By The Associated Press
DENVER (AP) -- Police can be held responsible for injuries suffered by someone in a car chase if the officer does not use emergency lights and the siren, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Britt Tidwell, a passenger in a vehicle struck by another car being chased by a Denver Police patrol car, alleged that the collision and his resulting injuries resulted from the Denver police officer’s failure to activate his car’s emergency lights and sirens during the pursuit.
The city argued that it was immune from suit under the Governmental Immunity Act.
The trial court ruled that the officer was not engaged in a pursuit of the car that struck Tidwell and that therefore, the city was immune from suit.
The court of appeals agreed that the city was immune, holding that although the officer was pursuing the car, he was not required to activate his car’s lights and sirens under the law’s verification exception.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the officer was engaged in a pursuit of the car that hit Tidwell. The court also ruled that the officer was required to activate his car’s lights and siren to benefit from the emergency vehicle exception. The supreme court ordered the case back to the trial court.
The court said that because the officer was pursuing that car to stop the driver and not just to investigate a violation of the motor vehicle laws, the pursuit did not fall under the verification exception to the requirement that lights and siren be used.