A federal appeals court today ruled
that a mentally ill California woman can sue the Chicago
Police Department for releasing her into a violent neighborhood (Wink, Wink black nieghborhood) where she was raped and nearly killed.
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“They might as well have released her into the lions’ den at the Brookfield
Zoo,” (Wink, Wink animals in a black
neighborhood) Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote in the opinion from the
three-judge panel of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the only
way to sort out whether officers violated Christina Eilman's rights is to have a
trial.
In the appellate ruling, Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote that police knew
Eilman was suffering a bipolar
breakdown and that responsibility for the sexual assault and injuries she
suffered after police released her into a high-crime neighborhood the night of
May 8, 2006 has to be decided in a trial.
The city's appeal had asked the court to dismiss the case against 10 police officers accused of negligence, arguing the police had no responsibility to take care of Eilman, a 21-year-old former UCLA student who had been arrested after creating a disturbance at Midway Airport.
The appellate ruling left most of the police defendants in the case, but the judges excused two officers whose role in the case didn't involve responsibility for making decisions about whether Eilman needed care. Decisions about the status of two other officers were sent back to U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall to evaluate.
In reciting the narrative of what happened that night, Easterbrook suggested the police showed little regard for the danger they were putting Eilman in when they released her.
"She was lost, unable to appreciate her danger, and dressed in a manner to attract attention," Easterbrook wrote. He added, "she is white and well off while the local population is predominantly black and not affluent, causing her to stand out as a person unfamiliar with the environment and thus a potential target for crime." (No winks from the judge needed here)Eilman, who was thrown or fell from the 7th floor of a public housing building after being assaulted
The city's appeal had asked the court to dismiss the case against 10 police officers accused of negligence, arguing the police had no responsibility to take care of Eilman, a 21-year-old former UCLA student who had been arrested after creating a disturbance at Midway Airport.
The appellate ruling left most of the police defendants in the case, but the judges excused two officers whose role in the case didn't involve responsibility for making decisions about whether Eilman needed care. Decisions about the status of two other officers were sent back to U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall to evaluate.
In reciting the narrative of what happened that night, Easterbrook suggested the police showed little regard for the danger they were putting Eilman in when they released her.
"She was lost, unable to appreciate her danger, and dressed in a manner to attract attention," Easterbrook wrote. He added, "she is white and well off while the local population is predominantly black and not affluent, causing her to stand out as a person unfamiliar with the environment and thus a potential target for crime." (No winks from the judge needed here)Eilman, who was thrown or fell from the 7th floor of a public housing building after being assaulted
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