Phyllis Oberkramer v. City Ellisville

Plaintiffs, the widow and minor children of a Des Peres police officer, brought this action for wrongful death against seven named defendants including three municipalities, the Cities of Ellisville, Ballwin and Manchester. Plaintiffs filed separate causes of action against each defendant in two counts. One count was filed by the widow and the second count filed by 1 the minor children. The trial court dismissed with prejudice the causes of action against the municipal defendants. The counts filed by the widow were dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and the counts filed by the children were dismissed as an improper splitting of a single cause of action. The trial court certified its ruling as a final and appealable order. Plaintiffs appeal. We affirm the dismissal of the counts brought by the children and reverse and remand the dismissal of the counts brought by the widow. According to plaintiffs' allegations, at approximately 3:40 a.m. on December 24, 1978, Officer John Franey of the Ellisville Police Department approached a white Chevrolet stopped at an electric traffic signal at the intersection of Clarkson and Manchester Roads in St. Louis County. Officer Franey was on duty at the time and was driving a police department vehicle. The white Chevrolet was occupied by three juveniles, aged 13-15. As he approached to investigate, Officer Franey activated the police vehicle's flashing red lights. The Chevrolet violated the electric traffic signal and proceeded at high speed eastward on Manchester Road. Officer Franey commenced pursuit of the white Chevrolet and the vehicles quickly obtained speeds in excess of 100 m.p.h. As the chase continued eastward on Manchester Road, officers from the cities of Manchester and Ballwin entered the pursuit driving police department vehicles. Upon hearing that the pursuit was approaching his jurisdiction, Officer John Oberkramer placed his police vehicle astride the eastbound lanes of Manchester Road, just east of Des Peres Road and then stook in the westbound lanes some 100 feet east of the roadblock. As the white Chevrolet approached the roadblock at high speed it veered out of control, crossed the median and struck Officer Oberkramer. Officer Oberkramer died as a result of the injuries suffered in this accident.