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Texas city allowed to fire officer for high-speed chase with civilian passenger, state justices rule

Dallas Police vehicle makes its way down a street Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Dallas.
Yfat Yossifor
/
KERA
Dallas Police vehicle makes its way down a street Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Dallas.

A small Texas city in Leon County had the right to fire a police officer who crashed during a high-speed chase with a civilian in the car, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.

But justices still ordered a lower court to consider whether the city of Buffalo, Texas went about the disciplinary process incorrectly.

Under the Texas Local Government Code, the Buffalo City Council had the authority to oversee the particulars of former police officer Gregory Moliere’s employment — such as firing him — and did not act beyond the city’s authority, the justices ruled.

“Moliere cannot dispute that he had been subjected to discipline for conduct that could have exposed the municipality to substantial liability; he did not contest it,” the court’s opinion reads. “(T)he City Council had the authority to respond as it did.”

Moliere was a police officer in Buffalo, a city just an hour east of Waco, in December 2020 when he led a high-speed chase while a civilian was riding along with him. That directly violated department policies. It's not clear from Texas Supreme Court records why the civilian was in the vehicle.

The chase ended in a crash that the city says damaged the police car Moliere was driving, though neither was injured.

Breaking policy

High-speed chases have come under scrutiny for the danger they pose to the pursuing officer, the suspect and the public following the deaths of two people in the span of a month in Fort Worth last year during police chases.

Policies for such pursuits vary depending on the jurisdiction, and some departments don't release their policies at all. The 2009 police pursuit policy for the Buffalo Police Department required officers to stop pursuing a driver when the risk of harm outweighs the seriousness of a crime, similar to some pursuit policies for other departments across the state.

Police Chief Lloyd Lance Pavelka gave Moliere a written reprimand noting the officer started a high-speed chase over a minor infraction, a letter Moliere acknowledged and did not appeal, according to court records. Pavelka stated in an affidavit he had no intention of firing Moliere.

But the Buffalo City Council met in executive session a couple weeks later to discuss Moliere’s employment and ultimately voted to fire him. Pavelka indicated in his affidavit that before that day, the city council had never done that while he was chief.

Moliere sued the city and Mayor Jerrod Jones in 2021, arguing council members didn’t have the authority to fire him, only the police chief does. The Buffalo City Council — according to Moliere's interpretation of the Local Government Code — is required to adopt an ordinance giving itself the explicit authority to fire a police officer.

Moliere is represented by the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, a statewide group that provides legal representation for officers.

Governmental immunity

The trial court ruled the city was protected by governmental immunity and dismissed the case.

Governmental immunity, which protects political subdivisions of the state from being sued and from being liable to pay money damages, has come into the spotlight recently in Dallas after a group called Dallas HERO successfully made an effort to bar its use when residents sue the city for violating the charter, local ordinances or state law.

The controversial Proposition S passed during the November election, and Dallas HERO is currently using it to threaten to sue the city for not banning homeless encampments.

In the case of Moliere, the 10th Court of Appeals in Waco reversed the trial court's decision, finding the former officer posed a valid question of whether the council even had the authority to fire him because it was unclear whether it was the police department’s policies or the city of Buffalo’s employment manual that governed established the rules of Moliere’s employment.

That took governmental immunity off the table, and the 10th Court of Appeals agreed with Moliere that the city has to specifically pass an ordinance that authorizes the city council to fire officers.

But the Texas Supreme Court ruled that was wrong Friday. The Buffalo City Council is allowed to “establish and regulate” a city police force and appoint officers as needed, which the high court said implied the city council can hire and fire as it wishes. The court ruled a city ordinance passed in 2018 also gives Buffalo authority over employment.

Therefore, Moliere didn't bring a valid claim against the city and governmental immunity protects it.

What’s still in question is a separate claim — whether the city council violated Moliere’s due process rights by not correctly following the police department’s disciplinary procedures and the rules governing complaints against police officers under state law.

That issue will go back before the court of appeals in Waco.

An attorney for Moliere was not immediately available for comment. Attorneys for the city of Buffalo did not respond to a request for comment.

Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X @tosibamowo.

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Copyright 2024 KERA

Toluwani Osibamowo