KAREN DOWNARD, Administrator for the Estate of Tye
L. Downard,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
RUSSELL L. MARTIN, et al.,
Defendants,
AMY FOLEY; DANIEL WALLACE,
Defendants-Appellants. |
No. 20-3046 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
No. 2:17-cv-00560—Algenon L. Marbley, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: July 31, 2020
Before: SUHRHEINRICH, GIBBONS, and BUSH, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
_________________________
JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. After nearly two decades as a detective for the
City of Reynoldsburg Police Department, Tye L. Downard (“Tye”) was arrested and charged
with a federal drug trafficking offense. While awaiting a preliminary hearing, Tye committed
suicide in his cell at the Delaware County Jail. Karen Downard (“Downard”), the administrator
of Tye’s estate, filed suit in the Southern District of Ohio, naming, among others, Officer Amy
Foley and Officer Daniel Wallace as defendants. In her complaint, Downard asserts federal
claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deliberate indifference to Tye’s serious medical need
and state-law claims for wrongful death and survival. The district court denied summary
judgment to Foley and Wallace, finding that neither was entitled to federal qualified immunity or
immunity under Ohio law. They appeal those decisions. Because the facts and inferences as
found by the district court do not, as a matter of law, show that Foley or Wallace was aware that
Tye posed a “strong likelihood” of attempting suicide, we reverse. |