Eighth Circuit on ADA and Police Failure-to-Train Cases

Today, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion in Yeng Thao v. City of St. Paul. The case was brought by the estate of a person with schizophrenia, who was fatally shot by St. Paul police officers when they entered his home and he came at them with a sickle and a BB gun. The plaintiffs filed suit under, inter alia, Title II of the ADA for failing to provide adequate training to the officers in responding to individuals with mental illness. The Eighth Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment to the defendants. Although the court expressed no opinion on whether there could ever be ADA liability for police failure to train, it found such liability improper on the facts of the case.