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Hardy v. Bowie9/8/1999
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL , THIRD CIRCUIT, PARISH OF LAFAYETTE
At issue in this case is whether the public duty doctrine applies to insulate the City of Lafayette from liability where the Lafayette Police Department failed to prevent a fatal shooting. After reviewing the record and the applicable law, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeal, which denied the City of Lafayette's motion for summary judgment, and, applying the traditional duty-risk analysis, hold that the police officers did not act negligently.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This case arises out the death of Christopher Scott Hardy, who was shot and killed during an altercation with defendant, Brian Bowie , in the McKinley Strip area in Lafayette on August 22, 1993.
The depositions submitted in support of the opposition to the instant motion established that the McKinley Strip area is an area known to be a popular college hangout near the University of Southwestern Louisiana. On any particular weekend the crowd at the Strip can number between 400 and 500 people. Because the area contains several bars that are required by law to close at 2:00 am, officers from the Lafayette Police Department are on duty to enforce bar closure, traffic control and DWI laws. On the night of the incident, four Lafayette Police Department officers were on duty.
Four off-duty sheriff's deputies were also providing paid security in the area.
Officer Charles Steve Viccellio, who had been in law enforcement for about 13 years at the time of the incident, testified that on the night in question, as he and the other officers were assisting in moving the crowd out of the bars, there was a loud bang that sounded like a gun shot. Viccellio and his partner immediately headed across the street in search of the cause of the noise. As they walked across the street, people were telling the officers, "there's a black guy with a gun." When the two officers arrived in the open parking lot across the street from Pete's Bar, there was a group of approximately thirty young men beating a young black man. It took them approximately two minutes to break up the fight and to determine that the black man at the bottom of the pile was not in possession of a gun. Several people from the crowd then told the officers that the man with the gun was further into the parking lot. The officers then went further into the parking lot, and as they attempted to get through what is estimated to be several hundred people, they heard two more loud bangs that were later determined to be gun shots. Immediately after the shots were fired, one officer drew his gun and after Bowie attempted to escape by car, he was taken into custody. The testimony establishes that a person standing at the point where the fight occurred could not see the point where the fatal shooting occurred because cars and people were blocking the view.
What occurred while the officers were looking for the origin of the "loud bang" is explained by the testimony of witnesses Daniel Boudreaux, Jason Coleman, and Lance Adamson. According to Jason Coleman, Brian Bowie's friend, the black man involved in the fight was also his and Bowie's friend. While the 30 men were beating up their friend and others were advancing on him, Bowie pulled out his gun and fired a shot in the air. Coleman called this a "warning shot." After that shot, Bowie and Coleman retreated towards his car with Scott Hardy following them. Bowie got into his car and Hardy opened the car door, attempting to prevent them from leaving. The two men exchanged words and punches, and then Bowie, while seated in his car, fired two fatal shots at Hardy. Coleman, who was seated
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