City Of Pinellas Park V. Brown Case Study

City of Pinellas Park v. Brown

City of Pinellas Park v. Brown was a case brought to the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District by the plaintiff Brown. In this case, the Brown family sued the City of Pinellas Sheriff Department on the grounds of negligence that resulted in the tragic death of two Brown sisters during a police pursuit of a fleeing traffic violator Mr. Deady. The facts in this case are straight forward, and I shall brief them as logical as possible.

Facts:

• Mr.Deady ran a red light in Pinellas County while driving in a caravan and tried to elude a sheriff deputy in a high-speed chase.

• The chase which initially involved a single police officer turned into a twenty plus police vehicle pursuit of Mr.Deady.

• Given the magnitude of the chase, Pinellas Sheriff’s Department called off the pursuit on the grounds of General Order A-9, which required the discontinuance of certain caravan-type pursuits.

The majority established this rationale by citing Kaisner Vs Kolb, McCain V. Florida Power Corps., City of Miami V. Horne, and Pinellas County written General Order A-9 as the basis for their reasoning. In these cases, with the exception of General Order A-9, the court opinion had been that law enforcement officers are liable for injuries caused by their own negligent or failure to adhere to standard public safety policy.

Separate Opinions: in the dissenting opinion, the minority argued that the ruling of the majority opens up a Pandora’s Box. Arguing that the ruling would encourage offenders to flee and, consequently, put more innocent bystanders at risk. In addition to this separate opinion by the dissent, several other key arguments by the dissent are bulleted