Criminals Trying To Deflect Blame Lose Big

J.J. Jackson* | May 2, 2007

We’ve all heard the stories of idiotic criminals who are injured while fleeing from police and then try to sue to get damages. Well, not any more it seems thanks to a level headed decision by the Supreme Court.

(CBS/AP) The Supreme Court on Monday gave police officers protection from lawsuits that result from high-speed car chases, ruling against a Georgia teenager who was paralyzed after his car was run off the road.

In a case that turned on a video of the chase in suburban Atlanta, Justice Antonin Scalia said law enforcement officers do not have to call off pursuit of a fleeing motorist when they reasonably expect that other people could be hurt.

Rather, officers can take measures to stop the car without putting themselves at risk of civil rights lawsuits.

“A police officer’s attempt to terminate a dangerous high-speed car chase that threatens the lives of innocent bystanders does not violate the Fourth Amendment, even when it places the fleeing motorist at risk of serious injury or death,” Scalia said.

The court sided 8-1 with former Coweta County sheriff’s deputy Timothy Scott, who rammed a fleeing black Cadillac on a two-lane, rain-slicked road in March 2001.

This was a common sense and even though many of the more liberal members agreed, apparently Justice John Paul Stevens could not bring himself to do the right thing and tell criminals that they do not have a right to flee police and sue when their own actions result in their injury.

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