Gray v. Cummings

Brief Filed: 9/18
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Year of Decision: 2019

Read full-text amicus briefopens in new window (PDF, 140KB)

Involves the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the extent to which the police should reasonably accommodate a mentally ill person they are attempting to take into custody.

Affirmative Action

In this case, the police were called by Gray, a bipolar woman who was having a manic episode, and taken by them to the hospital. The hospital called shortly thereafter to say she had left and needed to be returned as she was a danger to herself or others. The police located her but she was uncooperative and the police tased her in order to subdue her and return her to the hospital. The case involves the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the extent to which the police should reasonably accommodate a mentally ill person they are attempting to take into custody.

APA filed jointly with American Psychiatric in a very similar case in 2015, San Francisco v. Sheehan. The brief educates the court of appeals regarding the increased interaction between police and the mentally ill as treatment has shifted away from institutionalization, the use of crisis intervention teams, and specialized training. The brief argues that the Court should affirm that the ADA applies in this context, and that the courts should insist that this means that police must be trained on interactions with mentally ill to de-escalate conflicts. 

On February 22, 2019 the Court affirmed summary judgment in favor of defendant, but emphasized that it was deciding the appeal “on the narrowest available grounds.” APA’s brief was not cited.