Decision here.
This decision is based on rather sickening circumstances.
Ofc. Coyne worked for Grand Junction PD, and met Schneider after she called 911 because of an argument with her son. The investigation had the potential for serious charges against her son, and Coyne kept meeting with Schneider to follow up on the case. Then one day he signed out from work an hour early, went to to Schneider's house, and raped her.
She complained, the evidence supported her complaint, and Coyne was arrested and fired. After bonding out of jail, he killed himself. Schneider sued the city and various department members (including the chief, Coyne's supervisor, the officer who had handled Coyne's background investigation). Making matters worse for the defendants, Coyne had a checkered history. In the three weeks between the completion of his background investigation and the decision to hire him, he was alleged to have done some inappropriate thigns while repeatedly searching a female (the Grand Junction PD first heard about this one after Schneider made her complaint). Later, while he was employed with Grand Junction, he was alleged to have raped a different woman who he met at work. The evidence hadn't been enough to support criminal charges (he claimed the sex was consensual, the victim claimed it started as consensual but then became not). Coyne had received a pay cut and a six month probationary status for that incident, and was still on probation when he raped Schneider.
The disctrict court granted summary judgment to all defendants because Schneider couldn't prove certain facts required for a 1983 action. Regarding Coyne's supervisors (and background checker), she couldn't prove that any of them acted with deliberate indifference to the risk that Coyne would do what he did. Regarding the city, she couldn't prove that there was a city policy that caused Coyne to do what he did. She appealed this ruling, but the Tenth Circuit affirmed.
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