Plaintiff sued the Township of Waterford, Michigan and several officers within its Department of Police, asserting that he sustained a variety of severe head and bodily injuries following his arrest by the individually identified law enforcement officers.
In their motion for summary judgment, the Defendants argued that (1) plaintiff’s allegations of municipal liability were not supported by any evidence; and (2) the individual police officers were entitled to a summary judgment.
The court found that, even if the evidence was sufficient to support plaintiff’s inadequate training argument, he had failed to present any other competent evidence with regard to the remaining elements of his failure to train or supervise claim, namely, the municipality’s deliberate indifference and a causal connection between the municipality’s failure to train or supervise and the alleged constitutional violation. Therefore, Waterford Township was entitled to the entry of a summary judgment.
As to the individual claims, the court found that plaintiff had not established that the officers observed the alleged mistreatment and could have prevented the harm from occurring, and therefore had not established that the officers were involved in the alleged constitutional violations. Therefore, the officers were entitled to summary judgment on this claim.