[Pearls Before Swine]

General question: Putting aside any problems of necessity here, if the police damage a bystander’s property (let’s say inanimate property for the sake of the question), does the town reimburse the bystander?

[chrisinoc]

In many cities, if the police (or other city employee or contractor) damage a bystander’s property the person would have to file a claim with the city. Almost always it is denied, in which the person would have to sue the city for damages or settle out of court.

[Uncle Chip]

Not sure how that works. But I do know that that is why they eliminated police pursuits in many communities.

The police, hyped up on too many Starsky and Hutch chase scenes, would do whatever it took to catch the fleeing suspect, destroying anything, crashing into any car, putting pedestrian lives at risk just to catch a fleeing suspect. The ends justified the means in police pursuits.

Then the insurance companies got involved and asked why the police think that it is prudent to cause $80,000 in property damage in order to capture someone who just stole $500. After some thought, all the chase nonsense stopped, and Starsky and Hutch was cancelled [except for occasional reruns]. Amen.