DALLAS - The Fifth Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit against the City of Dallas alleging an officer caused an automobile collision.
The lawsuit was brought by Phyllis Hawkins, who sued the city for negligence after she was injured in a collision with a police car driven by an officer.
In her petition, Hawkins alleged that the officer caused the collision by running a red light and claimed that he was not responding to an emergency using his lights and sirens.
In his declaration, the officer stated that on Sept. 30, 2021, he received a dispatch “to provide cover” to a “Priority 1” emergency call concerning an adult male suffering a mental health episode and exposing himself to passing vehicles and in the vicinity of children.
He said he proceeded to the location with his vehicle’s lights and siren activated but the suspect was not there. Dispatch then provided him a second address and he headed to the location without activating his police vehicle’s emergency lights and siren.
“I decided to proceed to the second location without lights and siren because the route involved traveling primarily through residential neighborhoods and given the time of day, there would be heavy traffic in the area, unlike the freeway route that I took to the initial location,” he said in the declaration.
Court records show the city filed a plea to the jurisdiction, asserting that it is immune from suit and that Hawkin’s claims fell within the “emergency exception” to the waiver of immunity in the Texas Tort Claims Act.
The trial court denied the plea and the city appealed.
“Concluding that the City met its burden to establish all of the elements of its official immunity affirmative defense, and that Hawkins failed to controvert the City’s proof, we reverse the trial court’s order denying the City’s plea and render judgment dismissing Hawkins’s claims for lack of jurisdiction,” states the 13th Court’s July 14 opinion.
Case No. 05-24-01280-CV
