Ex parte City of Montgomery and Shelton Davis, [Ms. SC-2024-0547, Apr. 25, 2025] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2025). The Court (Shaw, J.; Stewart, C.J., and Bryan, Sellers, Mendheim, Mitchell, Cook, and McCool, JJ., concur; Wise, J., recuses) issues a writ of mandamus, holding that a police officer and the City of Montgomery were entitled to immunity from tort claims arising out of a vehicle collision during a high-speed pursuit.
While pursuing a fleeing suspect in response to a woman’s report of an attempted murder, Officer Shelton Davis’s patrol vehicle collided with Madilyn Shuford’s vehicle in an intersection. Shuford sued Davis and the City for negligence and wantonness.
The Court holds that Davis was performing discretionary law-enforcement duties under § 6-5-338(a), Ala. Code 1975, and therefore presumptively entitled to immunity. The Court finds no substantial evidence that Davis acted with willfulness or in bad faith, nor that he violated statutory requirements under § 32-5A-7, which governs emergency vehicle operation. Davis had activated his lights and sirens, slowed at the red light, and proceeded through the intersection cautiously. Body camera footage and contemporaneous reports corroborated his account. Ms. **5-9, 14-17.