Thursday’s Clarion-Ledger reports on a $700,000 verdict entered by Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd on February 5 in a bench trial against the City of Jackson.

The case involved a fatal car wreck in Jackson involving a suspect who was running from Jackson police officers. The suspect crashed into the plaintiffs. One person was killed and the other two injured. Judge Kidd awarded $500,000 to the estate of the deceased and $100,000 to each of the survivors. The city argued that the officer stopped the pursuit before the crash. The case was tried in April 2008. Warren Martin represented the plaintiffs.

Jackson City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen stated that the city will appeal because the Tort Claims Act caps the total possible recovery at $500,000:

City Attorney Pieter Teeuwissen said the city will appeal, in part because the judgment appears to exceed the amount of damages that can be levied against a Mississippi city. State law states that “damages against a governmental entity …. arising out of a single occurrence” are capped at $500,000.

I have not researched the law to analyze this issue. I suspect that Teeuwissen is right, since the Tort Claims Act stacks the deck in favor of governmental entities. That being said, I agree that the way Judge Kidd applied the cap should be the law.

Other recent verdicts in pursuit cases against the city include:

• In September, Hinds County Circuit Judge Swan Yerger handed down a $500,000 verdict against the city in the case of WLBT Channel 3 meteorologist Eric Law and his wife, Kristina, both of whom were seriously injured when struck by a suspect fleeing police in 2006.

• In May, Special Hinds County Circuit Judge William Coleman order the city to pay $400,000 in damages for its part in a chase that began in Raymond and ended when Alice Marie Wilson struck a vehicle driven by Alice Faye Clausell, killing her and injuring her two daughters.

The city’s response to these verdicts may be to stop chasing suspected criminals:

Teeuwissen said he is concerned about the way judges have been treating these cases. Such large awards against the city may force the Jackson Police Department to abandon pursuits because the city cannot afford it, he said.

And that could hamper the city’s ability to fight crime, he said.

“If these cases are upheld we are heading to a point where you can’t have a pursuit in an urban area. If that is the case you can imagine the effect it will have on crime,” he said. “You may have to tell your officers, ‘We don’t want you thinking in the field and making split-second decisions on whether this suspect is worth pursuing.’ “

I don’t have the answer to this dilemma. The police need to be able to pursue suspects, but pursuits need to be carried out in a way where innocent bystanders are not injured.