Although a man suffering from delusions attacked a psychiatric hospital staff member, the defendants knew that restraining him face-down on the floor and putting pressure on a his back posed a substantial risk of asphyxiation. "Despite knowledge of this risk, defendants chose to restrain [the deceased] using these dangerous restraint techniques. Their actions were objectively unreasonable given the fact that [an] eyewitness testified that [the] defendants continued to restrain [him] in this dangerous position ..." He had been brought to the hospital for a mental health assessment by Sheriff's Department personnel who found him wandering the countryside. During the attempt to restrain him, he stopped breathing, never regained consciousness, and died. The appeals court rejected claims by certain defendants for qualified immunity in a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the decedent's estate. Lanman v. Hinson, #06-2263, 2008 U.S. App. Lexis 12682, 2008 Fed App. 0212P (6th Cir.).
     Correctional officers were not entitled to qualified immunity on claim that they continued to use force against detainee after they had subdued him, resulting in his death from positional asphyxia. They were also not entitled to qualified immunity on the claim that they waited fourteen minutes after he became unconscious and stopped breathing, to summon medical assistance. Bozeman v. Orum, No. 04-11073, 422 F.3d 1265 (11th Cir. 2005). [2006 JB Feb]
      Correctional officers did not use excessive force in restraining a prisoner in his cell when he was obviously undergoing a mental breakdown of some sort and some level of force was needed to restore order, but deceased prisoner's estate could proceed with its claim that the officers were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs by failing to attempt to resuscitate him at once after they realized he was not breathing. Bozeman v. Orum, 199 F. Supp. 2d 1216 (M.D. Ala. 2002). [2002 JB Sep]
    269:75 Jury awards almost $13 million to family of schizophrenic man who died of asphyxiation after being placed in restraints face down; trial judge also awards $343,953.70 in attorneys' fees, but rejects one plaintiff's attorney's request for fees of $1,000 per hour. Swans v. City of Lansing, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20043 (W.D. Mich. 1998).
     263:169 Trial court, relying on new study, concludes that "positional asphyxia" was not cause of arrestee's death, questions entire scientific basis for "positional asphyxia." Price v. Co. of San Diego, 990 F.Supp. 1230 (S.D. Cal. 1998). » Editor's Note: The study relied on by the trial court in the decision above has been published as JL Clausen, TC Chan, T Neuman, & GM Vilke, "Restraint Position and Positional Asphyxia" in Vol. 30 Annals of Emergency Medicine, p. 578-586 (Nov. 1997).