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Pylypiv v. City of Parma12/1/2005
{ } Yevgen Pylypiv, father and administrator of the estate of Andrey Pylypiv, and Ludmilla Gregorashenko, wife and administratrix of the estate of Victor Gregorashenko, appeal from an order of the trial court granting summary judgment in favor of the City of Parma on claims including wrongful death and negligence. They claim the court erred in granting summary judgment as the City is not immune from suit, and that its officers were the proximate cause of the accident. We affirm.
{ } The record reveals that at approximately 11:30 p.m. on the evening of June 30, 2002, twenty-seven-year-old Victor Gregorashenko was driving his motorcycle with sixteen-year-old Yevgen Pylypiv as his passenger. The pair were driving with a group of other motorcyclists when they passed Parma police officers Richard Burger and James Brink. One motorcycle in the group "popped a wheelie" as it passed the police car, and, believing Gregorashenko's motorcycle committed the act, the officers activated their overhead lights for a traffic stop.
{ } As the police cruiser approached, Officer Brink ordered Gregorashenko to pull over. Gregorashenko pulled into the curb lane in an apparent stop, but then turned and fled down Wales Avenue-a dead-end street. The officers immediately activated their lights and sirens and called the police dispatcher to report that they were in pursuit of a motorcycle and gave the dispatcher the license plate number. The officers then turned onto Wales Avenue to follow the car.
{ } Wales Avenue is a residential street with a 25 m.p.h. speed limit and is lined with homes approximately every fifty feet.
There are also three main intersections with stop signs on Wales for eastbound traffic between State Road and the end of the street.
{ } Near West 33rd Street, the officers lost sight of the motorcycle. They proceeded down the suspected path of the motorcycle with lights and sirens activated and traveling approximately 35 to 40 m.p.h. The officers slowed through the stop signs at each of the three intersections until they reached the dead-end of the street.
{ } At the dead-end, there are three guardrails that line the pavement overlooking a large ravine. There is a yellow and black reflective sign on one of the end guardrails and also a working street light directly over the area surrounding the guardrails. When the officers saw no sign of the motorcycle in this area, they exited the car and searched the surrounding wooded area, where they ultimately found the bodies of Gregorashenko and Pylypiv.
{ } Gregorashenko's motorcycle apparently struck the guardrail, and the impact threw the motorcycle and its passengers over the rail and into the heavily wooded area. The men were rushed to the hospital, where Pylypiv was declared dead on arrival. Gregorashenko was life-flighted to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. He died from his injuries four days later.
{ } An investigation of the accident, which included eyewitness statements and the report of an accident reconstructionist, revealed that the motorcycle had been traveling at a minimum speed of 66 m.p.h. and had failed to stop at any of the three posted stop signs before it collided with the guardrail.
{ } In June 2004, Yevgen Pylypiv, father and administrator of the estate of Andrey Pylypiv, and Ludmilla Gregorashenko, wife and administratrix of the estate of Victor Gregorashenko, (collectively referred to as "the Estates") sued the City of Parma (hereafter, "the City") and individually sued Parma police officers Brink and Burger.
{ } In December 2004, the City and the individual officers moved for summary judgment, which the co
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