Peters v. Bellinger
| Citation | 19 Ill.2d 367,166 N.E.2d 581 |
| Decision Date | 31 March 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 35464,35464 |
| Parties | Lawrence H. PETERS, Appellee, v. Jerry BELLINGER et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Philip C. Zimmerly, Champaign, for appellant.
Robert E. Fitzpatrick, Lawrenceville, for appellee.
Plaintiff sued the defendants, city of Bridgeport, and Jerry Bellinger, one of its police officers. Count I claimed damages against the officer for injuries sustained in a beating by the officer, and count II charged the city with negligence in hiring the officer. The jury returned a verdict of $100 upon count I and $6,000 upon count II and judgment was entered on the verdicts. The city filed post trial motions, including a motion in arrest of judgment which was granted. The Appellate Court reversed (22 Ill.App.2d 105, 159 N.E.2d 528) and we granted leave to appeal.
The defendant Bellinger was hired as a policeman on July 1, 1956, by the chief of police for a 30-day trial period. He was sworn in by the mayor and was given a gun, star and blackjack, but no uniform or car. He used his own car without makings except for a revolving red light. On July 20, 1956, he arrested plaintiff and took him to the station just prior to midnight. Plaintiff objected to being locked up and was severely beaten about the head with a blackjack, and kept in jail all night without medical attention. At 7:00 the next morning he was given a medical examination which disclosed marked swelling of the tissues and complete loss of sight in his left eye, the ball of which had ruptured.
The basic issue here is whether a cause of action exists against a city based on the negligence of its officials in the hiring of a policeman where that officer goes berserk and negligently injures another. There seems to be little question that negligence existed in the hiring. No investigation was made of the proposed officer, his past history or record. He had no prior police experience, nor was he given any training or instruction before entering upon his duties. The most casual inquiry would have shown that he had engaged in many street brawls, had been convicted of a felony, and, in fact, was on probation at the time of the incident.
The defense was the immunity with which the courts have clothed municipal and quasi-municipal corporations in the past. Typical of the cases involving the doctrine of governmental immunity of cities is Craig v. City of Charleston, 180 Ill. 154 54 N.E. 184. Oddly enough, the facts of the Craig case are practically identical with the case at bar, even to the loss of an eye...
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Vechiola v. City of Chicago, 64 C 2188.
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Garrison v. Community Consol. School Dist. No. 65
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