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Pennsylvania State Police v. Klimek4/15/2002
The Pennsylvania State Police (Police) appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County (trial court) which denied the Police's motion for full or partial summary judgment. We affirm.
On February 24, 1996, State Police Troopers Stephen Kopenis and Jeffrey Crum were called to a residence in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. At that residence, Susan Munley told the Troopers that her boyfriend, Gary Klimek (Klimek), had earlier tried to smother Munley with a pillow and had stated that both Munley and Klimek would die as a result of Klimek's intended murder and suicide. Munley further told the Troopers that Klimek had been drinking, and had since left the residence.
Thereafter, the Troopers found Klimek asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, where the Troopers arrested Klimek on a charge of DUI and took him into custody. The Troopers then transported Klimek to the State Police Troop R Barracks in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, where he was to be held pending the processing of paperwork and an appearance before a magistrate.
At the time of Klimek's arrest and incarceration, Police Troop Order Number 92-10 was the governing regulation for prisoners who were temporarily incarcerated in the holding cells of the Troop R Barracks. That Order provided, in relevant part:
A.) All prisoners will be completely searched before being placed into the holding cell. Items such as belts, ties, shoelaces, lighters, matches, eyeglasses, any other item which, in the opinion of the Member, may be dangerous to the Member or the Prisoner shall be removed . . .
B.) The Arresting Officer shall insure that the Prisoner is observed at all times while in the cell or in custody.
Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 157. The holding cell at Troop R Barracks is not visible from the working areas of the Barracks, and no monitoring devices are employed regarding the holding cells. R.R. at 161-162; Supplemental Reproduced Record (S.R.R.) at 9-10.
At the Barracks, the Troopers removed Klimek's boots and laces, placed Klimek in a holding cell, and placed Klimek's boots and laces outside of, but near, Klimek's cell. Approximately an hour and fifteen minutes later, Trooper Crum discovered Klimek's dead body in the holding cell, where Klimek had retrieved his boot laces and had hung himself therewith.
Stanley and Shirley Klimek (collectively with Gary Klimek and the Estate thereof, Klimek), the parents of Gary Klimek, subsequently brought wrongful death and survival actions against the Police in the trial court, alleging that: Klimek had been arrested by the Police; the Police had been informed that Klimek had been drinking alcoholic beverages, was behaving abnormally and irrationally, and had expressed suicidal intentions, and; Klimek had hanged himself with a lace obtained from a boot within the possession and control of the Police. Klimek alleged in the complaint, in part relevant to the instant appeal, that the Police were negligent for failing to maintain a facility where Klimek could be properly observed, for failing to properly remove and secure all of Klimek's personal effects which could be dangerous to him, and for failing to properly observe Klimek and assure his safety while in the Police's custody.
After the closing of the pleadings and discovery, the Police filed a motion for full or partial summary judgment (Motion) averring, in relevant part, that the claims of Klimek did not fall within any exception to the sovereign immunity of the Police as articulated in Section 8522 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. §8522. The trial court denied the Police's Motion, holding in relevant part that th
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