LANCASTER — A lawsuit blaming two city police officers for the death of a man during a police chase in 2009 has been dismissed.
Garrard Circuit Judge Hunter Daugherty sided with officers William Lake and Tim Royce in granting a summary judgment dismissing a lawsuit filed by Carol and Kenneth Plummer, whose son, Brandon Plummer, died a head-on collision on Fall Lick Road.
Brandon Plummer, 21, was killed when Carlos Cunningham — who was being pursued by the officers at a high rate of speed — crashed into his pickup truck. Cunningham also died in the collision. Alcohol was a factor in the crash, police said.
In the lawsuit, Plummer’s parents alleged that Lake and Royce were careless and negligent in their pursuit of Cunningham and violated the department’s rules for officer chases.
The officers were driving at speeds of up to 80 mph and estimated that Cunningham topped 100 mph, according to the complaint.
Much of the chase was captured by a video camera in Royce’s police cruiser and lasted just longer than two minutes.
The two officers began looking for Cunningham’s vehicle after 911 callers reported his teal sedan was weaving in and out of traffic and driving on the wrong side of the road. They first pursued him along Ky. 39, where he turned around in a driveway and the chase began in earnest, with sirens and flashing lights.
Both officers lost eye contact with Cunningham’s vehicle and reduced their speed until they came upon the crash in a sharp curve on Fall Lick Road.
Daugherty ruled that the officers began the pursuit at their discretion appropriately because, based on the 911 calls, Cunningham was posing a danger to others on the roadway.
Their actions did not violate the department’s pursuit policy, the judge ruled.
Daugherty also noted that neither of officers’ vehicles were involved in the crash and they “cannot be held to have caused the accident.”
