Police officers' high-speed chase through populated area showed reckless disregard for public safety

Law Reporter, Jun 2003

Jackson v. Brister, 838 So. 2d 274 (Miss. 2003).

The Mississippi Supreme Court held that police officers who initiated a high-speed chase through a densely populated area could be held liable in a wrongful death action.

Here, police officers were summoned to a bank where a customer was attempting to pass a forged check. The customer fled the bank in her car after she saw the officers arrive, and the officers followed at high speed. The customer's car collided with another automobile, killing the driver.

The driver's estate sued the city, alleging the police officers had acted with reckless disregard in initiating the hot pursuit. The trial court ruled for plaintiff.

Affirming, the state high court observed that the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, Miss. Code Ann. [sec] 11-46-9(1)(c), provides immunity to government entities and employees acting within the course and scope of employment duties, unless they act with reckless disregard for the safety and well-being of others.

In this case, the court found, plaintiff presented sufficient evidence for a reasonable trial court to find reckless disregard. The officers could have easily written down the customer's license number instead of attempting a chase. The police force's policy requires that a pursuit be initiated only when the officer knows that a felony has been committed and has probable cause to believe that the suspect's escape is more dangerous to the community than the risk posed by the pursuit. Here, the officers failed to ascertain this information, in clear violation of established police department policy.

The lead police car was driven by an officer who had been on the force for only one month, was involved in his first "hot pursuit," and was totally unfamiliar with the area, the court noted. Additionally, the pursuit route was heavily populated. The route took the police through residential areas including apartment complexes, single-family housing and condominiums, a park, and even past an elementary school, traveling in a 35 miles-per-hour zone at speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour. The suspect was traveling at times in excess of 70 or 80 miles per hour. It is clear here that the officers never should have initiated this high-speed chase, much less continued it until the time of the collision, the court said.

In acting with disregard for their own department's stated policy on chases, the officers should have reasonably expected the possibility of adverse consequences, including a fatal accident. Thus, plaintiff clearly proved reckless disregard of the general public safety, the court concluded.

Plaintiff's Counsel

*Dale Danks Jr., Jackson, Miss.

*Pieter John Teeuwissen, Jackson, Miss.