Wilson

In this personal injury case, we hold that defendant County of San Diego (County) and its employees did not have a mandatory duty to prevent an adolescent from running away from Polinsky Children’s Center (Polinsky), where he was placed after being taken into protective custody. Because there was no statutory basis to impose negligence liability on the defendants, we affirm summary judgments in their favor.

Factual and Procedural Background

On February 15, 1998, police officers took 13-year-old Michael William Wilson (Michael) to Polinsky after he telephoned 911 and reported that his grandfather, with whom he was living, was drunk and had struck him on the head with the telephone when he was trying to talk to his mother, who was incarcerated.

The following afternoon, Michael telephoned his father in Northern California and asked to be picked up from Polinsky. His father said, “I can’t come and get you right now.” According to the father, he was “in a relationship with a pretty special woman,” was “being pulled . . . between him and her,” and “couldn’t have Michael all the time.” Michael “got mad and said he was going to take off or that he was going to kill himself,…