Appeals Court revives lawsuit against Highway Patrol trooper who caused fatal crash

The North Carolina Court of Appeals will allow the mother of an East Carolina University student killed in a 2020 car crash to pursue a lawsuit against the State Highway Patrol trooper who caused the accident.

The 2-1 Appeals Court decision Wednesday reversed a trial judge’s ruling  favoring Trooper Omar Romero Mendoza.

Michael Higgins was a 22-year-old ECU student majoring in criminal justice and security studies when he started an internship with the Highway Patrol in August 2020, according to the Appeals Court’s majority opinion. After two successful ride-alongs with troopers, Higgins took part in a third with the defendant trooper, referred to as both Romero and Mendoza in the court document.

While engaging in a high-speed chase pursuing a suspected drunk driver with Higgins in his car, Romero sped through a curve, and his “cruiser veered sideways off the roadway, knocking down a utility pole and fence and ultimately colliding with two trees on the passenger side of the vehicle. Michael died a result of the injuries suffered during the crash,” wrote Appeals Court Judge John Arrowood.

A Highway Patrol report showed that Romero was driving 113 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone.

Lisa Higgins filed suit in April 2022, accusing Romero and a fellow trooper of “gross negligence and willful or wanton conduct,” according to the Appeals Court opinion. A trial judge granted a motion for summary judgment favoring Romero in July 2023.

“The evidence and testimony before the trial court indicates at minimum a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant Romero’s actions rise to the level of gross negligence,” Arrowood wrote. “Defendant Romero engaged in a chase at an unnecessarily high speed with reckless disregard for the safety of Michael, his student intern passenger.”

“It should be for the jury to determine whether defendant Romero’s actions were needless or manifested a reckless indifference to the rights of Michael,” Arrowood added. “Accordingly, it was improper for the trial court to grant summary judgment in defendant Romero’s favor, and we reverse the order and remand for further proceedings.”

Judge Allegra Collins joined Arrowood’s opinion. Both judges are Democrats.

Chief Judge Chris Dillon, a Republican, dissented.

“Based on the jurisprudence of our Supreme Court and our Court, I conclude that the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiff does not show that Defendant Romero Mendoza acted with gross negligence when he crashed his patrol car while in pursuit of a suspected drunk driver resulting in the death of Michael S. Higgins (a passenger in Trooper Mendoza’s patrol car). Therefore, I conclude the trial court did not err in granting Trooper Mendoza summary judgment on the claims by the administrator of Mr. Higgins’ estate against him,” Dillon wrote.

Romero was entitled to public official immunity unless his acts involved “gross negligence,” Dillon noted. “Our Supreme Court in Parish [a 1999 precedent] cited several cases to demonstrate that the burden of an injured plaintiff to show ‘gross negligence’ on the part of that officer in pursuit of a suspect is particularly high.”

“[N]either Plaintiff nor the majority in this case has cited a North Carolina case where a police officer was held personally liable for injuries sustained by a third party due to the officer crashing his car while in hot pursuit of a suspect,” Dillon wrote.

“The evidence in the present case, when viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, showed that Defendant’s acts in pursuing a suspected drunk driver was risky: (1) Defendant’s blue lights and siren were turned on; (2) Defendant’s actions directly and independently caused a collision; (3) Defendant admitted that he ‘drove [his] cruiser at a speed and in a manner such that [he was] unable to maintain proper control’ of his vehicle and he only had one hand on the steering wheel; (4) Defendant violated the policies of NCSHP, as the Internal Affairs report shows, both by taking Michael Higgins as a passenger to this pursuit, and by engaging in the pursuit in the manner which he did; and finally, (5) Defendant’s speed was 113 mph in a 55 mph zone,” the dissent explained.

“However, based on our jurisprudence, though the manner Trooper Mendoza exercised his discretion in his pursuit of the suspected drunk driver may have been negligent, it did not rise to the level of ‘wanton conduct,’ done with ‘corruption or malice.’ Accordingly, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for Trooper Mendoza in his individual capacity,” Dillon wrote.

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