Disability Law United filed a lawsuit against the Sacramento Police Department, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Jim Cooper, three individual officers, and Sacramento County Emergency Medical Services on behalf of Kaylin Footman, a Sacramento elementary school teacher who was arrested and injured during a mental health crisis after her own family called police for help. The suit argues that first responders and jail staff failed to accommodate her disability and instead treated a psychiatric emergency as a criminal matter, in violation of the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and her constitutional rights.
Ms. Footman, a 32-year-old Black teacher with no history of violence, began experiencing a severe mental health decline in October 2023 after months of racial harassment at work culminated in being sent home from school. Over several days her condition deteriorated into psychosis, and her mother called the Sacramento Police Department seeking a 5150 hold to get her psychiatric care. Officers and paramedics who responded witnessed her erratic behavior and heard her confirm she was a danger to herself, but left without providing help, telling the family to call a crisis line or the non-emergency number if things got worse. When her condition did worsen and officers returned hours later, they told Ms. Footman and her family she was being taken for psychiatric help. Instead, according to the complaint, they arrested her without advising her of her rights, and she alleges that once out of her family’s sight, officers tightened her handcuffs, pulled out her fingernails, and made derogatory comments about her religious faith.
At the county jail, jail psychiatric staff determined Ms. Footman met the standard for admission to the Acute Psychiatric Unit and flagged her as an assault risk, but she received no mental health treatment for days and was barred from family visits. After five days without care, she was finally placed on a psychiatric hold; during the transfer, in a manic state after days without treatment, she struck two correctional officers and was charged with assault on government officials. She was later released under a deferred prosecution agreement under which those charges are to be dismissed once she completes a mental health treatment plan.
The lawsuit argues that the police department, sheriff’s office, and county EMS failed to accommodate Ms. Footman’s mental health disability at every stage, from the initial wellness check through her time in jail, and that the agencies’ policies and practices reflect a pattern of responding to mental health crises with force rather than care. It seeks damages for Ms. Footman’s injuries, including punitive damages against the individual officers, a declaration that the defendants violated her constitutional and disability rights, and injunctive relief requiring the police department and sheriff’s office to reform how they respond to mental health crisis calls and screen people for mental health needs at booking.
The matter was originally filed in the Sacramento Superior Court, but was removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California by Defendants.