Williams v. City of Baytown

467 S.W.3d 566, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4562, 2015 WL 2090488
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 2015
DocketNO. 01-14-00569-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 467 S.W.3d 566 (Williams v. City of Baytown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. City of Baytown, 467 S.W.3d 566, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4562, 2015 WL 2090488 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

Jane Bland, Justice

This case arises from a collision involving two suspected shoplifters who, while evading arrest, crashed into a car that stood stopped at a red light. Minutes before the collision, the shoplifting, suspects had rammed a parked police car in a parking lot to avoid a police blockade. During the ensuing chase, the suspect driver proceeded on Garth Road in the City of Baytown at high speeds, weaving in and out of traffic. Responding Baytown police officers followed at slower speeds behind the suspects. Intending to intercept the suspects, another responding officer placed a spike strip, or tire deflation device, on the roadbed. One of the suspects’ truck tires ran over the spike strip. The truck continued approximately 200 feet farther, until the suspect driver rear-ended the car stopped at the red light. A teenaged occupant in the car died, and the teenaged driver was seriously injured.

The surviving driver’s father, on behalf of his minor child, together with the deceased passenger’s parents, on behalf of his estate, sued the City of Baytown, alleging that its police officers’ negligence proximately caused the collision. Baytown filed a jurisdictional plea and a motion for summary judgment, responding that Bay-town is immune from liability because (1) no government vehicle or property was involved in the crash and thus liability is not waived under the Texas Tort Claims Act; and (2) even if liability under the Act was waived, the officers’ conduct was not reckless; thus, Baytown falls within an emergency exception to the Act’s waiver of liability and, in addition, the City may derivatively rely on the officers’ official immunity for their good-faith acts in the course of their employment. The trial court ruled in favor of Baytown.

The plaintiffs appeal, contending that they have demonstrated that Baytown is not entitled to immunity, or that fact issues exist precluding such a determination as a matter of law. The plaintiffs contend, first, that Baytown’s immunity is waived under the Texas Tort Claims Act because the Baytown officers operated motor vehicles and deployed tangible personal property during the car chase and these acts ultimately resulted in the suspects’ collision with the bystanders, meeting the test for a Tort Claims Act waiver. Second, the plaintiffs contend that they have raised a fact issue as to the recklessness of the Baytown officers’ actions in failing to apprehend the suspects before they drove away from the shopping center and in placing the spike strip on the roadway, thus overcoming the emergency exception to a waiver of immunity and raising a fact issue as to whether the officers are entitled to official immunity.

We agree with the trial court that the plaintiffs’ claims against the Baytown are barred by governmental immunity, and the waiver of immunity under the Tort Claims Act does not apply in these circumstances. We therefore affirm.

Background

The chase and collision

On a Friday night in October 2012, Bay-town police officers received a call that two individuals, later identified as Shannon Chauncey and Jennifer Jenkins, were shoplifting from a Sears store. Chauncey and Jenkins then drove into a nearby Academy store parking lot. Special opera[570]*570tions police officers converged on the Academy parking lot to observe the suspects. Chauncey left the Academy store and drove his Ford F-150 truck to the front of the store to await Jenkins, who was inside the store. The officers obtained information that the truck was registered to Chauncey, who had a criminal history. Dispatch radioed that Chauncey had “been handled ... for theft ... possession several times ... and assault bodily injury.” The Baytown officers decided to use unmarked police cars to “box-in” or block the suspects’ truck, thus containing them in the parking lot.

Jenkins exited the store without paying for several items. She joined Chauncey in his truck. As the officers had planned, they then boxed-in the truck with their unmarked cars. Although the officers’ cars were unmarked, the officers were dressed in identifying uniforms that became noticeable when they exited their vehicles to make an arrest. Upon seeing the officers exit their cars, Chauncey rammed one end of one police car, undeterred. Having successfully evaded the police roadblock, he sped out of the Academy parking lot, jumping over a ditch.

Other Baytown officers in marked police cars had been monitoring the situation via radio in a nearby parking lot. Upon realizing that Chauncey had hit a police vehicle and escaped the Academy parking lot, these officers activated their sirens and lights and chased Chauncey’s truck southbound on Garth Road. Officer Johnson led the chase, followed by Officers Filyaw and Anderson. Chauncey’s vehicle reached speeds of 90 miles per hour, and the pursuing officers fell back. Chauncey ran red lights and drove recklessly, swerving in and out of traffic. Officer Johnson attempted to keep Chauncey in sight. Chauncey continued his reckless driving for about a couple of miles. Johnson’s car was about 10 seconds behind Chauncey when the accident occurred.

Officer Loyd, who was not a part of the pursuit, heard over the radio that the suspects were fleeing at high speeds and driving recklessly. Loyd activated his lights and siren and proceeded toward the fleeing truck from the opposite direction. He parked his police car on Garth Road, ahead of the intersection at Rollingbrook Drive and Garth Road. Garth Road is two lanes in each direction, with a middle left turn lane. The roadway was clear of oncoming traffic, but Loyd noticed that cars were stopped at the intersection.

Loyd announced over the radio that he was going to place a spike strip on the southbound roadbed. He instructed the pursuing officers to continue to stay back. Loyd walked into the roadway. He placed a spike strip in the turning lane of Garth Road, approximately 197 feet away from the intersection at Rollingbrook Drive and Garth Road.

Shay Hollingshead and Shawn Williams, Jr., who were 17 and 16 years old respectively, were among those stopped at the light, in Shay’s Ford Focus. They were stopped in the left turn lane. Almost immediately after Loyd deployed the spike strips, Chauncey’s vehicle partially drove over it, puncturing one tire. Although one tire was punctured, Chauncey did not stop driving. Instead, he hit the rear of the Focus at a speed of over 70 miles per hour, pushing it through the intersection. The Focus burst into flames. Williams died at the scene. Hollingshead, the driver, sustained severe injuries. Chauncey and Jenkins fled the scene on foot, but police apprehended them.

Baytown Police policies

The Baytown Police Department has a general order regarding emergency driving and pursuit procedures. The order provides:

[571]*571A. An Officer’s duty to avoid damage or injury to innocent third parties takes precedence over pursuit or emergency response. No Officer shall engage in negligent or reckless actions, even in pursuit of actual or suspected violators or in response to emergencies, which may damage or injure innocent persons. An officer may be held liable for the consequences of his reckless disregard for the safety of others.
B. Officers shall balance the need for pursuit and apprehension against the probability and severity of damages or injury. The Officer shall consider the seriousness of the offense which the evader or reckless evader committed.

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Bluebook (online)
467 S.W.3d 566, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4562, 2015 WL 2090488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-city-of-baytown-texapp-2015.