To read the judges’ opinion, click here

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Coitsville Township in a 2013 crash by a Coitsville police officer that happened during a chase that seriously injured a Hubbard woman.

The decision reverses rulings by a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge and the 7th District Court of Appeals and sends the case back to common pleas court.

The broader implication is that a government body cannot be held liable for negligence in the hiring, training or supervising of a police officer who later is involved in an accident during a high-speed pursuit of criminal suspects.

The claim of negligence in hiring, training or supervision arose in the Coitsville case because Renee McConnell’s attorneys argued that certain protections from government liability, such as a police departments, should not apply in this case.

McConnell’s attorney argued the reason was because the township was also negligent, willful or wanton in failing to establish procedures for pursuit training for officers.

Judge Anthony D’Apolito agreed with McConnell in his decision, refusing to grant summary judgment to the township when it asked for the case to be dismissed without a trial in 2017. The decision was appealed and upheld by the appeals court.

The crash happened Sept. 18, 2013, as officer Donald Dudley Jr. pursued a vehicle. He lost sight of the vehicle but continued to head north, spotting what he thought was the suspect vehicle.

As the officer approached an intersection, he began to radio his position and suddenly collided at the intersection with a car driven by McConnell, who was on her way to work. Her car hit a utility pole and overturned, landing on its roof.

The officer knew the intersection had a stop light but he had not noticed the light was red and also didn’t notice McConnell’s car coming toward him. The officer was driving about 35 miles per hour.

McConnell sued the officer and the township, arguing the officer was negligent, willful or wanton in operation of the cruiser, and the township was negligent, willful or wanton in failing to establish procedures for pursuit training.

Evidence showed that Dudley had never been in a police pursuit prior to the incident and had no high-speed pursuit training other than a 30-minute course during his initial training to become a police officer.

He was the only officer on the road at the time of the episode and was required to respond to the call. D’Apolito found there were “genuine issues of material fact regarding whether (the) Coitsville Township Police Department” and the township trustees “were negligent in the hiring, training and supervising” of Dudley.

The Ohio Supreme ruling released this week took the opposite position.

It said the Ohio General Assembly did not intend for local government bodies to face liability for negligence in hiring, training or supervision of officers. It said the General Assembly had to “draw lines regarding what claims may be pursued against a political subdivision,” and it had drawn the line in a way that protected government bodies from that type of liability.

The ruling said D’Apolito “erred in failing to enter summary judgment on the relevant count of the McConnells’ complaint.” The complaint is remanded back to D’Apolito “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

erunyan@tribtoday.com