Can You Sue the Police for Negligence in California?

Not every police case is about an officer who meant to hurt someone. Some of the worst injuries I see come from carelessness: a deputy who ran a red light with no lights or siren, officers who rushed into a mental health call and created the very danger they then shot their way out of, a jailer who ignored a man begging for help. California law has a word for that. It is negligence, and in many cases you can sue for it.

People call me after being told “you can’t sue the police for a mistake.” That is half right. The law protects some police decisions completely. It protects others not at all. Knowing which is which is the whole case.

When police negligence is actionable

Careless tactics before force is used

In Hayes v. County of San Diego (2013), the California Supreme Court held that officers’ tactical conduct and decisions leading up to a use of deadly force can be part of a negligence claim. The question is whether the whole course of conduct was reasonable, not just the final moment. This matters most in mental health crisis calls and welfare checks, where officers often escalate a situation they were called to calm.

Patrol car crashes

Under Vehicle Code section 17001, a public entity is liable for death or injury caused by an employee’s negligent operation of a motor vehicle in the scope of employment. If a deputy or officer crashes into you, you can generally sue the agency the same way you would sue any driver. One important exception: during vehicle pursuits, an agency that adopts and trains on a qualifying pursuit policy is immune for injuries caused by the fleeing suspect’s car (Vehicle Code section 17004.7). That immunity does not cover a crash caused by the officer’s own driving.

Failing to get medical care for someone in custody

Government Code section 845.6 makes an officer and the agency liable when the officer knows, or has reason to know, that a prisoner needs immediate medical care and fails to take reasonable action to summon it. This is one of the most important statutes in jail and in-custody death cases.

Mishandling someone during arrest or transport

Once police take a person into custody, they control that person’s safety. Careless handling, such as transporting someone unbelted and unable to brace themselves, can support a negligence claim alongside any civil rights claims.

When the law protects police from negligence claims

California starts from the opposite direction: a public entity is not liable unless a statute says it is (Government Code section 815). Several immunities matter in police cases:

• Failure to provide police protection. No liability for failing to provide police protection, or enough of it (Government Code section 845).
• Failure to arrest. No liability for injury caused by failing to make an arrest or to keep an arrested person in custody (Government Code section 846).
• Discretionary decisions. Officers are immune for injuries resulting from the exercise of discretion vested in them (Government Code section 820.2). Courts read this narrowly, for basic policy decisions rather than everyday operational choices.
• Enforcing the law with due care. An officer acting with due care in enforcing a law is not liable, but that rule expressly does not protect against false arrest or false imprisonment (Government Code section 820.4).
• No general duty to protect. Police usually owe no duty to protect you from a third person unless they created a special relationship, for example by taking charge of the situation or making specific promises you relied on (Williams v. State of California, 1983; Zelig v. County of Los Angeles, 2002).

That last rule is why “can I sue the police for not investigating my case?” usually has a frustrating answer. Absent a special relationship or a separate rights violation, police generally cannot be sued for how they handled, or failed to handle, a report.

Negligence vs. a civil rights claim

Negligence is a state claim. Federal civil rights law under section 1983 does not cover mere negligence; the U.S. Supreme Court held that a negligent act does not “deprive” someone of due process (Daniels v. Williams, 1986). That is why we usually plead both: civil rights claims for intentional or unreasonable conduct, and negligence for the careless decisions around it. If one theory fails, the other may not. Our guide to suing the police in California explains how the claims fit together.

How we prove a police negligence case

Negligence cases turn on the standard of care: what a reasonable officer, trained the way California officers are trained, would have done in the same situation. To prove it, we usually build the case around four things.

• The department’s own policies and training materials. When officers ignore their own rules on crisis calls, pursuits, or medical emergencies, the policy becomes the evidence.
• Video and audio. Body camera footage and dispatch recordings show what the officers knew and when they knew it.
• An expert on police practices who can explain to a jury what reasonable officers do differently.
• Medical evidence connecting the careless conduct to the injury, especially in custody and medical-care cases.

California also applies comparative fault. If the injured person shares some responsibility, damages are reduced by that percentage, not eliminated. Departments often argue the injured person caused the situation; the evidence is how we answer that.

Deadlines

Because negligence is a state-law claim against a public entity, a government claim is generally due within six months of the incident, and the lawsuit follows after the claim is rejected. Read How Long Do You Have to Sue the Police? before you wait on anything.

What to do if police negligence hurt you

• Get medical care and keep every record.
• Write down the date, time, location, officers’ names or badge numbers, and patrol car numbers.
• Save video and photos, and identify witnesses.
• Request the crash report or incident report.
• Do not sign anything from the city, county, or its insurer before talking to a lawyer.
• Speak with a civil rights attorney well before the six-month mark.