From latzko@ns1.rutgers.edu Thu Jan 13 16:23:12 1994 Received: from demon.corp.portal.com (demon.corp.portal.com [156.151.1.10]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) with ESMTP id QAA01004 for ; Thu, 13 Jan 1994 16:23:11 -0800 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by demon.corp.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4) with ESMTP id OAA15900 for ; Thu, 13 Jan 1994 14:32:57 -0800 Received: from ns1.rutgers.edu (ns1.rutgers.edu [128.6.21.6]) by nova.unix.portal.com (8.6.4/8.6.4-1.13) with SMTP id OAA04211 for ; Thu, 13 Jan 1994 14:33:30 -0800 Received: by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA18367; Thu, 13 Jan 94 17:29:42 EST Received: from hound.dazixca.ingr.com by ns1.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA18296; Thu, 13 Jan 94 17:29:19 EST Received: by hound.edaca.ingr.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA02407; Thu, 13 Jan 94 14:28:23 PST From: crphilli@hound.edaca.ingr.com (Ron Phillips) Message-Id: <9401132228.AA02407@hound.edaca.ingr.com> Subject: Re: [HELP] need some documents To: thi_huynh@novell.com Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 14:28:23 PST Cc: firearms-politics@ns1.rutgers.edu (Firearms Politics) In-Reply-To: ; from "thi_huynh@novell.com" at Jan 13, 94 10:08 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 06.00.01.12 (2.3 PL11)] Status: RO thi_huynh@novell.com writes: >-> >->My friend is in some heated argument with some co-workers about the >->legal obligation of police agencies to protect individual citizens. >->I seem to recall a court case where a woman sueing a police department >->for failing to respond in reasonable time and she was raped. I think >->the Supreme court decided that police have no legal obligation to >->provide protection to individual citizens. >-> >->Can some kind soul email me a copy of this case? My email address is >->thi_huynh@novell.com I don't remember where I originally got this but, to whoever gave it to me, THANKS! Bowers v. DeVito, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 686 F.2d 616 (1882) Cal. Govt. Code Sections 821,845,846 Calogrides v. City of Mobile, 475 So. 2d 560 (S.Ct. Ala. 1985) Chapman v. City of Philadelphia, 434 A.2d 753 (Sup. Ct. Penn. 1981) Davidson v. City of Westminster, 32 C.3d 197,185 Cal. Rptr. 252,649 P.2d 894 (S.Ct. Cal. 1982) Hartzler v. City of San Jose, App., 120 Cal. Rptr 5 (1975) Ill. Rev. Stat. 4-102 Keane v. City of Chicago, 98 Ill App 2d 460 (1968) Keane v. Chicago, 48 Ill. App. 567 (1977) Lynch v. N.C. Dept. of Justice, 376 S.E. 2nd 247 (N.C. App. 1989) Marshall v. Winston, 389 S.E. 2nd 902 (Va. 1990) Morgan v. District of Columbia, 468 A.2d 1306 (D.C. App. 1983) Morris v. Musser, 478 A.2d 937 (1984) Reiff v. City of Philadelphia, 477F. Supp. 1262 (E.D.Pa. 1979) Riss v. City of New York, 293 N.Y. 2d 897 (1968) Sapp v. Tallahassee, 348 So.2d 363 (Fla. App. 1977) Silver v. Minneapolis 170 N.W.2d 206 (Minn, 1969) Simpson's Food Fair v. Evansvill, 272 N.E.2d 871 (Ind. App.) Stone v. State 106 Cal.App.3d 924, 165 Cal. Rep 339 (1980) Warren v. District of Columbia, D.C. App., 444 A.2d 1 (1981) Weutrich v. Delia, 155 N.J. Super. 324, 326, 382 A.2d 929, 930 (1978) "Law enforcement agencies and personnel have no duty to protect individuals from the criminal acts of others; instead their duty is to preserve the peace and arrest law breakers for the protection of the general public." (Lynch v. NC Dept. Justice) The law in New York remains as decided by the Court of Appeals case Riss v. New York: the government is not liable even for a grossly negligent failure to protect a crime victim. In the Riss case, a young woman telephoned the police and begged for help because her ex-boyfriend had repeatedly threatened "If I can't have you, not one else will have you, and when I get through with you, no one else will want you." The day after she had pleaded for police protection, the ex-boyfriend threw lye in her face, blinding her in one eye, severely damaging the other, and permanently scarring her features. "What makes the City's position particularly difficult to understand", wrote a dissenting opinion, "is that, in conformity to the dictates of the law, Linda did not carry any weapon for self-defense. Thus by a rather bitter irony she was required to rely for protection on the City of New York which now denies all responsibility to her." Riss v. New York, 22 N.Y.2d 579,293 N.Y.S.2d 897, 240 N.E.2d 806 (1958). Ruth Brunell called the police on twenty different occasions to beg for protection from her husband. He was arrested only one time. One evening Mr. Brunell telephoned his wife and told her he was coming over to kill her. When she called police, they refused her request that they come to protect her. They told her to call back when he got there. Mr. Brunell stabbed his wife to death before she could call the police to tell them that he was there. The court held that the San Jose police were not liable for ignoring Mrs. Brunell's pleas for help. Hartzler v. City of San Jose, 46 Cal. App. 3d 6 (1975). -- ************************************************************** * Ron Phillips crphilli@hound.edaca.ingr.com * * Senior Customer Applications Engineer * * Intergraph Electronics * * 381 East Evelyn Avenue VOICE: (415) 691-6473 * * Mountain View, CA 94041 FAX: (415) 691-0350 * **************************************************************