Shaw

A police officer, in the process of arresting a prostitute in the parking lot of a motel, is struck and injured by an automobile driven by the prostitute’s customer. The police officer sues, alleging in the alternative that the customer was guilty of negligence and intentional misconduct. Is he barred from recovery by the “fireman’s rule” because the accident occurred in the line of duty? The trial court thought so, and granted summary judgment for the defendant. Aided by subsequently decided authority, we conclude the trial court was wrong.

Plaintiff is a police officer with the Oakland Police Department. At the time of the accident he was assigned to the vice squad, and under orders to arrest prostitutes in the MacArthur Boulevard area of Oakland. In the early morning hours of August 26, 1978, he and his partner, both in plain clothes and in an unmarked patrol car, observed the activities of a suspected prostitute in the area of a motel, and moved in to arrest her. She was sitting in a vehicle which was parked at the motel. Plaintiff removed her from that vehicle, and placed her in the patrol car.

The driver of the vehicle in which the prostitute was sitting was…