Case Name: Kagel, by Guardian ad litem, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Brugger and others, Defendants: Nead, Defendant and Appellant
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Decision Date: 1963-02-05
Citations: 19 Wis. 2d 1
Docket Number: 
Parties: Kagel, by Guardian ad litem, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Brugger and others, Defendants: Nead, Defendant and Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wisconsin Reports Second
Volume: 19
Pages: 1–11

Head Matter:
Kagel, by Guardian ad litem, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Brugger and others, Defendants: Nead, Defendant and Appellant.
January 8
February 5, 1963.
For the appellant, there was a briéf by Kluwin, .Dunphy, Hankin & Hayes of Milwaukee, and oral argument by,. John A. Kluwin.
' For the respondent there was a brief by Nathaniel D. Roth-stein and Jack B. Keyes, and oral argument by David I. Rothstein, all of Milwaukee.

Opinion:
Hallows, J.
This is a case of first impression arid presents the novel question whether a private citizen whose vehicle has been commandeered by a police officer and who has been directed to park his. vehicle across a public highway can be held negligent in creating a roadblock or in failing to have his vehicle, adequately lighted for such use. The trial court held £nd the plaintiff contends the complaint alleges ultimate facts sufficient to fairly inform t,he defendant of what he is called upon to meet. Colton v. Foulkes (1951), 259 Wis. 142, 47 N. W. (2d) 901; Weber v. Naas (1933), 212 Wis. 537, 250 N. W. 436; Bembinster v. Aero Auto Parts (1959), 7 Wis. (2d) 54, 95 N. W. (2d) 778. But the question on this demurrer, is whether the complaint which fairly informs the defendant of .what he is charged states -facts which give rise to a duty of the defendant owing to the plaintiff as a matter of law. .
, Sheriffs and other law-enforcement officers possess authority to set up roadblocks in a reasonable manner for the apprehension of fleeing violators. Such authority is inherent in the power and the duties of law-enforcement officers if those duties are to be effectively discharged. The right to set up roadblocks to apprehend violators has been tacitly acknowledged in Freedman y. State (1950), 195 Md. 275, 73 Atl. (2d) 476; Anderson v. Nincehelser (1950), .152 Neb. 857, 43 N. W- (2d) 182; Anderson v. Bituminous Casualty Co. (1952), 15.5 Neb. 590, 52. N. W. (2d) 814; Gulbrandson vr Midland (1949), 72 S- D. 461, 3.6 N. W. .(2d) 655;. Love v. Bass (1922), 145 Tenn. 522, 238 S. W.. 9.4. The use of the roadblock device is recognized as a specialized, technique in the apprehension of violators by law-enforcement officers. See FBI Law Enforcement Bulletins, June, 1952, Vol. 21, No. 6, p. 2; October, 1955, Vol. 24, No. 10, p. 18; May, 1956, Vol. 25, No. 5, p. 5. The responsibility for the use of the roadblock and fot the type used, whether blocking the entire highway or only one lane of traffic or of using lights and signs or a squad car at the side of the highway leaving all lanes open or any other device,for stopping traffic itpon the highway, is upon the law-enforcement officer or agency establishing the roadblock.
In using the roadblock for the apprehension of law violators, a peace officer has the power to commandeer a motor vehicle. Its use is the modern outgrowth of the ancient hue and cry and of the power to call up a posse comitatus. We have said there is a duty resting on all citizens who know of the call to go to the relief of an officer even though the failure to perform such duty does not constitute an offense. It is a moral duty incident to citizenship. Krueger v. State (1920), 171 Wis. 566, 177 N. W. 917. The duty of a citizen to respond to a request or direction is even greater than to a call for assistance, which frequently was not addressed to specific individuals but a general call for help to those who may hear or learn of it. Can the duty of citizenship be any less upon a citizen who has specifically been commanded by an officer to furnish help, not only of himself, but of his vehicle and directed to use his vehicle in .a particular way? It is true, in Randles v. Waukesha County (1897), 96 Wis. 629, 71 N. W. 1034, we held although the sheriff had the power to call up a posse, he did not have the power to call up for his use a horse belonging to a private citizen because in those days the sheriff was required to perform his duties by furnishing his own horse. The principle is not applicable to modern times when counties furnish police cars to sheriffs to perform their duties. The right to commandeer an automobile by a police officer to be used in hot pursuit of a law violator was recognized in Bábington v. Yellow Taxi Corp. (1928), 250 N. Y. 14, 164 N. E. 726, and Berger v. New York (1940), 260 App. Div. 402, affirmed (1941), 285 N. Y. 723, 34 N. E. (2d) 894. Public policy has recognized the duty of a citizen to aid the law-enforcement officer in arresting a fugitive or suppressing a disturbance of the peace, clothing him with the immunities ánd rights of a deputy. If injured in performing such duty and obeying the call or command of the police officer, the citizen is entitled to workmen's compensation as a deputy. West Salem v. Industrial Comm. (1916), 162 Wis. 57, 155 N. W. 929; Vilas County v. Industrial Comm. (1930), 200 Wis. 451/228 N. W. 591; and Shawano County v. Industrial Comm. (1935), 219 Wis. 513, 263 N. W. 590; same case (1939), 230 Wis. 165, 283 N. W. 304.
There is statutory authority for the power of the sheriff to call to his aid such persons as he deems necessary for prescribed purposes. Sec. 59.24, Stats. The duty of a citizen to obey the lawful orders of the traffic police is found in sec. 85.12 (2), Stats. 1955 (now sec. 346.04). While this section is probably intended only to apply to the direction of traffic by police officers, it is a recognition of the duty of the citizen under those circumstances. Likewise, sec. 946.40 makes it a crime for one without reasonable excuse to refuse or fail upon command to aid a police officer if he is authorized under the circumstances to command such assistance.
When a police officer commandeers a motor vehicle of a private citizen and directs the driver in the particular use of the vehicle to aid him in'creating a roadblock, the citizen has no duty to argue about the officer's right, the need for the roadblock, or the details of creating it. When performing his duties as a citizen in acting under the direction of the law-enforcement officer, the private citizen is not a volunteer acting on his own initiative and such duty as he has not to block or park on a public highway is suspended under such circumstances. Whether the roadblock was adequate or inadequate, or whether it was negligently established and maintained, is not the concern or the responsibility of the private citizen. This is not to say if a sheriff should commandeer a private vehicle in the hot pursuit of a criminal that the private citizen using his own judgment in the management and speed of his car could not be negligent. However, when a law-enforcement officer commands the private citizen to do what would otherwise be a negligent act, the private citizen ought not be held to be negligent. The claimed illegality and negligence in establishing and maintaining the roadblock is an issue between the plaintiff and the defendant sheriffs but is not pertinent to the question of the defendant Nead's duty or liability.
It is contended even though the defendant might not be negligent in parking his semitrailer across the highway to form the roadblock as directed by the deputy sheriff, Nead was negligent in not having his semitrailer adequately lighted under the circumstances. The argument assumes an absolute duty on the defendant Nead to set out flares or other warning devices or have his semitrailer equipped as an emergency vehicle. Secs. 85.06 (18) and 85.12 (5), Stats. 195.5. It is not to be expected or required that the private citizen whose vehicle is commandeered to establish a roadblock must use his individual judgment and initiative as to the adequacy of the lighting of his vehicle. The defendant's duty in regard to lights on his semitrailer must be considered from the viewpoint that the semitrailer was part and parcel of the roadblock established under direction of a law-enforcement officer and not from the viewpoint of a truck which was placed in that position by choice or negligence of its driver. Since the responsibility for the truck's being across the highway was that of the law-enforcement agency, it was its duty to adequately light the truck and roadblock or to warn the traveling public of the danger. Nead had no such duty unless he had been directed by the police officer in charge and failed to carry out such direction. No such allegation is made in the complaint.
We cannot reach the opposite conclusion on the theory the private citizen while in the course of assisting a police officer is considered deputized for the purpose of workmen's compensation. See Anno. Workmen's Compensation — Public Emergency, 142 A. L. R. 657; Anderson v. Bituminous Casualty Co., supra, and cases therein cited. It is true, a police officer may be held liable for his negligent acts. 43 Am. Jur., Public Officers, p. 92, sec. 279; 47 Am. Jur., Sheriffs, Police, and Constables, p. 851, sec. 42; 60 A. L. R. (2d) 875, Anno. Police — Liability for Injuries; Matcsak v. Mathews (1953), 265 Wis. 1, 60 N. W. (2d) 352; and Larson v. Lester (1951), 259 Wis. 440, 49 N. W. (2d) 414. Apart from any privilege or immunity, failure to properly light a roadblock may constitute negligence on the part of a police officer. See Byers v. United States (D. C. N. M. 1954), 122 Fed. Supp. 713, reversed on other grounds (10th Cir. 1955), 225 Fed. (2d) 774; sec. 85.06 (18), Stats. 1955. However, not every police officer aiding in the establishment of a roadblock could be charged with negligence but only those who have the responsibility for the establishment and the manner in which it is established. Such duty in this case did not rest upon the defendant Nead while aiding the deputy sheriff under his direction. Private citizens are not to interfere with police methods of apprehending law violators. The law holds police officers accountable for the reasonableness and the validity of their methods. A citizen answering the cry of help or despair of a police officer or his commands should be given reasonable protection in furnishing assistance if we expect citizens to fulfil their duties of citizenship. If the citizen refuses the command of the officer, he runs the risk of the criminal sanction of sec. 946.40, Stats. Must a citizen choose between the risk of Scylla and the risk of Charybdis at his peril? The complaint states no cause of action against the defendant Nead.
By the Court. — The order overruling the demurrer is reversed.
This view is advanced in 45 Op. Atty. Gen. (1956), 152. See also Dahl and Boyle, Arrest, Search and Seizure, ch. 8, p. 85.