Attorneys obtained summary judgment in a jail suicide case

Attorneys obtained summary judgment in a jail suicide case. Plaintiff, the mother of decedent son, brought suit against a Borough and seven of its police officers. Officers responded to a call of a possibly intoxicated male walking on a Borough street, dragging a child by the arm. Officers located decedent and his 4 year old daughter who was crying. Decedent appeared to be highly intoxicated and violently resisted arrest. He was transported to the Borough's police department and placed in a holding cell where he continued to be violent. Officers deployed OC spray to control him. The county Bureau of Children, Youth and Families was notified and an investigator responded to investigate decedent and his wife (who was also arrested that same evening) for child abuse/abandonment. Later, when officers went to retrieve decedent to transport him to jail, he was found hanging in his cell by his socks. Plaintiff's counsel voluntarily dismissed all but one officer after summary judgment was filed. However, Plaintiff filed a cross motion for summary judgment against the Borough in part because of a previous encounter between the police and decedent where decedent asked to be taken to the hospital. The Court held as a matter of law that there was no evidence of any Constitutional violation by the officer and on that basis there could not be any municipal liability. The Court ruled that the state law claims were barred by the Tort Claims Act.