Remedying a Particularized Form of Discrimination: Why Disabled Plaintiffs Can and Should Bring Claims for Police Misconduct under the Americans with Disabilities Act

Abstract

On November 18, 2000, Ryan K. Schorr, a twenty-five-year-old who suffered from bipolar disorder, was involuntarily committed to the Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, after his family and roommate noticed that his condition was deteriorating. Though Schorr was placed in a high security room at the hospital, when a crisis intervention worker opened his door to enter, he pushed past her and escaped confinement. After Schorr answered his family’s phone call to his apartment, his family informed the police of his whereabouts. West Shore Regional Police Officers Harry Hart Jr. and Gary Berresford arrived at Schorr’s apartment and, after knocking on the door and receiving no response, entered the residence through a partially open back door. The officers found Schorr in his bedroom, where a