Connecticut Supreme Court determines that a police officer conducting surveillance in a criminal investigation was not engaged in discretionary activity protected by government immunity when the officer negligently caused a motor vehicle accident.

The plaintiff appealed from a motion setting aside a verdict which found the defendant police officer negligently caused a motor vehicle accident while performing criminal surveillance in an unmarked vehicle. During pursuit of the suspect/plaintiff, the defendant officer sideswiped a different motor vehicle and ultimately struck the back tire of the plaintiff’s motorcycle. This caused the plaintiff to crash into a parked car, be ejected from his motorcycle, and suffer alleged serious injuries. The record showed no attempt by the defendant officer to slow his vehicle or apply his brakes prior to striking the plaintiff’s motorcycle. The court determined that, while the decision to surveil and pursue the plaintiff was discretionary police action, “driving a motor vehicle in a nonemergency situation is a ministerial act for the purposes of governmental immunity,” and “because the operation of a motor vehicle is a highly regulated activity that constitutes a ministerial function, Kashmanian’s operation of the soft [unmarked] car was not itself a discretionary activity during the surveillance operation that led to the collision that injured the plaintiff.”

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