Civil Liability Issues Surrounding Non-Firearm Arrest-Related Deaths
Darrell L . Ross , Ph . D .
The occurrence of a non-firearm arrest-related death ( ARD ) of a violent subject is rare and estimated to occur once in every 2,600 use of force encounters . 1 Even when law enforcement officers ( LEOs ) apply reasonable force measures to control and restrain the subject , he or she may unexpectedly die . Regardless of the cause of death , the political fallout can be immense for the involved LEOs and the involved agency , and the incident can create polarization between the community and the involved agency . The incident may lead to criminal prosecution of the involved LEOs , but most assuredly it will generate a civil lawsuit
38 SPRING . 2021 filed against the involved LEOs and agency administrators .
This is the second in a series of four articles which examines issues associated with an ARD . This article reviews the common liability claims filed in accordance with 42 U . S . C . § 1983 which are associated with these incidents . § 1983 is the primary vehicle used to file a civil action claiming that the involved LEOs and agency administrators violated the Constitutional rights of the decedent . 1 2 The assessment is based on a review of 850 published § 1983 ARD cases filed against LEOs .
Because an ARD is temporally associated with the force measures used by the involved LEOs , claims filed under § 1983 are evaluated in accordance with the Fourth Amendment , the United States Supreme Court ’ s ( SCOTUS ) decision in Graham v . Connor ( 1989 ), 3 and the “ objective reasonableness ” standard . Medical care claims and claims filed against agency administrators are filed in accordance with the standard of “ deliberate indifference .” 2
Claims Against Involved LEOs The collective analysis of the published § 1983 cases , reveals that , generally , twelve broad