Attorneys Seek New Rules for Police Chases
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by Katherine Gaidos As the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners considers clamping down on LAPD car chases, attorneys say something else needs changing, as well - the loophole in state law that shields cities form liability when those chases injure innocent bystanders. Under state law, if a city adopts a policy advising officers when they should give chase, that city is immune from liability when the fleeing suspect injures bystanders. "As long as they have their lights on, and the department's got the policy, they can do anything," plaintiffs' attorney John C. Taylor of Taylor & Ring said. Policies typically require that before officers give chase, they consider factors including time of day, location and weather conditions.
Eight Factors The city of Los Angeles' policy lists eight factors to be considered before an officer decides to give chase, including the officers' familiarity with the neighborhood and whether the suspect could be apprehended later. Virtually all California cities have adopted such policies since the law was added to the vehicle code in 1987, attorneys said. But as the number of Los Angeles car chases and injuries from those chases rise, some say the immunity statute lets police departments get away with too much. "The Legislature has left a gaping hole in this immunity," Taylor said. "There is no requirement for implementation. Adopting the policy is different form enforcing the policy or making sure that the officers receive training and understand the policy."
'Get Out of Liability Free Card' In November, three justices of the 4th District Court of Appeal urged the state Legislature to revisit the statute, saying the current policy is a "get out of liability free card" for cities - even if the cities do nothing to implement the policy they adopt. "There is no requirement the public entity implement the policy through training or other means," Justice William F. Rylaarsdam wrote in Nguyen v. City of Westminster, 2002 DJDAR 13283. "Simply adopting the policy is sufficient under the current state of the law." The justices "reluctantly" affirmed a lower court ruling against the family of an elderly man killed when a police chase strayed onto the grounds of a Westminster high school. Because the city of Westminster had adopted a chase policy, it was immune from liability, the justice said. Taylor, who represented the man's family, is filing a petition for review with the state Supreme Court. He hopes to win a distinction between cities that merely adopt a policy and those that meaningfully implement one. He plans to argue that whether or not Westminster implemented its pursuit guidelines, its policy was inadequate because it gave officers in the Orange County city complete discretion over when to begin chases. Taylor also said the policy "doesn't make sense." "Giving the officers the benefit of the doubt, the policy must be unintelligible, because I can't believe that the supervisors of the Westminster police department envisioned a high-speed pursuit through the high school campus with students surrounding the fleeing vehicle and the officers' vehicle," Taylor said. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case and Taylor wins, the decision could raise the standards for police department pursuit policies, Taylor said "It would indicate that the simple adoption of the policy is not enough [and that] the policy has to be clear, concise and understandable. Moreover, there has to be some sort of enforceability, some sort of accountability for the individual officers," Taylor said. Last year, 135 people were injured during 781 police pursuits, according to The Associate Press. Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas had more police pursuits than any other metropolitan area. Los Angeles' new police chief, William Bratton, this month suggested amending Los Angeles' policy to forbid police chases that begin with a minor traffic infraction, which account for 60 percent of all Los Angeles pursuits. If the city council approves the policy, LAPD officers will no longer be sanctioned to give chase to vehicles that come to their attention because of a traffic violation or a broken taillight. Bratton's move came amid public outcry after a suspect, pursued by the police, slammed into a sport utility vehicle. A three-week-old boy in the vehicle lost his arm as a result of the accident. On Friday, Stephen C. Mancini of Koletsky, Mancini, Feldman & Morrow, counsel for the boy's family, filed a claim with the city clerk's office for $25 million on behalf of the infant, $1.5 million for the father and $3.5 million for the mother. If the claim isn't granted, Mancini said the family would file a lawsuit against the city. Despite the sympathetic facts, attorneys say it will be difficult to win such a lawsuit because of the state law, Vehicle Code Section 17004.7 which gives cities immunity if they have adopted a chase policy. Taylor said the high number of chases in the Los Angeles area may be tied to the state's grant of immunity. "I think it has something to do with the fact that the officers know they're totally immune form any sort of civil liability," he said. Harold W. Potter, who is defending the city of Westminster in the Nguyen suit, said revoking immunity would decrease police chases - but at a price. "It would increase crime tremendously. You can't have one without the other," Potter said. "If you want to go to the extreme, the vilest offender, child killer, would just need to get in a car and go." Taylor and others who would like to see the immunity statute changed or revoked will have little luck with the Legislature this year, according to consumer attorney Browne Greene of Greene, Broillet, Wheeler & Panish. Greene was president of the California State Trial Lawyers Association when the group agreed to the statute, which he said was a compromise with tort reformers. He cited the $35 billion state deficit as a roadblock for any changes to the vehicle code section. "They're not going to want to open up anything else that would conceivably extend the budget. It's going to be a tough year to do something like this," Greene said. In the meantime, most cities do more than adopt their policies, said Eugene Ramirez of Manning & Marder Kass Elrod Ramirez, who has helped cities such as Gardena and Glendora draft their pursuit policies. He said most cities implement their procedures. "I think every department realizes every officer is responsible for knowing the policies and procedures," Ramirez said. "When sued, one question is always asked: What training have you provided to your officers in policies and procedures?" Ramirez said Bratton's proposal to eliminate misdemeanor chases was a good idea. "What Bratton has come up with is what many of us have thought for a while, that we should probably reduce our pursuits and make them for the most serious crimes," Ramirez said. But Taylor said he didn't think the change would go far enough to make the streets safe. "It's a good start," he said. "But if 60 percent of the chases are infractions, what are the remaining 40 percent? There aren't murderers and hard-core violent felons apprehended in [all of] the remaining chases." |
