Mclain v. Arnold
| Decision Date | 25 June 1918 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 8558 |
| Citation | 174 P. 563,1918 OK 374,73 Okla. 52 |
| Parties | McLAIN v. ARNOLD et al. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. Sheriffs and Constables--Liability on Bond--Wrongful Act of Deputy.
A sheriff and his bondsmen are not answerable for the wrongful acts of his deputy, unless the deputy was at the time acting within the limits of his official authority.
2. Sheriffs and Constables--Act of Deputy --Scope of Authority.
A deputy sheriff, who flees from the person he is called upon to arrest, to a waiting room in a railway station, fires his revolver through the open door of the room, and kills a member of his own party who was standing on the platform a short distance away, is not acting within the limits of his official authority.
Error from District Court, Lincoln County; Tom D. McKeown, Assigned Judge.
Action by Mrs. America F. McLain for damages for the death of her son, James E. McLain, against George E. Arnold and the National Surety Company. Judgment for the defendants, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.
Erwin & Erwin, for plaintiff in error.
Streeter Speakman, N. B. Maxey, and Kelly Brown, for defendants in error.
¶1 On the afternoon of the 24th day of July, 1915, a negro by the name of Kid Henderson robbed another negro of a revolver. This crime was reported to one L. H. Mitchell, a deputy sheriff at Wellston, Okla., who called together a posse of four other men and proceeded to the Frisco depot at Wellston for the purpose of finding and arresting Henderson. When they reached the depot, Henderson was there, and one of the posse who knew Henderson engaged the latter in conversation and signaled to Mitchell that Henderson was the man wanted. Instead of attempting to arrest Henderson, Mitchell walked by him fumbling at his trouser pocket in which he had a revolver; some one called out that Henderson was going to shoot, and the terror-stricken officer made a mad dash back to the depot into the negro waiting room, drew his revolver, reached around one of his friends who had followed him into the room, fired through the open door of the waiting room, and killed James E. McLain, a member of his own party, who was standing on the platform of the depot. For this killing by the deputy sheriff, the mother of the deceased brought this action against the sheriff and his bondsmen. The jury returned a verdict for the defendants, and from the judgment in their favor the plaintiff prosecutes error.
¶2 Numerous assignments of error are urged by plaintiff in error; but we are of the opinion that it is only necessary to determine one question in this case, and that is whether or not the sheriff is liable for the...
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