WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices, hearing arguments on high-speed police chases, signaled Monday that they were likely to shield officers from being sued for ramming a fleeing car and forcing it off the road.
Most of the justices said a speeding car posed an extraordinary danger to other motorists and might justify the use of force to stop the fleeing suspect.
The case has drawn wide attention because of continuing controversy over high-speed police pursuits, in California and elsewhere.
In the case before the court, a fleeing 19-year-old sped a Cadillac through red lights and raced at more than 90 mph on a two-lane road in rural Georgia. He was paralyzed after a police cruiser hit his car and sent it careening over an embankment.
It was "the scariest chase I ever saw since 'The French Connection,' " said Justice Antonin Scalia, describing the police videotape of the chase that was supplied to the court. "It was frightening.... Cars coming in the opposite direction, at night, on a two-lane winding road."
Several other justices said they too had watched the videotape and were convinced police had acted reasonably when they decided to force the fleeing car off the road.
Over the last decade, most police departments have adopted guidelines to limit these chases because of the danger they pose. Nonetheless, more than 300 people a year die because of high-speed pursuits -- most of them the fleeing motorists, but a substantial number of them bystanders.
Eight years ago, the Supreme Court shielded police from federal lawsuits for recklessly chasing a fleeing motorist. But it left open the possibility of suits against officers who used force to stop a car.
That was the issue the court heard Monday. Victor Harris, the paralyzed driver, sued Coweta County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Scott, alleging that ramming his car amounted to excessive force.
The chase began after dark in March 2001. Harris was clocked going 73 mph on a highway where the speed limit was 55. But when a police officer flashed his blue light, Harris sped away. He was pursued through the parking lot of a small shopping center, where his car and a police car collided.
Undeterred, Harris raced down a winding road, ran red lights, and swerved back and forth across the lanes to avoid other cars.
"Go ahead and take him out," a police supervisor radioed to Scott. To stop Harris, the deputy rammed the rear bumper of the Cadillac, sending it off the road.
