Richard Lopez, et al. v. Estate of James Franklin Perry, et al.

An arrestee being held in a Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) temporary holding facility 1) was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment after experiencing an epileptic seizure; 2) suffered additional seizures while at the hospital; 3) was given more than one dose of anti-seizure medication by hospital personnel; and 4) was subsequently medically cleared and released back into police custody by hospital personnel, even though the arrestee was not fully responsive in his communication with the officers, and was drooling, screaming, and unable to either dress himself or walk on his own. The MPD officers who

1. transported him back to the temporary holding facility; 2) escorted him as he was processed at that facility; and 3) then transported him to a nearby county jail for long term detention, observed no objective change in the arrestee’s condition which suggested to them that the arrestee was experiencing another medical emergency, which would have required them to call again for emergency medical practitioners to respond to the arrestee’s medical needs. Upon arrival at the county jail, approximately 75 minutes after the arrestee was released from the hospital, and within five minutes after two county jail nurses each observed the arrestee and did not conclude that he was experiencing a medical emergency, the arrestee collapsed and died at the scene from a blood clot in his heart and hardening of his arteries. The questions presented are:

2. Did the Seventh Circuit opinion improperly find that the actions of the eleven MPD Petitioners in not engaging any emergency