Cole v. New Haven

Citations

• 337 Conn. 326

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants, the city of New Haven and one of its police officers, C, in connection with injuries the plaintiff sustained when he crashed his dirt bike to avoid colliding with C's police cruiser. C was driving northbound on a New Haven street when she spotted a group of dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles driving the other way down the street in violation of a city ordinance. Without giving any warning or operating her lights or sirens, C executed a roadblock maneuver by pulling her cruiser diagonally across the double yellow line into the southbound lane and directly in front of the group. To avoid a head-on collision, the plaintiff jumped the curb onto the sidewalk, where he lost control of his dirt bike and struck a tree. The plaintiff alleged, inter alia, that C was negligent in responding to the dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles because she initiated a pursuit and engaged in a roadblock maneuver in violation of the city police depart- ment's pursuit policy and the uniform statewide pursuit policy set forth in the applicable state regulation (§ 14-283a-4 (d) (5)), both of which prohibit the use of roadblocks, except when necessary to save human life or when specifically authorized by a supervisor, respectively. Accord- ingly, the plaintiff claimed that C violated a ministerial duty and that the city was liable pursuant to statute (§ 52-557n (a) (1) (A)) for the negligent acts of its employee. The defendants moved for summary judgment, claiming that C was engaged in a discretionary act when responding to the dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, and that the defen- dants therefore were protected by governmental immunity pursuant to § 52-557n (a) (2) (B). In opposing the defendants' motion, the plaintiff also relied on the deposition testimony of M, a sergeant with the city's police department, that, at the time of the incident, it was the police department's policy not to pursue dirt bikes or all-terrain vehicles o