Bittner v. City of St. Louis Police Board of Commissioners

925 S.W.2d 495, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 1996 WL 396748
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 16, 1996
DocketNo. 68962
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 925 S.W.2d 495 (Bittner v. City of St. Louis Police Board of Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bittner v. City of St. Louis Police Board of Commissioners, 925 S.W.2d 495, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 1996 WL 396748 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

RHODES RUSSELL, Judge.

Steffanie Bittner (“plaintiff’) appeals from a grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendants Robert Dodson, Michael Sisco (“officers”), and the City of St. Louis Pohce [497]*497Board of Commissioners (“police board”), in her action for personal injuries resulting from an automobile accident. We reverse in part and remand for further proceedings.

When reviewing the granting of a motion for judgment on the pleadings we must accept as true all facts alleged in the petition. Main v. Skaggs Community Hosp., 812 S.W.2d 185, 186 (Mo.App.1991). A motion for judgment on the pleadings should be sustained if, from the face of the pleadings, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Angelo v. City of Hazelwood, 810 S.W.2d 706, 707 (Mo.App.1991).

The facts as alleged in plaintiffs petition are as follows: In December 1994, Christopher M. Patzius was involved in an altercation with the son of Sergeant Mike Nichols of the St. Louis Police Department. That altercation revolved around Patzius’s involvement with Laura Baily. A few days following that altercation, two unidentified St. Louis police officers took Patzius to the police station, threatened him with a gun, beat him, and warned him not to go near Nichols’s son or Baily.

On the evening of December 22,1994, Pat-zius was at the home of Baily when he noticed an unmarked police car containing two different officers, the defendants, waiting in front of Bally’s home. When Patzius attempted to leave in his vehicle, the officers pulled alongside and told him to pull over. Believing he was going to be assaulted again by the police, Patzius refused, and the officers began a high speed pursuit. The officers did not turn on their sirens or portable flashing lights, and continued to follow Patzi-us beyond St. Louis city limits without asking for police permission. The chase ended when Patzius’s car collided with plaintiffs. As a result of the accident plaintiff sustained serious physical injuries including broken bones and severe facial lacerations. She also suffered severe emotional distress and underwent psychological counseling and treatment.

Plaintiff filed suit against the officers and the police board. Count I of the amended petition alleged that the officers were negligent as follows: by pursuing Patzius at high speeds in a non-emergency situation; by failing to activate their siren and portable red flasher; by failing to stop the pursuit after several near accidents; by failing to comply with rules regarding high speed pursuits; by failing to obtain approval to pursue the vehicle beyond the city limits; and by driving in a reckless manner. Count II of the amended petition alleged that the police board, as their employer, was vicariously liable for the negligent acts of the officers. Count II also alleged that the police board was negligent: by failing to properly train the officers; by failing to adopt, implement, or enforce rules regarding pursuit of vehicles in non-emergency situations; by hiring the officers; by allowing the officers to pursue personal vendettas; and by failing to properly supervise the officers. All defendants filed a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. In their motion, the defendants argued that the officers could not be held liable since their vehicle did not collide with plaintiffs and thus were not the proximate cause of her injuries. The motion further asserted that since the officers were not a proximate cause, the police board could not be held hable under a respondeat superior theory. Lastly, the motion argued that the pohce board was entitled to sovereign immunity for the independent acts of neghgence alleged in the petition. The motion was granted and this appeal now fohows.

In the first point on appeal, plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in granting judgment on the pleadings in favor of the officers in that the officers were the proximate cause of plaintiffs injuries. Defendants, on the other hand, assert that the officers did not proximately cause the injuries to the plaintiff and therefore the officers are not hable. Based on the pleadings we can not say that the officers were entitled to judgment as a matter of law and therefore reverse as to the defendant pohce officers.

The liability of pohce in accidents involving a pursued vehicle and a third party has been addressed in Oberkramer v. City of Ellisville, 706 S.W.2d 440 (Mo.banc.1986). The Supreme Court held that a pohce officer, while in the performance of his duties, was not hable for an accident between a vehicle [498]*498he was pursuing and a third party. In Oberkramer an officer was pursuing a suspect at a high rate of speed. When the pursued vehicle approached a roadblock, it struck another officer, killing him. The officer’s family filed a wrongful death suit against several municipalities and St. Louis County. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the second amended petition, stating:

The police officer is confronted with two standards of duty: first, he has the obligation to apprehend the traffic violator and prevent him from doing any harm to innocent users of the highway and, second, he has the obligation to pursue the traffic violator in a manner that is neither careless, reckless, or wanton.

Id. at 442. The holding in Oberkramer, that a police officer, while in the performance of official duties, is not liable for damages caused by a pursued vehicle, is followed in most jurisdictions. 83 A.L.R.2d Jp52 (1962 & Supp.1995).

We have held similarly in two more recent cases. Summary judgment in favor of a police officer was affirmed by our court in Baidy v. Marah, 760 S.W.2d 195 (Mo.App.1988). In Baidy, during a chase by an officer of a vehicle that had run a stop sign, the pursued vehicle collided with a third car killing a passenger therein. We held the officer’s operation of his vehicle, while in the performance of his duties, was not the proximate cause of an accident with a third party. Id. at 196.

Further, in Peoples v. Conway, 897 S.W.2d 206 (Mo.App.1995), we recognized Oberkramer’s holding that a plaintiff may only recover against a police officer engaged in his official duties if there are allegations that the officer violated a specific statute or formal policy. The officer in Peoples, while in the performance of his duties, was pursuing a stolen vehicle at high speeds. The officer did not have his flashing lights activated. The pursued vehicle collided with another vehicle,, pushing it into decedent. Although allegations of the officer’s negligence were made by the plaintiff, our court concluded that summary judgment was properly entered in favor of the officer, as the alleged acts or omissions of the officer were not the proximate cause of decedent’s injuries. Id. at 208.

Defendants argue that Baidy and Peoples hold that police cannot be liable to third parties for accidents with pursued vehicles even though there are allegations of police negligence. We disagree.' The officers in Baidy and Peoples,

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Bluebook (online)
925 S.W.2d 495, 1996 Mo. App. LEXIS 1246, 1996 WL 396748, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bittner-v-city-of-st-louis-police-board-of-commissioners-moctapp-1996.