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PWDF Requests City and County of San Francisco Withdraw Its Appeal of Sheehan to the US Supreme Court

People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) has asked the City and County of San Francisco to withdraw its appeal of the Sheehan case to the U.S. Supreme Court, a case about the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when police officers are arresting someone with a known mental disorder, in this case schizoaffective disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is a mental health condition that includes schizophrenia – hallucinations which are audio (but can be visual too) and/or delusions which cannot be differentiated from reality – plus an affective disorder, usually major depression.  It is extremely important that law enforcement comply with the ADA when communicating with people with severe mental illness to prevent escalating situations; e.g., as in Sheehan.  See PWDF’s letter in its entirety here: PWDF Sheehan v. SF letter.

The case in question involves whether Title II (states and other governmental entities) of the ADA applies to arrests, entitling people with disabilities to reasonable accommodations during an arrest. The Ninth Circuit held that Title II of the ADA does apply to arrests. Sheehan v. City & County of San Francisco, 743 F.3d 1211 (9th Cir. Cal. 2014)).  The Supreme Court’s deliberation of the appeal threatens to weaken the ADA, a critical law protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities.

In this case, Ms. Sheehan was known to have been off her medications for a time and was gravely disabled according to her case worker. Ms. Sheehan threatened to stab the case worker when he went to check on her. The case worker then called the police to take Ms. Sheehan to the psychiatric hospital for a 72-hour hold.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco issued an opinion essentially stating that the police initially had a right to enter Ms. Sheehan’s room without a warrant. The court held that the second time police entered the room, a jury might find that the entry was unreasonable due to the fact that the police were aware of Ms. Sheehan’s mental disability and had already called for backup. Ms. Sheehan thus had the right to a civil jury trial in which she could present her ADA claim: the San Francisco police should have waited for back-up before entering her room a second time in order to “defuse” the situation involving her holding a knife. Instead, the police broke into her room and shot her. PWDF believes there is a right to reasonable accommodations under these facts.

PWDF’s letter to the City and County of San Francisco points out that although the City argues that Ms. Sheehan posed a safety threat to others, it is an illusory assertion given that Ms. Sheehan was isolated in her room with no means of escape, the remaining building occupants had been evacuated, and back-up police had been called.  PWDF calls on Mayor Edwin Lee and City Attorney Dennis Herrera to withdraw the City’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court appealing the Ninth Circuit’s opinion, so as not to jeopardize protections under the ADA.