It has been reported that the city of Charleston, West Virginia has recently agreed to a $25,000.00 settlement with a family who filed a lawsuit against the city after they were involved in a motor vehicle accident with a drug dealer who was fleeing from police. The chase allegedly occurred during an attempt to set up a drug bust by an under cover police officer. For lawyers, this settlement raises issues as to whether or not such a litigation could be supported by the law in the state of New Jersey.
Liability of police officers and other public entities are governed by the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (TCA). New Jersey's Tort Claims Act basically provides various immunities to various public entities and their employees for actions undertaken during the course of their employment. Further, the TCA also limits various aspects of many causes of action.
With regard to the liability of police officers or police departments involved in a car chase, there is a specific immunity provided in the TCA at NJSA 59:5-2(b)2. Specifically, the statute indicates that neither a public entity nor employee will be responsible for any injury resulting or caused by an escaping or escaped person or by a law enforcement officer in pursuit of such a person. The Supreme Court of New Jersey, in the case of Tice v. Cramer, 133 N.J.347 (1993) held that the specific immunity applied to situations where law enforcement officers were in pursuit of an "escaping or escaped person." The court held that the definition of "escaped" or "escaping" persons included individuals who were not previously in the custody of a law enforcement agency. Accordingly, any time a police officer is in pursuit of a suspect, the immunity would apply. This would include individuals who fail to yield to a police office on even routine traffic violations. Thus, New Jersey law provides immunity to law enforcement agencies and police officers when ever a person is injured as a result of a police chase, whether the injury is sustained from the officer's vehicle or the fleeing suspect's vehicle.
The more difficult case for a lawyer involves injuries sustained when one is injured in a motor vehicle accident with a police officer's vehicle when the officer is merely responding to the scene of a call. In this instance, the police officer is not specifically pursuing an "escaping or escaped" person but is merely responding to a dispatched location. In these types of cases, the officers may be entitle to the catch all "good faith" as set forth in NJSA 59:3-3, which immunizes a public employee so long as that public employee acts in good faith in the execution or enforcement of any law.
Obviously, car accidents arising out of police chases or with law enforcement officers present complex legal issues and any such cases should be reviewed by an attorney as soon as possible.
