Opinion ID: 158329
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Wrongful-Arrest Theory

Text: 31 In two opinions on which Gohier relies, district courts declined to dismiss ADA claims alleging that police had arrested, and, in one case, beaten, persons with disabilities who had not committed any crime. See Lewis, 960 F. Supp. at 176-77; Jackson, 1994 WL 589617, at . 3 See generally James D. Johnson, Note & Comment, Does the Americans with Disabilities Act Apply to the Conduct of Law Enforcement Officers Pursuant to Arrests? A Survey of Gorman v. Bartch, 14 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 901, 920 22 (1998) (discussing cases). The police in each case misperceived the effects of a disability as illegal conduct. In Lewis, they beat and arrested, for the offense of resisting law enforcement, a deaf man who could not understand their commands; in Jackson, they arrested for drunk driving a man who was sober, and whose unsteadiness and slurred speech resulted from a past stroke. See 960 F. Supp. at 176 77; 1994 WL 589617, at . The court in each case relied on a passage in the ADA's legislative history to conclude that a person with a disability can state a claim for such mistreatment: 32 In order to comply with the non-discrimination mandate, it is often necessary to [train] public employees about disability. For example, persons who have epilepsy, and a variety of other disabilities, are frequently inappropriately arrested and jailed because police officers have not received proper training in [how to recognize and aid people having] seizures. . . . Such discriminatory treatment based on disability can be avoided by proper training. 33 H.R. Rep. No. 101 485, pt. III (1990), reprinted in 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 445 (quoted at 960 F. Supp. at 178; 1994 WL 589617, at  n.12). 34 In this case, Officer Enright did not misperceive lawful conduct caused by Mr. Lucero's disability as criminal activity and then arrest him for that conduct. Lucero's conduct was not lawful, and Enright did not arrest him. Enright used force on Lucero not to effect an arrest, but to defend himself from a perceived threat. When he shot Lucero, he reasonably thought it necessary to do so to avoid serious harm or death. We take judicial notice that Lucero may not have been criminally responsible under Colorado law for his unlawful conduct, 4 and assume that said conduct was the unfortunate result of a disability in terms of the ADA. Nonetheless, whether or not Enright would have formally arrested Lucero, had that been possible, and whether or not a jury would ultimately have convicted Lucero of any crime, Enright's use of force in self-defense is simply unlike the wrongful arrests of Lewis and Jackson. Those men's conduct did not warrant the police response at issue in those cases, i.e., arrest. Lucero's threatening conduct, however, did warrant the police response at issue in this case, i.e., the use of force in self-defense. 35