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City of Houston v. Mendoza12/2/1999
The City of Houston (City) appeals the denial of a motion for summary judgment based on sovereign immunityderived from the officialimmunity of the police officers involved in a high-speed chase. The trial court denied this motion.
On appeal, the City contends the trial court abused its discretion by: 1) denying its motion for summary judgment; 2) allowing as proof the affidavit of the appellees' expert; and 3) refusing to grant the City derivative immunity based on the official immunity of the police officers. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. On November 25, 1994, the Friday after Thanksgiving, Officer Odon Belmarez was on patrol in a marked Houston Police Department (HPD) vehicle close to downtown Houston. Around 4:00 PM, he observed a black pickup truck driven by Arturo Medina run a stop sign at the intersection of Gulf Creek and Office City Drive. Officer Belmarez followed this truck onto the feeder of Interstate 45 North, put on his overhead lights, and sounded his emergency horn in an attempt to stop the vehicle. The vehicle ignored these signals and entered the freeway. Officer Belmarez radioed a dispatcher to notify him that the vehicle was refusing to stop, turned on his siren, and began to pursue the vehicle. The dispatcher notified Officer Belmarez that the truck was stolen and requested a police helicopter, which began to head toward the fleeing vehicle. The chase continued at faster than freeway speeds until Medina exited the freeway across a grassy median driving back to the feeder. Officer Belmarez followed and was joined by a Metro police officer, Craig Lee.
On the feeder, Medina ranthrough a red light at Wayside and another HPD officer, Officer Mares, joined the chase. Medina turned the truck north on Telephone Road, at which point the officers entered into an unfamiliar police district. This area is largely commercial, but Telephone Road passes through a residential area containing a school zone. Officer Lem, who was familiar with the roads in this district, joined the chase and took over radio contact. At some point close to downtown, Telephone Road becomes Leeland Street.
Yet another HPD officer, Officer Flores, joined in the procession, pulling in front of Officer Mares and causing him to fall back out of fear for his safety.
At the intersection of Leeland and Cullen Streets, Medina ran through another light that was turning red. Officer Belmarez and the others slowed, allowing Medina to gain a lead on the police. It is at this point that the facts begin to widely diverge, although it is undisputed that at the next intersection, Leeland and Scott, Medina hit a Honda Accord, killing Robert Romero, Laura Madrid, Victoria Romero, and severely injuring Lisa Madrid, who was eight years old at the time. The force of the impact was enough to throw Laura Madrid free of the vehicle, where the car landed on top of her.
Officer Belmarez claims that he was anywhere from fifteen to six car lengths behind Medina when the collision occurred. Eyewitnesses, however, place him around six feet behind the car three-tenths of a mile before the collision occurred, and Medina claims that Belmarez hit the truck with his police cruiser, knocking or pushing him into the intersection and the appellees' vehicle. This statement is supported by a dent on the rear bumper of the stolen vehicle that was not present prior to the vehicle's being stolen.
There is also a dispute about when the police helicopter arrived on the scene, with an eyewitness placing the helicopter at the scene when the collisionoccurred and other proof placing its arrival time at less than a minute after the collision. Although a time stamp is generally put on
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