Lisby v. Henderson

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-police officer’s motion for partial judgment on pleadings with respect to plaintiff’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendant violated plaintiff’s decedent’s substantive due process rights when defendant, while driving to work at 78 miles per hour on 45 mile per hour stretch of highway, illegally changed lanes, crossed fog line onto shoulder of highway, and fatally struck decedent on shoulder of road without seeing her while still traveling 55 miles per hour. Plaintiff was required to plead sufficient facts to establish that defendant acted with “criminal recklessness,” and plaintiff's allegations that defendant’s speeding on highway and illegal lane change, when coupled with allegation that defendant never saw decedent prior to fatal collision, did not suggest that defendant disregarded extreme or obvious risks and was willing to let fatal collision occur. Moreover, plaintiff’s allegations, which were grounded in negligence rather than recklessness, failed to allege constitutional violation.