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Kawaguchi v. Gainer9/16/2005
reduce the seriousness of the incident." The manual defines "High-speed vehicle response" as "the operation of an emergency vehicle at speeds in excess of the speed limit when responding to an emergency call." Thus, State police policy treats high-speed pursuits the same as other emergencies, including calls of accidents with injuries. Consequently, to the extent plaintiff complains about Trooper Gainer's responding to a call of an accident with injuries as she would to a call to pursue a fleeing suspect, plaintiff's complaint is directed at State Police policy. See Campbell, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 551.
Second, and more elementally, plaintiff's argument makes no sense. Plaintiff appears to suggest that if a police officer does not know the extent of injuries involved in an accident, then he or she is not justified in treating the situation as an emergency. In fact, the opposite may be true. If the officer knows the extent of the injuries, he or she might have less reason to consider the call an emergency. Here, Trooper Gainer was told injuries were involved. The State Police policy implies that if injuries are involved, the trooper is to assume the worse and to arrive at the scene as soon as possible to minimize the effects of the accident. In any event, the fact that she was unaware of the extent of the injuries does not mean she should have treated the situation as something less than an emergency. That is not only foolish, it is dangerous.
To summarize, although nominally against Trooper Gainer individually, plaintiff's claim is in fact against the State. The undisputed evidence establishes that at the time of the accident Trooper Gainer was responding to an emergency call, which was part of her normal and official duties, and therefore was acting in a way unique to her position. Plaintiff has failed to cite any case that undermines this conclusion. As a result, the doctrine of sovereign immunity mandates that, if plaintiff is to bring her suit at all, she must bring it in the Court of Claims. Thus, the trial court properly granted Trooper Gainer's motion to dismiss. Because we conclude that sovereign immunity deprived the circuit court of jurisdiction, we do not consider Trooper Gainer's alternative argument that public official immunity protected her from suit in this case. Rather, we leave the issue for the Court of Claims. See Campbell, 207 Ill. App. 3d at 555 ("having already decided that [pursuant to sovereign immunity] this case belongs in the Court of Claims, the issue of whether public-official immunity applies to defendant is left to the Court of Claims to decide, i.e., the forum with subject-matter jurisdiction").
III. CONCLUSION
At the time of the accident, Trooper Gainer was an employee of the State Police and not a borrowed employee of the Authority. Because she was acting in a manner unique to her position, sovereign immunity deprived the circuit court of jurisdiction over plaintiff's suit against her; the proper forum was the Court of Claims. Thus, for the reasons stated, we affirm the decision of the circuit court of Du Page County, which dismissed plaintiff's claim pursuant to section 2--619 of the Code.
Affirmed.
HUTCHINSON and GROMETER, JJ., concur.
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