Training.

• Position: Brief Article

U.S. District Court

FAILURE TO TRAIN

Craw v. Gray 159 F.Supp.2d 679 (N.D.Ohio 2001). An arrestee sued law enforcement officers under [section] 1983 asserting claims for use of excessive force. The district court granted partial summary judgment in favor of the officers, finding that the allegations did not support a claim for inadequate training of an officer and that past "use of force" incident reports did not support the claim for inadequate supervision of the officer. According to the court, the assertion that a particular officer may be unsatisfactorily trained does not alone "suffice to fasten ?? 1983 liability" on a municipality for failure to train. The court noted that none of the reports showed that the deputy acted improperly. The officer had brought the arrestee to a county jail and during the booking process an altercation between the arrestee and the officer resulted in a right hip fracture and dislocation for the arrestee. (Mercer County Jail, Ohio)

FAILURE TO TRAIN

U.S. District Court

McCray v. City of Dothan 169 F.Supp.2d 1260 (M.D.Ala. 2001). A deaf African-American plaintiff brought a civil rights action against police officers and a city. The district court declined to enter summary judgment in favor of the defendants on assault and false imprisonment claims. The court held that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the city was guilty of failure to take disciplinary action against police officers for constitutional violations, such that its inaction amounted to the type of informal policy or custom that was actionable under ?? 1983. According to the court, the frequency of constitutional violations may, in itself, provide sufficient circumstantial evidence that a municipality has chosen to allow its officers to act without adequate training. The court held that officers did not act with deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's medical needs even though they delayed treatment. The court held that summary judgment for the defendants was precluded by a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the officers acted in bad faith, with malice or...