ABSTRACT
In Tacoma, Washington, on a late June afternoon in 2013, a police officer brutally shot an unarmed, mentally-ill, middle-aged homeless man four times in the back with a Glock 45. He was not a suspect in any criminal wrongdoing, and horrified eyewitnesses confirmed that he was not posing a threat to anyone, including the officer, at the time of the shooting. The victim, Cesar Beltran-Serrano, survived, and subsequently sued the city for his injuries.
The case eventually landed at the Washington Supreme Court, where the court was asked to resolve two separate legal issues: does the public duty doctrine immunize localities from liability when an officer has affirmatively acted (rather than just failed to act), and can a police officer who intentionally shoots a person be liable in both negligence and intentional tort.
The court found in favor of the plaintiff on both issues. In so doing, the court created a viable and accessible path towards greater police accountability. On this basis alone, the decision deserves a spot in this symposium issue on the Great Tort Cases of the 21st Century. Yet the case does still more: its holdings are important not just for plaintiffs bringing claims against police, but for parties in cases far beyond the police/city context. Most notably, the issue of whether negligence can co-exist with intentional assault and battery claims is of particular importance to sexual assault tort litigation and potentially opens pathways for other contexts as well. The dual holdings in Beltran-Serrano thus hold much promise for those seeking social justice through tort law.
Sarah L Swan, Beltran-Serrano v City of Tacoma, Journal of Tort Law, volume 16, issue 2. Published by De Gruyter 30 August 2023.
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