Opinion ID: 1752570
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Good Faith in this Case

Text: The parties here agree that, as in high-speed pursuit and emergency-response cases, a police officer accomplishing an arrest is entitled to official immunity's protection if its three elements are established. But they disagree, and we have never considered, how the good-faith element should be assessed when a suspect sues for injuries sustained during an arrest. The court of appeals applied the Wadewitz particularized need/risk analysis and concluded that Officer Telthorster's summary judgment proof did not conclusively establish good faith. 84 S.W.3d at 6. Specifically, the court noted that the proof did not discuss the need for Officer Telthorster to complete Tennell's handcuffing with his gun drawn, considering Officer Bailey's conclusion that Tennell was unarmed, not attempting to flee, and presented no risk of harm to anyone. Id. The court further found the summary judgment proof deficient for failure to discuss alternative courses of action available to Officer Telthorster and whether Officer Bailey could have completed the handcuffing process without assistance. Id. at 6. Nor, the court of appeals held, did the evidence adequately evaluate the risk element of good faith by discussing the nature and severity of harm Officer Telthorster's actions could have caused and the likelihood that harm would have occurred. Id. The court determined that a drawn weapon created a likelihood of harm to potential bystanders and that an officer must adequately assess this risk in order to establish good faith. Id. Concluding that Officer Telthorster's summary judgment proof failed to adequately assess the need/risk factors, the court of appeals held that summary judgment was improper. Tennell argues that the court of appeals properly applied the Wadewitz factors to assess Officer Telthorster's good faith in accomplishing Tennell's arrest, and that other cases have applied the need/risk analysis to arrest situations. See Bridges v. Robinson, 20 S.W.3d 104, 111-12 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.); Geick v. Zigler, 978 S.W.2d 261, 265 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1998, no pet.). According to Tennell, the need/risk analysis gives useful content to good faith, thus aiding courts in determining whether an officer acted appropriately in a particular case. Officer Telthorster, on the other hand, contends that the Wadewitz particularized need/risk analysis was designed to protect innocent bystanders during a high-speed pursuit or emergency response, and that no such policy concerns are implicated here because Tennell's arrest did not endanger the general public. Thus, Telthorster argues, a particularized need/risk assessment is not appropriate to evaluate his good faith in this case. See, e.g., City of San Antonio v. Garcia, 974 S.W.2d 756, 758 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1998, no pet.) (defining good faith more generally in an arrest case without reference to the need/ risk elements); Rhodes v. Torres, 901 S.W.2d 794, 797-99 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1995, no pet.) (same); City of Dallas v. Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc., 883 S.W.2d 374, 376 (Tex. App.-Dallas 1994, no pet.) (same). We agree with Officer Telthorster because the public policy interest underlying the need/ risk analysis is not implicated in this case.