Opinion ID: 172061
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Individual County Defendants

Text: Martinez contends that the district court erred in concluding that there was no issue of material fact regarding the subjective component of deliberate indifference as to each of the individual county defendants. Martinez argues that a jury could find that Kirkland and Edwards, the arresting officers, subjectively knew that Ginn faced a substantial risk of serious harm. The arresting officers knew that Ginn consumed an entire bottle of whiskey, he could not walk without help, he may have been unconscious for a short time, he was talking as if he were hallucinating, and Carlson thought he needed medical care. Carlson told the arresting officers that she thought Ginn needed medical care, and they told her to shut up and go inside. Martinez additionally argues that a jury could find that the custodial officers, Brandon and Epps, subjectively knew that Ginn faced a substantial risk of serious harm. The custodial officers knew that Ginn was drunk, too incoherent to be booked into jail, had difficulty walking, had not been medically screened, and was left alone in the receiving cell. Policies required the custodial officers to visually check on Ginn, yet the officers failed to log in any sight checks for Ginn between his arrival at 6:30 p.m., and when he was found dead at 9:35 p.m. However, the sufficiently serious objective harm that Ginn faced was heart attack and death, and not acute intoxication. We agree with the district court's determination that there was no evidence in the record of any symptoms or signs indicating that Mr. Ginn would suffer from a heart attack. Aplt.App., Vol. II, at 479 (Order at 17); see also Aplee. Br. at 32 (Ginn's only external appearance was that he was intoxicated, and voluntarily so.). Additionally, the district court noted that officers did not know Ginn's blood alcohol level, there was no evidence that Ginn was in pain or distress, and at all times Ginn was conscious and understood that he was being arrested. The officers subjectively knew that Ginn was intoxicated, but there is no evidence to show that anyone would have known that Ginn would face an imminent heart attack or death, much less that the individual county defendants subjectively knew that Ginn was at risk of heart attack or death. Martinez argues that this case is very similar to Garcia v. Salt Lake County, 768 F.2d 303 (10th Cir.1985). Aplt. Br. at 16. In Garcia, Garcia was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after a traffic accident. 768 F.2d at 305. He was transported to the hospital for back pains, where he ingested an overdose of barbiturates and escaped from the hospital. Id. Police found him passed out on the pavement outside the hospital, and a medical doctor, with no knowledge of the barbiturate overdose, declared him semi-conscious. Id. Garcia, still semi-conscious or unconscious, was released from the hospital to be jailed around 3:45 p.m., and officers were told to observe him. Id. There was no physician at the jail most of the time. Id. at 308. The jail medic instructed that Garcia was to be checked every fifteen to twenty minutes. Id. at 305. Instead, the officers checked Garcia only every thirty minutes. Id. at 305-06. At 8:30 p.m., the medic reexamined Garcia, and he was still unconscious. Id. at 306. When Garcia was checked at 10:15 p.m., he appeared to be dead. Id. Garcia was then transferred to the hospital, monitored on life support, and ultimately life support was discontinued. Id. An expert testified that Garcia would have survived if he had been transported to the hospital when he was examined and determined to be still unconscious at 8:30 p.m. Id. The jury found for the plaintiffs on their 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim based on the deliberate indifference of the county policy of admitting unconscious persons into the jail and the jail's medical staffing deficiencies, and we affirmed. Id. at 308. We agree with defendants that the facts of Garcia are distinguishable. Although defendants in Garcia were aware that Garcia was unconscious for many hours, they took no action to attend to his obvious medical needs. By comparison, Ginn was conscious, on his feet, argumentative, and cognizant that he was being arrested. Ginn exhibited characteristics that are common to many intoxicated individuals. Aplee. Br. at 36. Whereas the practice of admitting to the understaffed jail unconscious individuals suspected of intoxication shows a deliberate indifference to an obvious and substantial risk of serious harm, Ginn was not unconscious and showed no obvious symptoms indicating a risk of serious harm. Nothing in the record indicates that Ginn exhibited symptoms that would predict his imminent heart attack or death.