An Independence police officer initiated a traffic stop of a van fitting the description of the vehicle used in an armed robbery 30 minutes earlier. The van fled and about 45 seconds later, although the officer had reduced his pursuit, hit and killed Michael and Daniel Stanley. Plaintiffs sued the city of Independence and the officer for wrongful death. The court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment.
Plaintiffs appeal only as to the city.
To recover damages, a defendant's negligence must be the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury. The officer's conduct was not a proximate cause of the collision. Any negligence by the officer is connected to plaintiffs' injury solely through the conduct of the fleeing van. Thus, the only conceivable causal link between the officer's alleged negligence and the collision is the conjectural effect of his pursuit on the vehicle. There is no way to tell whether the collision would have been avoided if the officer had abandoned the pursuit after initiating it.