Hogan v. Fleming

265 S.W. 875, 218 Mo. App. 172, 1924 Mo. App. LEXIS 148
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 16, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 265 S.W. 875 (Hogan v. Fleming) 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
Hogan v. Fleming, 265 S.W. 875, 218 Mo. App. 172, 1924 Mo. App. LEXIS 148 (Mo. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

BLAND, J.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries. At the close 'of all the testimony the jury in response to a. peremptory instruction returned a verdict for the defendants.. Plaintiff has appealed.

The evidence taken in its most favorable light to plaintiff shows that he was a police officer riding in the front seat of a police patrol automobile, driven by a *174 police chauffeur by the name of Pyeatt, about noon of the 16th day of February, 1921. The patrol wagon had a large body mounted on. a Packard chassis. The body had printed on each side the words “Police Patrol.” It was equipped with a gong and a siren. The siren when sounded could be heard for five or six blocks. At the time'of the collision of the patrol wagon with one of defendants’ street cars, the former was being driven by Pyeatt south on Grand Avenue, a north and south street in Kansas City, Missouri, astride the west rail of the southbound street car track, there being double tracks on said street. The patrol wagon was going to 12th and Oak Streets in answer to a call and Pyeatt was blowing the siren intermittently. When the patrol wagon reached 10th Street a woman started to cross the street in front of it, which required a slowing’ up of the wagon.

Between 10th and 11th Streets on Grand Avenue and about 100 feet south of 10th Street were located wooden docks constructed to facilitate the loading of passengers on and off street cars and for the safety and convenience of the public. They constituted safety zones. These docks were from'eighty to 100 feet long, four feet wide and six inches high and were opposite each other, one on the west side of the southbound ear tracks and the other on the east side of the northbound car tracks. The docks were located close enough to the outside rail so that passengers alighting and boarding cars could step from the dock to the step of the street car and vice versa. Grand Avénue between 11th Street and 12th Street was about seventy-five feet in width but the distance between these two streets is not shown in the testimony. The distance between the two docks was eighteen or twenty feet. When a northbound street car was in the space between the docks it would leave a space of about ten feet between the street car and the west dock. A building was being repaired on the west side of Grand Avenue and a temporary sidewalk had been constructed in the street, adjacent to the regular sidewalk, narrowing the *175 space on the west side of the west dock where vehicles traversed. It was not definitely stated whether this temporary sidewalk was opposite the dock or north of the same, bnt it so narrowed the space for traffic that only one automobile at a time could go through.

At the time in question there were twenty to forty people standing on the west dock. The docks were located in the down-town congested part of the city. It was at noon and a great many people were upon the street, coming and going from department stores in the neighborhood. It was a bright day and there was a continuous' stream of travel at that hour; there were automobiles going north and south on their respective sides of the street and a pedestrian trying to cross the street would be required to be very careful.

'When the patrol wagon passed the north end of the west dock a man stepped from a point a short distance south of the north end of the west dock into the street, walking in an easterly direction with his head down and in front of the patrol wagon. There was testimony that when this man stepped off the dock he was twenty feet away from the patrol wagon and other testimony that he was six to ten feet away. The driver of the patrol wagon testified that he was proceeding at the rate of fifteen to .seventeen miles an hour while there was testimony on the part of the defendants that he was going from thirty-five to fifty miles per hour. However, in order to avoid striking the pedestrian he swerved his car to the east and ran into the front end of a street car proceeding in the opposite direction upon the tracks immediately to the east of the center of the street, entirely demolishing the patrol wagon and doing serious injury to the street car, which was at that time going, so the evidence shows,, at about five, six, or eight miles an hour. At the time the patrol wagon swerved it was fifteen to thirty feet away from the street car. The collision resulted in injuries to the driver of the wagon and plaintiff. While it seems that the police chauffeur saved the life of the *176 pedestrian the former did not prevent the latter’s injury, for the reason that as the front end of the patrol wagon turned and missed him the rear end swerved around and the side of the wagon struck the pedestrian, causing his injury. The patrol wagon reached the docks before the street car. When the patrol wagon was crossing 10th Street a traffic policeman at 11th Street and Grand Avenue was blowing his whistle to clear the traffic so that the patrol wagon would have the right of way.

Defendants’ witness .Stock testified that he was riding in the vestibule of the street car; that the car had come to a stop before it crossed the intersection of lltli Street. The motorman testified that he was given the signal to proceed across by the traffic policeman at that street. Stock further testified that the street car was going very slowly and that he did not hear the siren; that he saw the man step off the loading dock and at that time said, “that guy is going to get hit;” that the street car continued to proceed; that he noticed the automobile that afterwards struck the man when the street car arrived at a point five or ten feet north o£ 11th Street; that the automobile was coming down the west car tracks; that at that time the automobile was at about 10th Street but that it did not seem to slacken its speed until it struck the street car.

There was other evidence that when the patrol wagon reached the north end of the dock, the street car had not reached the south end but was near thereto. The street car could have been stopped almost instantly. Plaintiff sought to prove by the chauffeur that at this time he was expecting the car to stop but over the objection of the defendants the court refused to permit the plaintiff to make this proof.

An ordinance of Kansas City was introduced in evidence providing, among other things, that-—

“Police, fire departments, fire patrol, United States mail vehicles and ambulances shall have the right of way in any street.

*177 “That upon the approach of any fire apparatus, police patrol or ambulance, every vehicle shall draw up as near as practicable to the right curb of the street and remain at a standstill until such apparatus, patrol or ambulance shall have passed.'

“The driver of a street car shall immediately stop his car and keep it stationary upon the approach of any fire apparatus.

“Section 6. Street Cars. Street cars shall have the right of way, between cross streets, over all other vehicles, except as provided in Section 5/’

The ordinance made other provisions in reference to signal devices upon vehicles which prohibited the use of a siren except on public ambulances, fire and police vehicles and those required to respond to emergency calls.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alexander v. Kansas City Public Service Co.
268 S.W.2d 451 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1954)
Frandeka v. St. Louis Public Service Co.
234 S.W.2d 540 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1950)
Bartholomew v. Oregonian Publishing Co.
216 P.2d 257 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1950)
McCloskey v. Renne.
37 S.W.2d 950 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1931)
Hogan v. Kansas City Public Service Co.
19 S.W.2d 707 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1929)
Loomis v. Abelson
144 A. 378 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1929)
Hogan v. Fleming
297 S.W. 404 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1927)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
265 S.W. 875, 218 Mo. App. 172, 1924 Mo. App. LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hogan-v-fleming-moctapp-1924.