Texas Cop Chases Prostitution Suspect, Causes Car Accident, Gets Immunity
Houston police officer Ricardo Corral is not legally liable for crashing his police cruiser into another vehicle, the Texas Supreme Court ruled last week. After all, he was in hot pursuit of someone apparently considered a dangerous villain: an adult man who sought to pay a consenting adult woman for sex.
During a prostitution sting in 2019, Corral “made a wide turn from the middle lane,” per Houston Public Media. He subsequently crashed into a truck containing two passengers, including driver Ruben Rodriguez.
Rodriguez sued, alleging both he and his passenger suffered injuries for which Corral should be held liable.
Now the Texas Supreme Court has dismissed the case, saying Corral is protected by “official immunity,” a “common-law affirmative defense” under which authorities are shielded from legal repercussions for actions performed “in good faith” and “within the scope of their authority.”
‘In the Heat of a High-Speed Pursuit’
In this case, Corral was “acting in good faith when he executed the turn and collided with the bystander’s truck,” the court determined. Because of this, and because bad driving is part of police chases, he is not legally liable for the accident he caused.
“It bears emphasizing that what may be unreasonable in one context could be justifiable in another, especially in the heat of a high-speed pursuit when officers must make split-second decisions under intense pressure,” wrote Justice John Devine in the court’s December 31 opinion.
This would all be unremarkable if Corral was speeding after a dangerous criminal—someone wanted for, say, murder or violent assault. Likewise if he was rushing to get to the scene of crime where time was of the essence in order to protect potential victims.
But in this case, Corral’s reckless chase was in pursuit of someone suspected of soliciting prostitution. The whole business was kicked off by the suspect offering to pay an undercover female cop posing as an adult sex worker.
Police put in danger the lives of countless people in order to arrest someone for trying to have consensual but non-state-sanctioned sex.
This is bonkers.
Ruling ‘Should Not Be Construed as Sanctioning…a High-Speed Chase’ To Catch Prostitution Suspects
The Texas Supreme Court’s ruling also serves as yet another reminder of how immunity doctrines often shield cops from the consequences of their own bad or reckless decisions. Here we have a cop who felt justified in endangering innocent people in order to catch someone suspected of a completely victimless and nonviolent crime.
At least one judge acknowledged that the circumstances here were a bit dodgy, while still concurring in the majority’s opinion. In a separate opinion, Ju
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