Opinion ID: 1772507
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The remaining injunctions requested by the Fowlers properly raise equity jurisdiction.

Text: ¶ 33. The Fowlers requested that the chancery court enjoin Ridgeland's police department from engaging in unlawful high-speed chases; from engaging in shootouts against fleeing felons (when injury to innocent persons is foreseeable); and from fostering an official pattern, custom, or practice of violating the rights of the public at large. Further, the Fowlers requested an injunction requiring Ridgeland's police department to create and administer a policy which will prevent dangerous incidents from injuring others in situations similar to the Fowlers. ¶ 34. Although the majority shirks this issue, too, to circumvent well-settled rules of equity jurisdiction, Ridgeland cited two cases for the proposition that the chancery court does not have the power to enjoin police pursuits: Gale v. Thomas, 759 So.2d 1150 (Miss.1999), and Smith v. City of West Point, 475 So.2d 816 (Miss.1985). However, the closest that Gale gets to upholding this theory is that this Court found that officers are acting within the scope of their employment while engaged in police chases. Gale, 759 So.2d at 1157. In Smith, we stated that the duty of care a municipality owes to its citizens should take into account a community's expectation that police officers will do what is reasonably necessary to apprehend fleeing suspects. Smith, 475 So.2d at 818. This reasoning was used as a basis for this Court's finding that it is not negligence per se for a police officer, while in pursuit, to exceed the speed limit. Smith, 475 So.2d at 819. These findings in no way foreclose chancery jurisdiction to order an injunction against police activities that do not conform to the law. ¶ 35. As a result, the Fowlers' request for these four injunctions properly raised equity jurisdiction. ¶ 36. The majority ignores an entire corpus of jurisdictional law. Indeed, the pendent jurisdiction of the chancery court is a powerful grant of authority which allows for cases involving genuine concerns of both equity and law to be brought as one proceeding. Since requests for an accounting and injunctive relief were properly brought before the chancery court, equity jurisdiction was properly raised, thus establishing its jurisdiction over the entire matter. Chancery court jurisdiction should have been affirmed in this case. That it was not is a clear triumph for adhoc judicial policy-making. Accordingly, I dissent. DIAZ, J., JOINS THIS OPINION. EASLEY, J., JOINS THIS OPINION IN PART.