Although there is a great push nationwide to alter police immunity, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed official immunity in a case involving a police pursuit that resulted in the death of a teen in State ex rel. Officer Sergeant Dirk Helms and Chief Joe Edwards versus Judge Joseph Alfred Rathert.
“Official immunity protects public officials sued in their individual capacities from liability for alleged acts of negligence committed during the course of their official duties for the performance of discretionary acts,” wrote Judge Paul C. Wilson in the June 15 decision. “There is a narrow exception to the application of the official immunity doctrine – i.e., when a public officer fails to perform a ministerial duty required of him by law, he may be personally liable for the damages caused.”
Lillian Decker Flath was 16 years old when she died on May 22, 2018, while a passenger in a car being pursued by police. Her father, Lonnie Decker filed a lawsuit in Jefferson County against Sergeant Dirk Helms and Chief Joe Edwards from the De Soto Police Department, alleging wrongful death.
“It's a terribly tragic situation that a young lady lost her life that way,” said attorney David Berwin who represented Chief Joe Edwards. “It's awful. If the courts take the position that there's a carve-out for a situation for one particular individual, that's going to have to be applied to everybody that's similarly situated and it might be applied to someone in a situation that is not innocent or is not a sympathetic figure like Miss Flath.”
Although Judge Joseph Alfred Rathert decided in Decker’s favor, the Missouri Supreme Court reviewed the case de novo.
“The trial court ruled that a cause of action existed and that official immunity did not apply but the Missouri Supreme Court has unlimited discretion in reviewing a question of law like that and found that apparently, official immunity did apply and so even assuming all the allegations in the petition are true and even assuming that the officer may have been negligent, the court found that the actual actions that were taken come under the purview of discretion and so, therefore, official immunity," Berwin told the St. Louis Record.
In analyzing whether official immunity applied, the Missouri Supreme Court distinguished ministerial acts from discretionary acts, according to the opinion.
“There's a very fine line between them,” Berwin said. “Ministerial acts are almost robotic in nature. They are actions that have to be done as a matter of law whereas discretionary acts are acts that require deliberation and they are based upon a person's experience and training.”
Berwin further told the St. Louis Record that he was a bit concerned because of the public scrutiny that has been directed at police departments in the past few years based upon police shootings but still he wasn’t surprised by the favorable decision.
“Sergeant Helms and Chief Edwards may have been negligent in failing to fulfill these discretionary duties with due regard for the public safety and in such a way as to protect Ms. Flath – and this Court assumes as much for purposes of this analysis – but the doctrine of official immunity prohibits the courts of this state from holding them personally liable for such a failure,” Judge Wilson wrote in the opinion.