Opinion ID: 1446243
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Seizure of Plaintiff

Text: Mrs. Ziegler argues on appeal that Defendant's summary judgment motion should not have been granted because Defendant violated her Fourth Amendment rights when he took her into custody. at her home for a temporary health confinement. Absent suspected criminal activity, a law enforcement official may not physically restrain an individual merely to assess his mental health. Rather, this Court has established that in the context of a mental health seizure, an officer must have probable cause to believe that the person seized poses a danger to himself or others. See Monday v. Oullette, 118 F.3d 1099, 1102 (6th Cir.1997). A showing of probable cause in the mental health seizure context requires only a probability or substantial chance of dangerous behavior, not an actual showing of such behavior. Id. (citing Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 245 n. 13, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). Just as actual innocence will not render invalid an arrest that is properly based upon probable cause that criminal activity was occurring, a mental health seizure can rest upon probable cause even when the person seized does not actually suffer from a dangerous mental condition. Id. Courts evaluate the existence of probable cause from the perspective of a reasonable and objective person in the position of the seizing official. Id. If the circumstances, viewed objectively, support a finding of probable cause [then] the arresting officer's actual motives are irrelevant. Criss v. City of Kent, 867 F.2d 259, 262 (6th Cir.1988). In the instant matter, it appears that Officer Jonoshies did indeed have probable cause to detain Mrs. Ziegler. Officer Jonoshies took Mrs. Ziegler into custody and brought her back to Foote Hospital after he received a call from a 911 dispatcher saying that she was suicidal and there was a clinical certificate requiring that she be returned to the hospital. Plaintiff claims that a 911 call reporting that an individual is suicidal is not enough to establish probable cause for a police seizure. She cites this Court's decision in Fisher v. Harden, 398 F.3d 837 (6th Cir. 2005), as support for her argument. In Fisher, this Court found that there was no probable cause for the seizure of a man who was allegedly suicidal. Id. at 843. The police in Fisher acted on a call made by a passerby who incorrectly thought Mr. Fisher had tied his feet to the railroad tracks in an attempt to commit suicide. Id. at 839-40, Despite clear signs that Mr. Fisher was not suicidal, [5] the police officers aimed their firearms at Mr. Fisher, forced him to get face-down on the roadway, and eventually handcuffed him behind his back, Id. at 843. This Court held that based on the facts, Defendants had not demonstrated that probable cause existed to believe that. Mr. Fisher was a danger to himself or others. Id. The facts in the instant matter are quite distinguishable from those of Fisher. Here, Officer Jonoshies did not receive a 911 call from a passerby, but from a medical professional, Nurse Aukerman of Foote Hospital, who had been ordered to make the call by a doctor of the same hospital. In addition, the dispatcher informed Officer Jonoshies that there was a clinical certificate confirming what the dispatcher was telling him, that Mrs. Ziegler was suicidal and that the police had the authority to take her back to the hospital. Furthermore, it was clear from the telephone call that Mrs. Ziegler had already been hospitalized, presumably for mental health reasons. In reviewing these facts together, and perhaps even separately, Officer Jonoshies had more than enough information to reasonably believe that there was a substantial chance that Mrs. Ziegler posed a dangerous risk to herself or others. Mrs. Ziegler seems to think that the fact that she did not exhibit dangerous behavior when Officer Jonoshies took her into custody makes Officer Jonoshies's belief that there was a substantial chanceb she was dangerous unreasonable. This simply is not true. A showing of probable cause in the mental health seizure context does not require an actual showing of dangerous behavior. Monday v. Oullette, 118 F.3d 1099, 1102 (6th Cir.1997) (citing Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 245 n. 13, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). It is enough that Officer Jonoshies had information such that a reasonable person in the officer's position would believe it probable that Mrs. Ziegler was a danger to herself or others. Although this Court in Fisher did consider the officers' observations of the plaintiff in deciding that the officers lacked probable cause to seize the plaintiff, that decision must be viewed in the context of all the information presented before the Court. As stated previously, the only information the officers in Fisher had about the mental state of the plaintiff was from a telephone call made to the Sheriff's office by the passerby. Fisher, 398 F.3d at 839. Given the general level of uncertainty surrounding the veracity of such a call, it was necessary that the officers obtain other information to meet the probable cause standard. In Fisher, the only other information the officers were able to obtain came from their own observations of the plaintiff. Thus, their observations, by necessity, played a large role in determining whether probable cause existed. In the present case, the information the officers received about Plaintiffs mental health came from a much more credible source, if not the most credible source, the hospital itself. In addition, the hospital staff stated in their 911 call that their concern for Plaintiff's mental health was supported by a documented examination of Plaintiff, the clinical certificate. As a reasonable officer would view this information alone as sufficient to support a showing of probable cause, the officer's own observations of Plaintiff are of little importance. This is especially true in a situation such as this where the plaintiff allegedly suffers from a mental illness that prevents her from realizing her own need for treatment. In reading the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, it is clear that Officer Jonoshies had probable cause to seize Mrs. Ziegler, and thus did not violate her Fourth Amendment rights when he took her into custody. Consequently, Mrs. Ziegler's § 1983 claim on this ground must fail as a reasonable jury could not find that Officer Jonoshies violated her constitutional rights when he took her into custody.