Moore v. Crocker
Citation | 852 So.2d 89 |
Parties | Jerry MOORE v. Clyde CROCKER. |
Decision Date | 12 April 2002 |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Robert H. Turner, Jr., Marion, for appellant.
James W. Porter II and Robert D. Henry of Porter, Porter & Hassinger, P.C., Birmingham, for appellee.
The plaintiff Jerry Moore appeals a summary judgment in favor of the defendant Clyde Crocker, a police officer of the City of Brent, located in Bibb County. Moore sued Crocker and others for torts allegedly committed in arresting Moore without a warrant at Moore's home in Marion in Perry County, transporting him to Brent, and jailing him there overnight without charging him. Moore asserted, among other theories, assault and false imprisonment. Crocker asserted, among other defenses, peace officers' immunity pursuant to § 6-5-338, Ala.Code 1975. We reverse and remand.
The order by the trial court states the operative facts and reveals the dispositive issue:
The place of the arrest, Marion in Perry County, is over 20 miles from the City of Brent in Bibb County, and is outside the police jurisdiction of the City of Brent, which employed Crocker as a police officer.
Section 6-5-338, Ala.Code 1975, invoked by Crocker, provides in pertinent part:
"(a) Every peace officer ... shall at all times be deemed to be officers of this state, and as such shall have immunity from tort liability arising out of his or her conduct in performance of any discretionary function within the line and scope of his or her law enforcement duties."
This statute, by its terms, extends state-agent immunity to peace officers performing discretionary functions within the line and scope of their law-enforcement duties. Our plurality decision of Ex parte Cranman, 792 So.2d 392 (Ala.2000), adopted by a majority of this Court in Ex parte Butts, 775 So.2d 173 (Ala.2000), and Ex parte Rizk, 791 So.2d 911 (Ala.2000), restated the law of state-agent immunity in Alabama. Cranman reads, in pertinent part:
Ex parte Cranman, 792 So.2d at 405 ( ). In Newton v. Town of Columbia, 695 So.2d 1213, 1217 (Ala.Civ.App.1997), our Court of Civil Appeals aptly held:
Section 15-10-1, Ala.Code 1975, restricts a police officer's authority to arrest to the limits of the county containing the city or town which employs the police officer:
Crocker cannot rely on Rule 3.3, Ala. R.Crim. P., for his authority to arrest Moore without a warrant outside the limits of Bibb County, where the City of Brent is located. Rule 3.3 reads:
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