Vertulie Lapre v. City of Chicago

911 F.3d 424
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided December 17, 2018·No. 17-3024·Published·Cited by 41 cases

Opinion

Rovner, Circuit Judge.

*427 Okoi Ofem committed suicide in a jail cell at a City of Chicago lockup. His mother, Vertulie Lapre, sued the City under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , for failing to prevent her son's death. Because Lapre lacks evidence that the City was deliberately indifferent to the risk of suicide for detainees held in City lockups and also cannot show that the City's policies and practices were the cause of Ofem's death, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the City.

I.

Chicago police officers arrested eighteen-year-old Okoi Ofem on a misdemeanor assault charge on September 12, 2013, and took him to the City's 4th District Police Station. After processing, Ofem arrived at the 4th District Lockup ("Lockup") at approximately 3:30 p.m., roughly two hours after his arrest. A Chicago police officer and two detention aides were on duty at the Lockup. Pursuant to City policy, detention aide William Zaremba conducted a visual inspection of Ofem and asked him a series of screening questions, marking his responses on a processing report. From the visual inspection, Zaremba noted on the report that Ofem displayed no signs of pain, injury, or infection; he did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol or showing signs of withdrawal; he did not seem to be despondent or irrational, and was not carrying medication. Zaremba recorded a "No" in response to every screening question, including whether Ofem was taking any medication, whether this was his first arrest, whether he had ever attempted suicide or serious harm, whether he had serious medical or mental problems, whether he was receiving any treatment, and whether he was "transgender/intersex/gender non-conforming." Ofem refused to list an emergency contact, and appeared to be "miffed" or angry about the charge, but did not appear depressed. Zaremba took Ofem's shoelaces, belt and keys and placed him in a one-person cell. Ofem declined all offers of food that day.

The next morning, one of the assigned detention aides for the Lockup did not show up to work. At 6 a.m., Officer James Carrillo was assigned to take the place of the missing aide. Carrillo's regular assignment was that of paper review officer. He had received no specific training as a lockup keeper but he occasionally filled in when the need arose. Another assigned aide, Dennis Graham, began the shift but left at approximately 8 a.m. to attend a meeting. Early that morning, Ofem was taken to the criminal court. Ofem arrived back at the Lockup at 10 a.m., an unexpected and unusually early return. During the ride back to the Lockup, Ofem did not inform the transport officers that he was suicidal or contemplating self-harm. Carrillo received Ofem back into the Lockup, and was the only person on duty at that time. Ofem appeared surprised and confused about what had happened at court, and asked Carrillo what was happening. Carrillo replied that Ofem had likely been sent to the wrong court-one that handled *428 felony charges-and that he would have to go instead to another court that handled misdemeanor charges. Carrillo thought that Ofem appeared tired and Ofem again declined all offers of food. Ofem did not inform Carrillo or any other officer that he was contemplating suicide or self-harm. He was again placed in a one-person cell, and there were no other detainees in the Lockup at that time.

Between his 10:00 a.m. return and 1:00 p.m., someone at the jail visually inspected Ofem every fifteen minutes, sometimes in person and sometimes via a poor-quality video monitor. The District Station Supervisor also conducted a walk-through at 11:30 a.m. At 12:45 p.m., Carrillo and detention aide Graham (who had apparently returned from his meeting) checked on Ofem in person. At 1:00 p.m., Carrillo checked on Ofem through the video monitor and did not notice anything amiss. At 1:10 p.m., Carrillo glanced at the video monitor and saw Ofem hanging from a horizontal bar in his cell. Carrillo and Graham immediately went to the cell, which was approximately fifteen feet away on the other side of a door, and saw that Ofem had used his jeans to hang himself. He had tied the jeans to the cell in such a way that the officers had difficulty opening the cell door. Graham used a pocket knife to cut through the jeans and Carrillo forced the door open. At the same time, Officer James Mangan ran to call for medical assistance. Once they removed the pants from Ofem's neck, he let out a groan. Carrillo attempted to rouse Ofem by calling to him, slapping him and shaking him. When Ofem did not respond, Carrillo administered chest compressions. Paramedics arrived and took over from Carrillo. Ofem was transported to a hospital where he died the following day.

At the time of Ofem's incarceration and death, City lockup facilities operated under "Special Order S06-01-02," a directive from the Superintendent of Police outlining the responsibilities of lockup personnel "to ensure arrestees are properly processed, booked, and safeguarded." R. 120-25 (hereafter "Special Order"). The Special Order specified, in relevant part, that lockup personnel will:

7. prior to accepting any arrestee, conduct an initial inspection of the subject following the Guidelines for Arrestee Screening and Monitoring chart (CPD-11.523). 1
8. if screening process indicates that the arrestee is perceived to be mentally/chemically impaired or suicidal, the station supervisor will be notified immediately.
*429 9. not accept any arrestee into the lockup who has injuries or illnesses that may require hospitalization or the immediate attention of a healthcare professional.
13. complete the intake screening questions process following the Guidelines for Arrestee Screening and Monitoring chart.
15. in those instances in which an arrestee responds "yes" to the arrestee questions of "attempted suicide/serious harm," check the corresponding box in the Additional Lockup Demographics/Cautionary Descriptors field.
16. in those instances during the visual check of the arrestee they determine/categorize the arrestee to be despondent, check the corresponding box in the Additional Lockup Demographic/Cautionary Descriptors field.
18. in those instances in which the subject arrestee has been identified as a present or prior danger to themselves (i.e. attempt suicide, caused harm to self, despondent), place the subject in a cell closest to the lockup keeper and will place another arrestee in the cell with the subject arrestee.
23. complete a visual check of each arrestee every 15 minutes following the Guidelines for Arrestee Screening and Monitoring chart and record the time of each inspection, a concise statement of conditions found, notable occurrences, actions take[n], if any, and the initials and employee identification number on the Inspection Log.

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Vertulie Lapre v. City of Chicago, 911 F.3d 424 (7th Cir. 2018).

911 F.3d 424 (Vertulie Lapre v. City of Chicago) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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