Mental IllnessFailure to provide medical careDied out of custody
Plaintiff:
Christina Rose Eilman
Incident date:
05/06/2006
Location:
5700 S. Cicero Ave.
Allegations:
Eilman, a 22-year old woman with bipolar disorder, was at Midway Airport on her way home to California when she became involved in a heated argument with an individual at the ticket counter. Officer Johnson intervened, determined that Eilman posed a threat to other passengers, and ordered her out of the airport. Eilman contacted her parents in California, who arranged for her to take a different flight the following afternoon. On the day of the flight, Eilman was involved in another incident. Johnson intervened again and had Eilman escorted out of the airport to the CTA station. After another verbal disturbance at the CTA station, Officer Cason and Moreno arrested Eilman. They took her to a police station, where she continued to act erratically and demonstrate abnormal behavior. A few hours after her arrest, Officer Delia contacted Eilman's parents, who explained their daughter's condition. Delia said Chicago police officers would attempt to help Eilman return to California. Instead, Eilman, without her possessions, was taken to another police station where there was a holding facility for females. Her family did not receive information about when she might be released from custody. The officers kept Eilman in custody for 28 hours. While still experiencing a psychiatric episode, Eilman was released by Officers Miller and Heard without her luggage in an unfamiliar and high-crime area. She was abducted, restrained and sexually assaulted in a building two blocks from where the officers released her and thrown from a 7th-floor window. She survived, but suffered severe brain damages, and is impaired for life.