Daugherty v. City of Monett

192 S.W.2d 51, 238 Mo. App. 924, 1946 Mo. App. LEXIS 256
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 11, 1946
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 192 S.W.2d 51 (Daugherty v. City of Monett) 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
Daugherty v. City of Monett, 192 S.W.2d 51, 238 Mo. App. 924, 1946 Mo. App. LEXIS 256 (Mo. Ct. App. 1946).

Opinion

*931 VANDEVENTER, J.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the circuit court of Lawrence County affirming an award by the Workmen’s Compensation Commission. Gladden Daugherty, the respondent herein, was a night policeman in the City of Monett. About 3:30 a. m., March 23, 1943, he was shot by Earl Johnson, another policeman of that city. The evidence of respondent showed that the city had been divided into two sections for patrol duty. Johnson patrolled what was known as the east section and Daugherty patrolled the western part.. The dividing line was about two or three blocks east of where the shooting occurred and consequently was in Daugherty’s territory. Another policeman on the night force was Oliver Nixon. Johnson and Daugherty worked nine hours each night beginning about 8 o’clock. Nixon went to work at 11 o’clock p. m. and his duties did not seem to be confined to any particular section of the city but, as testified to by Chief of Police McDonald, his duties were in the business district “in the heavy part of the night” when the most robberies occurred. It had been the practice that if some emergency arose, either Johnson or Daugherty could be called from his usual beat to assist anywhere in the city but under ordinary circumstances, each was supposed to stay in his respective territory.

On the night of the shooting, Daugherty had been riding around his section of the city with one Acuffi in the latter’s ear. On the south side of the Frisco tracks and in the west side of the city, in Daugherty’s section was- a small house, referred to as a “shanty” for a watchman of the Frisco Railroad. This shanty was south of the tracks and a short block north of it was a building and private filling station owned by Mayor Hall, who, in addition to his official duties, was engaged in the wholesale business. It had been the approved custom of the policemen for years to go frequently to this watchman’s shanty to receive reports from the watchman as to whether he had observed any law violations or suspicious characters in that portion of the city. The Chief of Police had also frequently done this. The watchman’s active duties did not take up all of his time. He was only busy when trains were passing across the street near his shanty and he had been instructed to cooperate with the officers and to report to the police any suspicious persons or circumstances that he observed. On the night in question Daugherty had come to this shanty twice before the shooting occurred. Johnson had that night reported to the watchman that Mayor Hall’s gasoline pump was unlocked and the watchman had in turn reported this Daugherty. Daugherty said he would look after it and immediately went up to the pump with Acuff, parked the car near the pump and was there for approximately five minutes. The pump was between the ear and the shanty and in *932 plain view of the watchman. Johnson left his section of the city and came over to the filling station where Daugherty and Acuff were parked, in Daugherty’s section, and had a conversation with them about whether the pump was locked and whether the electric power was on so gasoline could be obtained from the pump. Daugherty contended that the electricity was off and that gasoline could not be obtained and Johnson took the opposite view. A demonstration proved Johnson to be correct. Johnson accused Daugherty-and Acuff of stealing gasoline which they denied. The watchman and Acuff testified at the trial that there was no attempt to steal gasoline. It was Daugherty’s duty to patrol the west half of the city, watch for law violators, see that doors were locked, windows closed and that the property therein was protected from prowlers. Between one hour and an hour and a half, after meeting Johnson at the filling station, Daugherty again arrived at the watchman’s shanty. He went in, took off his overcoat, sat down by the fire to warm and was talking to the watchman when Johnson and Nixon drove up. Johnson asked if Daugherty was in the shanty and being informed that he was, asked him to come out. Daugherty asked Johnson to come into the shanty but upon again being invited out, complied with the request and stepped out of the door, which was in the north end of the shanty, and as he did so, Johnson said that he didn’t like the way Daugherty was running things in this end of town and upon Daugherty saying he didn’t know what was meant, called him a God damned liar, and struck him on the head with his revolver. (Johnson had previously complained to the Chief accusing Daugherty of disconnecting the speedometer of the police ear and using it as a taxi.) Daugherty threw up his hands to protect himself, staggered away from Johnson in a northeasterly direction across one railroad track, asked Johnson not to hit him any more and then Johnson fired at Daugherty, hitting him about two inches below his left arm and on the back portion of his left side. The bullet went through the body and lodged under the skin on his right side, below the shoulder. Daugherty fell to the ground and in a few minutes was placed in an ambulance and taken to a hospital at Aurora, where he remained for nine days. He was then taken to a hospital in St. Louis and there stayed until the 28th of May, when he was brought back to his home in Monett. His testimony was taken at his home while he was confined to his bed. The shot paralyzed Daugherty’s body from his waist down and from the time of the shooting until he testified on the 17th of December, 1943, he had no feeling in the lower part of his body and could not move his legs in any manner. He had no control over the action of his bowels or kidneys, in fact, had no sensation indicating when they were going to or had functioned. It was necessary to change his bed clothing and his clothing five or six times a day and to keep *933 some one in attendance 24 hours a day. Each morning his legs were washed with alcohol and massaged, an electric heating light was used on each leg for about twenty minutes each day and an electric vibrator was also used each day in an effort to relieve the paralysis. He had a suppurating bed sore on his back which at first covered nearly all of that part of his body, but on the 17th of December, when his testimony was taken, it had been reduced but was still larger than the bottom of a pint cup and its condition would necessitate hospitalization of skin grafting. It was necessary for his attendants to dress this sore four times daily and apply penicillin. It was also necessary to give him anti-pain medicine at two hour intervals. He was unable to leave his bed, his meals were served there and he could only move his body by the aid of an iron bar attached to his bed and extending over his head. Since the injury he had not been left unattended, by either his father or his wife, even for short periods of time and the doctor visited him once each day and sometimes twice. The uncontradicted evidence conclusively showed Daugherty to be a helpless and hopeless cripple, but receiving continuous and capable nursing ^nd care by his wife and father. There was evidence that the reasonable value of the service which was rendered by his wife and his father in caring for him was between $6 and $9 per day. The doctor’s bill at the time of the hearing was $508, which did not include a $75 rental for the electric massage or shock machine.

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Bluebook (online)
192 S.W.2d 51, 238 Mo. App. 924, 1946 Mo. App. LEXIS 256, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daugherty-v-city-of-monett-moctapp-1946.