Opinion ID: 1627664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Officer Lacey's and Chief Baker's Liability

Text: Plaintiffs' claims against Officer Lacey allege that he provided negligent supervision that led to their decedents' injuries. They allege he failed to perform his supervisory duties pursuant to the City's vehicular pursuit policy-including failing to terminate the pursuit when the risks outweighed the benefits, failing to assign primary and backup pursuit vehicles, and failing to order Officer Ratliff to end his pursuit. Plaintiffs maintain that Chief Baker was negligent in failing to properly implement vehicular pursuit policies for the City and in failing to properly train the City's officers in pursuit procedures. The doctrine of official immunity applies to the alleged negligence of Officer Lacey and Chief Baker. Their conduct at issue involves highly discretionary supervisory and policy decisions that the doctrine is intended to shield. See State ex rel. St. Louis State Hosp. v. Dowd, 908 S.W.2d 738, 741 (Mo.App.1995) (finding supervisory conduct was discretionary and covered by official immunity), overruled on other grounds by Cain v. Mo. Highways and Transp. Comm'n, 239 S.W.3d 590 (Mo. banc 2007); Jackson v. Wilson, 581 S.W.2d 39, 44 (Mo.App.1979) (finding that policy decisions for a public swimming area were protected by official immunity). The public duty doctrine also applies to the allegations against Officer Lacey and Chief Baker. Officer Lacey's conduct falls under the protections of the public duty doctrine because a supervising police officer's duty to supervise officers in his command is a duty owed to the general public. Likewise, the public duty doctrine applies to the allegations against Chief Baker because his duties to create and implement police procedures and policies and to train police officers are duties owed to the general public that are intended to be protected from second-guessing by immunity protections. See State ex rel. Barthelette v. Sanders, 756 S.W.2d 536, 538 (Mo. banc 1988) (finding that a duty to establish park safety measures was a duty owed to the general public). As discussed above, Plaintiffs' allegations that Officer Lacey's and Chief Baker's conduct violated departmental policies do not exempt them from the protections of official immunity or the public duty doctrine. The trial court's judgment that Officer Lacey and Chief Baker are immune from liability is affirmed.