id. 22.) Holscher’s mother also called various Mille Lacs County agencies and employees, including the Department of Corrections. (Sammis Dep. 53-55.)

Once Holscher was discharged from the hospital, Lawler and Sammis took custody of him; Holscher violently resisted arrest; Lawler used a Taser on him three times; and they finally subdued him enough to escort him to Sammis’ patrol car.

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Bluebook (online)
924 F. Supp. 2d 1044, 2013 WL 588717, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holscher-v-mille-lacs-county-mnd-2013.