City not liable for fatality caused by off-duty police officer
Jimmy Hall was driving a riding lawn mower on a roadway and was pulling a small trailer, when an off-duty police officer Jonathan Purifoy (employed by the City of Balch Springs, who was authorized to be in a city patrol vehicle was speeding, in route to a part time job at Wal-Mart), struck Mr. Hall in the rear and killed Mr. Hall. Suit was filed and the Dallas Court of Appeals in the June 10, 2010 decision in City of Balch Springs v. Hall, held that the City of Balch Springs was immune from suit based upon governmental immunity, because officer Purifoy was not acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the collision (i.e. the officer was not discharging a duty generally assigned to him by his government employer).