Snow v. Harder
| Decision Date | 21 February 1974 |
| Citation | 352 N.Y.S.2d 523,43 A.D.2d 1003 |
| Parties | Alan SNOW, an infant, by Anna Snow, his parent, Appellant, v. David E. HARDER, Defendant, and County of Broome, New York, Respondent. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
William H. Johnson, Jr., Binghamton (Philip C. Johnson, Binghamton, of counsel), for appellant.
Night, Keller, O'Connor, Ball & McDonough, Binghamton (Thomas F. O'Connor, Binghamton, of counsel), for respondent.
Before HERLIHY, P.J., and COOKE, SWEENEY, KANE and MAIN, JJ.
Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court at Special Term, entered October 26, 1973 in Broome County, which dismissed the complaint against the defendant County of Broome for failure to state a cause of action.
The infant plaintiff's action is one for false arrest. He alleges, in substance, that while in a shop in the Town of Conklin he was requested by defendant Harder, a Deputy Sheriff of Broome County, to accompany him to his patrol car; that he was later taken to the Sheriff's office at the County Jail where he was interrogated about alleged criminal activities involving illegal drugs; and that, after being detained for approximately four and a half hours, he was released from custody without being formally charged. The defendant County moved to dismiss the complaint and Special Term granted the motion on the basis of section 13 (subd. (a)) of article XIII of the New York State Constitution which provides, in part, '(b)ut the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the sheriff.'
The precise issue for our determination is whether this constitutional mandate exempts the County from liability for a false arrest committed by a Deputy Sheriff in the performance of his official duty.
Plaintiff contends, among other things, that the immunity afforded the Sheriff by the Constitution should not be extended to a Deputy Sheriff. Acknowledging that while there is some precedent for the extension of such immunity, he argues that recent court decisions have eroded the principle to such an extent that a doubt is raised as to whether it ever did, in fact, exist. With this contention we do not agree.
Our courts have repeatedly held that the County is not responsible for the acts of the Sheriff or his deputy. (Foyster v. Tutuska, 25 A.D.2d 940, 270 N.Y.S.2d 535; Isereau v. Stone, 3 A.D.2d 243, 160 N.Y.S.2d 336; Edwards v. County of Onondaga, 39 Misc.2d 443, 240 N.Y.S.2d 789.) We believe that this conclusion is...
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