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HILDEBRANDT v. CITY OF FAIRBANKS5/1/1998
e violated the Constitution. Id. at 1294. The Fagan court reasoned that a city can be directly liable under § 1983 for injuries that resulted when an officer followed a city policy that the city policymakers implemented with deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's constitutional rights. Id. at 1292. An officer in such a situation merely serves as "the causal conduit for the constitutional violation by the City." Id. The individual officer would only be liable under § 1983 if his or her conduct shocked the conscience. Id.
Hildebrandt, therefore, reasons that the City's failure to train its officers in high-speed pursuit driving was a policy that amounted to deliberate indifference to the rights of people with whom the police come into contact; that the policy caused Hildebrandt's injuries; and that the City was directly liable for its own wrongdoing (failure to train), even if the conduct of the police officer was not unconstitutional.
We reject Hildebrandt's argument and believe that his reliance on Fagan is misplaced. The Third Circuit's approach appears to conflict with the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of § 1983 as set forth in City of Canton and Collins. Thus, we join the majority of the Courts of Appeals in declining to follow Fagan. We hold that
a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim based on a municipality's failure to train requires an underlying violation of constitutional rights. Where a bystander is injured by a police car during a vehicle pursuit, the pursuing police officer must have violated the bystander's substantive due process rights in order for the bystander to allege a § 1983 claim.
Deliberate indifference on the part of the City in adopting inadequate training policies, without more, cannot sustain a substantive due process claim. If we allowed such a result, courts would become embroiled in evaluating municipalities' resource allocation decisions — a task for which the courts are illequipped. In addition, the Due Process Clause would become a guarantee of duties traditionally imposed by state tort law. The United States Supreme Court has cautioned courts against interpreting the Due Process Clause in that manner:
Decisions concerning the allocation of resources to individual programs . . . and to particular aspects of those programs, such as the training and compensation of employees, involve a host of policy choices that must be made by locally elected representatives, rather than by federal judges interpreting the basic charter of Government for the entire country. The Due Process Clause "is not a guarantee against incorrect or ill-advised personnel decisions."
Collins, 503 U.S. at 128-29, 112 S.Ct. 1061 (quoting Bishop v. Wood, 426 U.S. 341, 350, 96 S.Ct. 2074, 48 L.Ed.2d 684 (1976)). Therefore, we hold that Hildebrandt's § 1983 claim can only succeed if the police officer violated Hildebrandt's constitutional rights.
B. Did Officer Williamson Violate Hildebrandt's Constitutional Rights?
Hildebrandt contends that Officer Williamson's actions violated Hildebrandt's substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. He does not identify any other possible constitutional violation. He argues that Williamson's conduct was "shocking," and that the court should find that it shocks the conscience, thereby amounting to a constitutional violation.
The Courts of Appeals have not reached consensus on what standard a plaintiff must satisfy in order to establish a substantive due process violation actionable under § 1983. The Ninth Circuit, however, has found a unifying principle in the circuits' approaches: "These cases sen a clear message that conduct that is sufficien
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