Court Opinion

ID: 9686806
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:07:07.293436+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:22.177851
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(dissenting). Wisconsin citizens, through their legislators, wisely have *263determined that police and other public officers must be afforded discretion to perform their jobs effectively. Relying on their discretion, the police determine the methods best suited for investigation of crimes and apprehension of suspects. This discretion, however, is not without limits.
The majority concludes that in this case the detectives' promises to arrest the alleged assailant and to protect the victim do not subject the law enforcement officers to liability. I agree with this conclusion. Law enforcement officers cannot guarantee either full protection or an arrest in any given situation. This type of promise commits officers to do the best they can in such a situation, under the total circumstances of protecting the entire community. The officers and the City are not then subject to liability if the victim is harmed.
However, another promise was allegedly made in this case. According to the plaintiffs, the detectives promised that police officers would be at the victim's home at 3:30 p.m. on July 30 to arrest the assailant, who had agreed to be there at the time specified. As I read the majority opinion, it concludes that the detectives retained discretion over whether to implement this promise. Majority opinion at 259-262.
According to the limited information available at this stage of the proceeding, it appears that the assailant arrived at the victim's house sometime between 3:45 and 4:00 p.m. When a struggle ensued between the victim's stepfather and the assailant, the assailant fled. Apparently the police officers arrived at the house later that afternoon to investigate the struggle between the victim's stepfather and the assailant, but not in response to the alleged promise to be at the house to arrest the assailant. Sadly, the assailant's *264flight was only temporary. He returned on August 4 and killed Shannon Barillari.
I conclude that an officer's promise to appear or send other officers to appear at an agreed upon place and time to arrest an assailant whose appearance at that place and time has been prearranged is of a different nature than the more general promises to protect and arrest. In my opinion, such a specific promise is, under Lister, "absolute, certain and imperative," a commitment to perform a "specific task" (arrest) at a "define[d]... time" (3:30 p.m., July 30,1987) through a "prescribe[d]... mode and occasion." Lister, 72 Wis. 2d at 301.
The plaintiffs and defendant dispute whether the detectives made the more specific promise to appear and arrest the assailant at a specified place and time. This is a dispute of material issues of fact.
I conclude that the plaintiffs are entitled to a determination of (1) whether the more specific promise was made, and if so, (2) whether the officers were negligent in their failure to fulfill this promise, and (3) whether any such negligence was a substantial factor in causing the harm. These decisions cannot be made on a motion for summary judgment.
Thus, although I agree with much of the majority opinion, I conclude the majority opinion is too broad in suggesting that an officer's promise to appear at an agreed upon place and time to arrest an alleged violent assailant is, in and of itself, a discretionary act and that immunity exists when failure to fulfill the promise constitutes causal negligence.
I would therefore affirm the decision of the court of appeals but on different grounds.