Court Opinion

ID: 9584122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:44:42.898591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:43.199020
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
dissenting.
I concur in Division 1 but respectfully dissent with respect to Division 2 and conclude that summary judgment in favor of the police officer was not warranted.
The situation in this case is distinguishable from that in Logue v. Wright, 260 Ga. 206 (392 SE2d 235) (1990), both as to pleadings and evidence, and in fact Logue guides this case to a different outcome.
In Logue, the complaint was that defendant caused the collision “through negligent operation of his patrol car.” Id. at 206. The Supreme Court was careful to point out that “It is important to keep in mind that the immunity is for negligent acts, not for . . . acts involving reckless disregard for the safety of others.” Id. at 206. “The rule,” it wrote, “grants immunity to public employees who perform discretionary acts in a negligent manner.” Id. at 208. In that summary judgment case, the Court reached the conclusion that “[f]ailure to use the light or siren in this case was an act of negligence, not an act of . . . reckless disregard for the safety of others.” Id. at 207. The conclusion was expressly limited to the undisputed facts in that case, although *171the circumstances and environment in which the officer drove were not described in the opinion.
Decided November 13, 1991
Reconsideration denied December 4, 1991
On the other hand, the plaintiff in this case alleges in his complaint that the officer’s acts “were unlawful and showed willful misconduct, wantonness, oppression and that entire want of care which raises the presumption of conscious indifference to the consequences.”
There is evidence that the officer, responding to a report that a robbery by force had occurred, went to look for a suspect. He drove at least 57 mph (27 mph over the speed limit) on a downtown city street with traffic just before noon on an early summer Saturday and was passing on the left in an intersection when he collided with plaintiff’s left-turning vehicle. The blue light was operating but, according to plaintiff, bystanders, and the investigating officer, the audible signal or siren was not activated. As the investigating officer pointed out, if this is true, the vehicle was not being operated as “an authorized emergency vehicle” as a matter of law because it was not being operated in accordance with OCGA § 40-6-6 (c). He also stated in his deposition that as a matter of fact, this is also a violation of police department policy.
In the opinion of this officer, who was trained in traffic accident investigation and qualified as an expert in accident reconstruction, and who had investigated the collision on the scene immediately after its occurrence, “officer Patton failed to drive with ‘due regard for the safety of all persons,’ and therefore endangered life and property.” This is required even of those who do use the audible signal and flashing or revolving blue light, as required by subsection (c). See OCGA § 40-6-6 (d).
It is a jury question whether the audible signal was operating. If it finds that there was no siren to warn the left-turning plaintiff, then it is also a jury question whether, under the circumstances in this case, the failure to properly operate the vehicle as an authorized emergency vehicle in this regard constituted reckless disregard for the safety of others. As repeated in Joyce v. Van Arsdale, 196 Ga. App. 95, 96 (395 SE2d 275) (1990), “if the employee acted in his official capacity and the challenged act involved the performance of a discretionary duty, the employee is entitled to the defense of official immunity provided the act complained of was not . . . reckless disregard for the safety of others.” Cf. Adams v. Perdue, 199 Ga. App. 476 (405 SE2d 305) (1991), where the facts were not such that the jury could find reckless disregard but merely an act of negligence.
*172Roberson & Schmidt, David Roberson, Randall A. Schmidt, for appellant.
Oliver, Maner & Gray, Patrick T. O’Connor, for appellee.