The Cleveland Clinic is defending a policy that calls for its police officers to detain people who accompany gunshot victims to its emergency rooms.
The Clinic responded last week to a lawsuit filed in June that included a request that a federal judge halt the Cleveland Clinic Police Department’s policy immediately.
The man who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court accused hospital police of unlawfully detaining him in May 2025 as a result of the policy, an incident Signal Cleveland previously reported on. The man, Ibrahim Alim, was handcuffed, then held in a cruiser for about 27 minutes after dropping off a friend who had been shot at the emergency room at the Clinic’s main campus.
At the time, three legal experts questioned whether the policy might infringe on rights under the U.S. Constitution that limit how and when officers can detain individuals. Officers are required to have what’s called reasonable suspicion that a person has or is about to commit a crime before detaining them. But the hospital policy didn’t initially specify that when instructing its officers to detain people and vehicles accompanying gunshot victims at its emergency departments.
In the hospital’s response to the request for an injunction on the policy, it maintained the legality of its gunshot wound procedure. The four-page policy, the hospital wrote, “cannot be read in isolation.” Other Cleveland Clinic Police Department policies — including those governing field interviews — explicitly require police to meet constitutional standards like reasonable suspicion before detaining an individual, the hospital wrote.
To clarify this, the hospital amended its gunshot wound policy to add that officers should detain people arriving at the hospital with gunshot victims “based on reasonable suspicion” as defined in its field interviews policy. The hospital wrote in its court filing that the clarification of its gunshot wound procedure does not create a new standard.
Signal Cleveland asked a spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic whether bringing a gunshot victim to the hospital is enough to raise reasonable suspicion — and therefore trigger a detention — under the clarified policy. The hospital said it did not have anything further to add and could not comment further given the case is in active litigation.
In Alim’s case, arriving at the hospital with a gunshot victim was enough to raise reasonable suspicion, spokespeople for the Cleveland Clinic wrote last year in response to Signal Cleveland’s questions. But in the court filing, the hospital denied an allegation by Alim and his lawyers that “arriving at Cleveland Clinic’s emergency room, in the company of—or having transported—a gunshot victim, is itself treated as the operative trigger for seizure, detention and search, rather than individualized reasonable suspicion.”
Dan Smith, a lawyer who represents Alim, said that clarifying the gunshot wound procedure is meaningful — but he argues it wasn’t the same policy under which his client was detained.
“Maybe they did amend it afterwards, but you know that’s a different policy,” Smith said. “He wasn’t under that policy.”
Cleveland Clinic denies unlawful detention of Alim
The Cleveland Clinic denied nearly every allegation raised by Alim in the lawsuit: that it unlawfully searched Alim, that it detained Alim solely due to its gunshot wound victim procedure, that its officers used excessive force. It asked the judge to dismiss the case.
The hospital did not spell out in the filing what reasonable suspicion it used to detain Alim. It admitted police did not have a warrant for Alim but said they did not need one in order “to ask the unidentified driver for his identification” based on the circumstances.
Instead, the hospital wrote that the body camera video recordings show that Alim “repeatedly refused to identify himself (and) became combative and physically and verbally abusive.”
The hospital said it filed this footage with the court, though it was unavailable at the courthouse to be reviewed by Signal Cleveland in time for publication. The police body camera footage Signal Cleveland reviewed last year showed an officer approach Alim while he was parked outside of the emergency department and talking on the phone. After asking Alim if he was the driver, she grabbed the keys out of the ignition and requested his identification. Another police officer arrived seconds later.
Alim asked why the police officers were “coming at” him. At that point, one of the officers pushed Alim against his car and attempted to gain control of his hands. Twenty-three seconds had elapsed since the first officer approached Alim. A struggle ensued, causing officers and Alim to fall to the ground. One officer later wrote in a report that Alim “did not comply” and “remained uncooperative” throughout the process.
The hospital also said body camera footage showed that Clinic officers did not complete a body cavity search or insert a finger into Alim’s anus, an allegation contained in the lawsuit.
Smith said that his team “fundamentally disagrees” with the Clinic’s assertion that the sexual assault did not occur and states that body camera footage shows Alim yelling out in pain as a result of the assault.
“I don’t think he would make that up,” Smith said.
Suggested Reading
Federal judge asked to halt Cleveland Clinic policy of detaining people who transport gunshot victims to ER
A lawsuit aims to end a Cleveland Clinic policy of detaining people who bring gunshot victims to the hospital for treatment, arguing the polcy is unconstitutional.
Judge rejects emergency request to halt Cleveland Clinic gunshot detention policy
Attorneys can refile the request to block the Cleveland Clinic from detailing Good Samaritans and others who bring gunshot victims to the ER.
Cleveland NAACP calls on Cleveland Clinic to stop detaining people who transport gunshot wound victims to the hospital
The Cleveland NAACP is concerned that the Cleveland Clinic’s gunshot wound policy treats community members as suspects for trying to save a life.
