Hinton-Goodwin v. City of Harvey

Plaintiff filed a lawsuit after she was injured when her car was struck by a vehicle fleeing from city police. Plaintiff alleged that the officers acted willfully and wantonly and caused her injuries. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants, finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact on the questions of willful and wanton or proximate cause and that the defendant was not liable under the Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act. The appellate court affirmed, finding that the facts, which included evidence that officers drove ahead to warn oncoming traffic and recruited a neighboring police department to block traffic, did not support a finding of willful and wanton conduct and explaining that the statute sets a “high bar” to prevent second-guessing of split-second police decisions. (PUCINSKI, concurring and GAMRATH, dissenting)