Estate of Gonzalez v. City of Jersey City
| Decision Date | 17 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | DOCKET NO. A-5751-17T2 |
| Parties | ESTATE OF HIRAM A. GONZALEZ, by IRAIDELIZ GONZALEZ, Administrator Ad Prosequendum, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. THE CITY OF JERSEY CITY, THE JERSEY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, POLICE OFFICER LEON TUCKER, JR., and POLICE OFFICER SAAD HASHMI, Defendants-Respondents, and EMAN S. AHMED and ELHAM M. MANSOUR, Defendants. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION
This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.
Before Judges Yannotti, Hoffman and Currier.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, Docket No. L-2857-16.
Lawrence D. Minasian argued the cause for appellant (Greenberg Minasian, LLC, attorneys; William Seth Greenberg and Lawrence D. Minasian, on the briefs).
Philip Samuel Adelman, Assistant Corporation Counsel, argued the cause for respondents (Peter J. Baker, Corporation Counsel, attorney; Philip Samuel Adelman, on the brief).
In this personal injury action, we consider the conduct of defendant police officers regarding decedent Hiram Gonzalez under the New Jersey Tort Claims Act (TCA), N.J.S.A. 59:1-1 to 12-3. The trial court concluded the police were immune from liability to Gonzalez because their actions, based upon discretionary decisions, were performed in good faith and therefore protected under N.J.S.A. 59:3-3.
The trial court misapprehended the law in its grant of summary judgment to defendants. Here, because the officers were called to the scene of a motor vehicle accident, the officers' duty was ministerial in nature - they had a ministerial duty to render assistance to Gonzalez. A public employee is not immunized under the TCA if he or she was negligent in carrying out a ministerial duty. The record reflects multiple disputed issues of material fact regarding themanner in which the officers executed their duty, precluding the entry of summary judgment. We reverse.
On August 3, 2014, at 2:26 a.m., defendants, Jersey City Police Officers Leon Tucker, Jr. and Saad Hashmi (defendants or officers) were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident on the Lincoln Highway Bridge in Jersey City. The bridge, connecting Newark and Jersey City, has three lanes of traffic in each direction separated by a concrete barrier. In their respective depositions, the officers differed in their recollection of the scene. Hashmi recalled Gonzalez's pickup truck being stopped in the left shoulder and left lane, perpendicular to the lanes of travel. Tucker thought the vehicle was facing oncoming traffic with its tires against the curb.
As the officers approached the car, Hashmi said he observed Gonzalez sitting in the driver's seat talking on his cell phone. Tucker said Gonzalez was out of the car.
Gonzalez told Tucker he was on his way to the Holland Tunnel when his truck spun out of control and he could not get it to reverse. The officers were able to push the truck to face the proper direction of travel by shifting it into neutral and steering it. But because the vehicle would not otherwise move, they requested a tow truck.
When the tow truck arrived, Tucker asked the driver if he would give Gonzalez a ride, as it was common for drivers to do.1 Without giving any reason, the tow truck driver said no. Tucker then offered to drive Gonzalez to a nearby Shell station.2 Gonzalez refused, stating "I'm not riding with no Jersey City cops."
Instead, Gonzalez said he was going to wait for his "brother," David Martinez, a Newark police officer. Neither officer recalled speaking to Martinez that night. Tucker did recall telling Gonzalez that the area behind the guardrail on the bridge was not a safe place to wait.
Hashmi stated the officers waited fifteen to twenty minutes for Martinez to arrive. After that point, he said Tucker reached out to dispatch to ask if they should stay with Gonzalez or leave. Both officers testified that when Tucker asked the dispatcher whether it was alright to stay with Gonzalez until Martinez arrived, he was told to "resume [his] patrol."
However, in the transcription of the 3:24 a.m. call made to dispatch, Tucker states: Dispatch replies: "ok."
When the officers left, Gonzalez was standing on a dirt path behind a guardrail off the right side of the bridge. The officers felt that location was safe. During their time spent with Gonzalez, neither officer detected any signs that he was under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances.3
Both officers denied seeing any damage to Gonzalez's truck. However, photographs show damage to the left front and rear bumpers.
David Martinez was also deposed. He stated he was not related to Gonzalez but knew his sister. He recalled seeing Gonzalez approximately four times. Each time they met, they consumed alcohol and Martinez stated Gonzalez was drunk on each occasion. He described Gonzalez as "belligerent" with an "irate attitude," "cursing at people" and "angry" when he is drunk. Gonzalez had also told him he did not like police officers.
At approximately 3 a.m. on August 3, 2014, Martinez recalled getting a phone call from Gonzalez's sister, telling him Gonzalez was drunk, he had been pulled over and needed a ride. She asked Martinez if Gonzalez could call him. Martinez agreed.
Immediately thereafter, Martinez received a call from Gonzalez. Martinez said Gonzalez was angry and yelling and told him Gonzalez also said he had been drinking.
According to Martinez, neither Gonzalez nor the officer told Martinez why Gonzalez had been pulled over; Martinez did not ask. Gonzalez told him he was on the Pulaski Skyway and the tow truck driver would not give him a ride. Martinez said he would come pick him up.
Martinez asked Gonzalez to hand the phone to one of the officers. Martinez did not know who he spoke to, but he did recall telling the officer that he was a Newark police officer and asking if Gonzalez was under arrest. The officer told Martinez that Gonzalez was not under arrest, but he needed a ride home. He also informed Martinez that they had offered Gonzalez a ride whichhe had refused. While Martinez was talking to the officer, he could hear Gonzalez yelling that he was not going to ride with "Jersey City cops."
According to Martinez, the officer told him Martinez said he would pick Gonzalez up in about ten minutes. Martinez assumed the officers would wait with Gonzalez for him to arrive although he did not say that to the officer. Before hanging up, Martinez spoke with Gonzalez again and told him he would be there in about ten minutes.
Martinez testified that he drove to the Pulaski Skyway Bridge and went up and down the bridge about five times looking for Gonzalez. He also tried to call Gonzalez a number of times but there was no answer. When Martinez called Gonzalez' s sister to tell her he could not find Gonzalez, she told him not to worry about it, so Martinez went home. Martinez said he assumed Gonzalez either called someone else for a ride or he was arrested.
While speaking with Gonzalez, Martinez thought he was intoxicated. He deduced this because of his prior experiences with Gonzalez when he had seen him behaving in a belligerent manner while drinking. He conceded that if someone had never met Gonzalez before, one could conclude that he was just an angry person and not necessarily intoxicated.
Martinez was not told there had been an accident or that the truck was inoperable. He assumed it was a motor vehicle stop and the officers were not permitting Gonzalez to drive.
At 3:42 a.m., 9-1-1 received a call reporting a motor vehicle accident on the eastbound side of the Lincoln Highway Bridge. Gonzalez had been struck by defendant Eman Ahmed4 as she was driving her car in the middle lane on the eastbound side of the bridge.
During her deposition, Ahmed stated it was drizzling and she was using her wipers. She first noticed Gonzalez when he was about four feet from her vehicle - walking in a westbound direction towards her car in the middle of the road. Ahmed applied her brakes and swerved her car to the left in an attempt to avoid hitting Gonzalez. However, the right passenger side of Ahmed's vehicle struck Gonzalez, killing him. The investigating officers estimated that the accident occurred approximately 1500 feet east of where the officers had left Gonzalez twenty minutes earlier. Gonzalez was 900 feet away from the Shell station.
Prior to Ahmed, occupants of another car travelling on the bridge had noticed Gonzalez on the highway. Andrew Rodriguez stated he saw Gonzalez in the right-hand lane walking into the middle of the road. He described Gonzalez as "stumbling," and not of his "proper mind." He assumed Gonzalez was drunk. Rodriguez moved to the left to avoid striking Gonzalez. As he did so, he saw a car coming up behind him on the right side, pass his car and hit Gonzalez.
The autopsy performed on Gonzalez revealed that his blood alcohol level was 0.215. Plaintiff's expert toxicologist opined that Gonzalez's blood alcohol level was 0.20 when he encountered the officers on the bridge. At this level, two-and-a-half times higher than the legal limit for driving, the toxicologist concluded that Gonzalez would have been visibly intoxicated.
Defendants moved for summary judgment, contending they were immune from liability under several provisions of the...
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