Opinion ID: 3027396
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Township’s Liability

Text: Plaintiff argues that under Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), the Township, Police Captain Richard Herron, and Officer Herron are liable for failure to train, which she maintains resulted in the attempted suicide. It is not enough for Plaintiff to show that the Township’s “employees could have been better trained or that additional training was available that would have reduced the overall risk of constitutional injury.” Colburn, 946 F.2d at 1029-30. In order to prove failure to train, she must “(1) identify specific training not provided that could reasonably be expected to prevent the suicide that occurred, and (2). . . demonstrate that the risk reduction associated with the proposed training is so great and so obvious that the failure of those responsible for the content of the training program to provide it can reasonably be attributed to a deliberate indifference to whether the detainees succeed in taking their lives.” Id. at 1030. She has not proven these elements. Plaintiff relies heavily upon expert testimony that she believes proves that if the Township had proceeded in accordance with national standards for correctional facilities, the attempted suicide would not have occurred. This testimony, however, is broad, general, and conclusory. Evidence of this nature is not enough to satisfy the first element of the test. See Woloszyn, 396 F.3d at 325. As in Woloszyn, the testimony Plaintiff relies upon suggests that the Township could have prevented Joines’s attempted suicide through better training, but the evidence does not specifically identify how that training could have identified Joines as an attempted suicide risk. Id. Further, the expert 4 testimony suggests that the attempted suicide could have been prevented by closer monitoring of Joines. However, Joines attempted suicide within eight minutes of confinement, and the officers are not required to monitor the cells around the clock. Colburn, 496 F.2d at 1029. The evidence is also insufficient to establish deliberate indifference. It is unclear how Joines could have ever been identified as a suicide risk until after he attempted suicide. His behavior was not unusual for an intoxicated person. Deliberate indifference is not established simply because better policies could have been enacted. Colburn, 946 F.2d at 1029-30. Thus, Plaintiff’s claim for failure to train is meritless. AFFIRMED. 5