Opinion ID: 2974666
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether there was a Constitutional Violation

Text: “It is not a constitutional violation for a state actor to render incompetent medical assistance or fail to rescue those in need.” Jackson, 429 F.3d at 590 (finding no constitutional violation where the gunshot victim was placed in an ambulance but received no treatment). Thus, the officers were under no general duty to aid Carver. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule: 1) the custody exception and 2) the state-created danger exception. DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dep’t of Social Services, 489 U.S. 189, 199-201 (1989). If neither exception applies, no constitutional violation has taken place. See id. at 196-97.
The mere fact that the police exercise control over an environment is alone insufficient to demonstrate that a person is seized. Ewolski v. City of Brunswick, 287 F.3d 492, 507 (6th Cir. 2002). “The affirmative duty to protect arises not from the State's knowledge of the individual’s predicament or from its expressions of intent to help him, but from the limitation which it has No. 06-3230 Carver v. City of Cincinnati, et al. Page 3 imposed on his freedom to act on his own behalf.” Deshaney, 489 U.S. at 200; see also Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103 (1976). Custody requires a restraint of personal liberty. See, e.g., DeShaney, 489 U.S. at 200; Stemler v. City of Florence, 126 F.3d 856, 867-68 (6th Cir. 1997). In Jackson, we held that an unconscious person can be taken into custody, but “some state action that applies force (or the threat of force) and show of authority made with the intent of acquiring physical control” is required. 429 F.3d at 590. An example would be an unconscious drunk whom the police handcuff and take to jail. Id. We also found it persuasive that the state officers were not the cause of the plaintiff’s unconscious state. Id. Here, there was no physical restraint over Carver by the officers, nor did the officers direct any actions toward him. Carver’s incapacity, like that of the plaintiff in Jackson, was self-induced. The officers did not place a restraint on Carver’s personal liberty when they secured the area to conduct an investigation into the death of Smith-Sandusky. Perhaps the officers had probable cause to restrain Carver if they had wanted, but that is not what happened. The custody exception is inapplicable because the officers never restrained Carver’s personal liberty in any fashion.
For the state-created danger exception to apply, the plaintiff must allege: 1) an affirmative act that creates or increases a risk that the decedent would be exposed to private acts of violence; 2) a special danger to the decedent, such that the defendants’ acts placed decedent specifically at risk; and 3) that defendants knew or should have known their actions specifically endangered the decedent. Kallstrom v. City of Columbus, 136 F.3d 1055, 1066 (6th Cir. 1998). Carver asserts that the officers created a danger by cutting off his access to private aid. In Jackson, we looked for “evidence that any private rescue was available or attempted” and whether the officers interfered with that aid. Jackson, 429 F.3d 586 at 592. Because the officers did not discourage aid to the plaintiff and no one had attempted to rescue or render aid to the plaintiff, we found that no constitutional violation had taken place. Id. Here, the officers removed everyone from the apartment and they controlled the keys to the apartment. It has not been suggested that anyone tried to enter the apartment to render aid to Carver. Nor has it been established that anyone, whether it be the officers or the people removed from the apartment, knew of Carver’s need for assistance. Therefore, there is no “evidence that any private rescue was available or attempted.” Id. The officers’ act of closing off the apartment to conduct an investigation into the death of Smith-Sandusky did nothing in and of itself to increase the risk of harm to Carver. No allegation has been made that Carver died while the officers were inside the apartment with him. The fact that Carver died from an apparent self-induced drug overdose is tragic. This tragedy, however, does not allow us to usurp Supreme Court precedent that the officers were under no general duty to render aid to Carver. DeShaney, 489 U.S. at 196. In the absence of any allegation that a private rescue was attempted, the officers did not commit a constitutional violation by securing the apartment and leaving Carver lying on the couch.