Legal liability for injuries fleeing PD

In My Humble Opinion
1

JR was our running on the path along side the road. (Path is close to the road but physically separated by at least two of: trees, fence, hill, retaining wall.) He sees a cop pull into the cross street on the opposite side, get out & start yelling at a (teenaged) kid who was going in the same direction as JR but against traffic on a bicycle (which is illegal; bicycles must ride in the direction of traffic - but doesn’t sound like the reason for the stop). JR doesn’t know what was being yelled, partially because he’s got his headphones in listening to music. Kid then picks up speed & goes around the cop; cop jumps back in his car, lights 'em up & takes off after kid on bike. JR contines running, crests the hill & sees kid coming his direction on bike, followed by two cops in foot pursuit; kid doubled back onto the path at next intersection/opening. There is also one cop behind JR, at the top of the hill, blocking the path. One of the cops coming towards him yells, “Stop him”.
JR literally side steps & lets kid on bike pass.

Cops end up tackling kid & yell at JR to, “Don’t move!” JR stops running & stands there. Once they have the kid in custody, cop comes over & starts dressing him down - why didn’t you stop him?
JR explains that

  1. Didn’t realize that “Stop him” was being addressed at him & not the cop behind him.
  2. Was afraid kid might me armed - he’s running from PD & JR doesn’t know why
  3. Was afraid of a bike coming full speed at him. How’s he supposed to stop him; stand there & get run over?

JR is ‘allowed’ to leave. :rolleyes:
Two liability questions (PA if it matters):
[ul]
[li]If fleeing kid had been injured by JR’s actions (assuming he pushed him or chopblocked him) would we have liability given he was acting at the request of PD?[/li]
[li]If JR had been hurt (say tumbling over the bike), would PD have liabilty for his injuries given he got involved at their request?[/li][/ul]

Please don’t derail the thread on discussion on the merits of whether one should or shouldn’t assist the police in a non-life-threatening matter. Whether you agree or not with the (in)action taken, there is a valid & logical argument presented for not getting involved in this case.

2

IANAL and all that, but I would think that if JR had knocked the kid on the bike over, he would not be liable for any injuries the kid received.

3

JR had no real duty to try to stop a fleeing person on a bicycle when the police were in “hot pursuit”.
Police can compel civilians to assist them in certain situations, but someone fleeing a minor traffic offense is not one of them.
The police would be held accountable if JR acted under their direction.

4

IANAL either, and am only thinking out loud. Would “posse comitatus” come into play here? An officer can ask for help from any able bodied citizen to help arrest someone. I know different states have different views on this, but if it would be relevant in this situation, JR would have immediately been covered by whatever law enforcement agency he was helping…or at least that’s how I understand it.

5

Since a passerby is required to follow the lawful orders of police officers I doubt anything he did, that was reasonable, would present any liability. I say reasonable because if JR had pulled out his gun and shot and killed the fleeing bicyclist he would likely still be in trouble. JR could actually be in trouble for stepping out of the way although I’m not sure a DA would prosecute.

Here are some interesting articles that I found relevant.

https://www.copblock.org/4749/law-enforcement-officers-and-lawful-orders-by-mr-ogre/

http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2675&context=lawreview