Constitutional Incompetence

Dane County's response to the lawsuit filed by the parents of the murdered UW-Madison student, Brittany Zimmermann, is mystifying: the U.S. Constitution "does not require municipalities to rescue persons in distress."

The suit will likely get tossed, but so what?

A young woman was killed, and Dane County failed her.

Settle the suit, and help put this tragedy behind the grieving family. There may not be a constitutional right mandating that our community protects our citizens, but there is an uncontroversial public policy imperative.

Ed Treleven in the Wisconsin State Journal reports:

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Dane County and a former 911 dispatcher by the parents of homicide victim Brittany Zimmermann should be dismissed because the county has no constitutional obligation to protect individuals from the acts of others, a response to the lawsuit states.

The response, written as a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, was filed late last month by private attorneys representing Dane County and former dispatcher Rita Gahagan. They were sued last month by Kevin and Jean Zimmermann in U.S. District Court over the response of the 911 center to a call made from their daughter's cell phone around the time of her death on April 2.

For more information, see:

- Falk apologizes to Zimmermann's family, fiance (Capital Times, May 6)
- County Board chair wants answers on 911 problems (Cap Times, May 6)

- Falk apologizes to Zimmermann's family, fiance (Capital Times, May 6)

- Soglin: We all failed Brittany Zimmerman.

***Note*** Contributions in memory of Ms. Zimmermann may be sent to:
The “Dollars for Brittany” scholarship fund
Care of the Brittany Zimmermann Memorial Fund
Marshfield Medical Center Credit Union
P.O. Box 279
Marshfield, WI 54449