Crime & Federalism

Government officials, at least so far as the federal Constitution is concerned, are under no duty to protect you unless you've been detained, or unless they've placed you in danger.  A police officer could, with impunity, watch someone beat you to death.  The thinking is that the police officer did not place you in danger of death, and therefore he didn't cause your death. 

If, however, the police officer pulled over a car you were a passenger in, arrested the driver of the car, and had the car impounded, the police officer would be responsible for helping you arrive home safely.  After all, you were safe while in the car, but you are not safe now that the car had been impounded.  There are actual cases where police officers impounded cars and left passengers stranded in high-crime neighborhoods.

Today a 2-1 panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, applying the above principles, reached a result that it took numerous pages to explain and defend.  Jones v. Reynolds (here).  The flaws of Jones v. Reynolds can be demonstrated with less than four sentences.  First, here's are the legally-operative facts.

A bunch of people went to watch an illegal drag race.  Police arrived. The drag race was cancelled.  The police officers told the promoters to go ahead and uncanel the drag race.  They even played some music to set the mood.  The drag race went forward as planned.  The driver of one car lost control of his car and killed a spectator.

Apply the danger-creation doctrine summarized above, two judges held that the police officers weren't liable because the police officers didn't cause the spectator to be in any more danger than she was initially in.  This is illogical, once you trace the causal chain of the spectator's death:

1.  The spectator was in the audience to watch a drag race. 
2.  The drag race was cancelled.  Therefore, at the point of cancellation, it would have been impossible for the spectator to die from the drag race because there was no longer a drag race.
3.  The police officers uncancelled the event.
4.  The woman died.

Does anyone have difficulty seeing that the police officers were part of the causal chain leading to the woman's death.  I didn't think so. This was an easy case.

Of course, it's true that the spectator has only herself to blame for dying.  She should have stayed home.  It's also surely the case that the drivers were also to blame for her death.  But it's also undeniable that the police officers, by telling the promoters to start a race that had been cancelled, also placed a role in the spectator's death.