Yonkers City Court Confirms Emergency Vehicle Rule Scope & Burden

Author: Benjamin Youssef

Editor: Nicole A. Callahan, Esq.

The scope of New York Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) §1104 has been reaffirmed in a decision issued by the Honorable Judge Evan Inlaw of Yonkers City Court, who issued a decision in State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. City of Yonkers, granting the defendants’ motion for summary judgment regarding police emergency operations and the level of reckless disregard necessary for liability under VTL §1104.

Yonkers Police Officer Brendan Moore was in a traffic violation stop when he received a radio call for a possible burglary. Upon pulling away to respond to the radio call, his vehicle collided with the plaintiff’s vehicle.

Plaintiff sued, challenging the classification of Officer Moore’s operation of the police vehicle as an emergency operation because he was not actively in pursuit at the time. However, per VTL §114-b, an emergency operation includes responding to, or working or assisting at the scene of an accident, police call, alarm or fire…or other emergency.[1] Plaintiff also argued that Officer Moore drove with reckless disregard. Defendants argued that Officer Moore’s operation of his patrol vehicle did not rise to the level of “reckless disregard” necessary for civil liability under VTL §1104, which has been held to require “an intentional act of an unreasonable character in disregard of a known or obvious risk that was so great as to make it highly probably that harm would follow; and did not do so with conscious indifference to the outcome”.[2] Moore’s testimony of him leaving the traffic stop at 5-10 miles per hour while checking for cars driving nearby, established his actions were not done in disregard of a known or obvious risk or conscious indifference to the outcome.

The Court’s findings and decision confirm the scope and burden of proof under VTL §114-b.  Importantly, one should expect that these findings to apply to all emergency vehicles, including ambulances, fire trucks, and non-transporting emergency vehicles.

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[1] VTL §114-b

[2] Saarinen v. Kerr, 84 N.Y.2d 494 (1994) citing Prosser and Keeton, Torts §34, at 213 (5th Ed) and Restatement (Second) Torts §500.