OCEAN CITY — A civil suit filed by the family of a local man struck and killed by a police vehicle no longer includes the Town of Ocean City, but remains open against the other named plaintiffs in the case.
In October of 2017, Thomas Lawlor, 57, of Ocean City, attempted to cross Coastal Highway at 76th Street from west to east when he was struck by an unmarked Maryland State Police (MSP) cruiser allegedly traveling at a high rate of speed in response to another incident. Lawlor was struck by the MSP cruiser operated by Trooper James Price as he crossed the northbound lanes of Coastal Highway at 67th Street and ultimately succumbed to injuries sustained in the collision.
The decedent’s wife, Rennae Lawlor, of Lewes, Del., and her two sons filed suit in U.S. District Court, naming Price, the MSP, the state of Maryland and the town of Ocean City as defendants. Price was named in the six-count suit for his alleged negligence leading up to the fatal collision, while the other defendants were named for their various alleged roles in the tragedy.
The complaint was later dismissed in U.S. District Court over jurisdiction issues. The victim’s family then filed a similar complaint in Worcester County Circuit Court naming the same defendants, including the town of Ocean City, Price, the MSP and the state of Maryland. The suit is seeking in excess of $75,000 in damages, to be determined by the court, for six separate counts. The counts included negligence, gross negligence, negligence in hiring and retention, a wrongful death claim, a survivor claim and, finally, a respondent superior claim.
The Town of Ocean City subsequently filed a motion to dismiss it as a defendant in the case. This week, a Worcester County Circuit Court judge dismissed the town as a defendant in the case. However, the civil suit will continue against the other named defendants in the case. Ocean City Attorney Bruce Bright confirmed the dismissal this week.
“The case has been dismissed as to Ocean City, but remains pending against the state defendants,” he said. “Ocean City sought dismissal through a motion, but before the court had ruled on that request, and based on the record as it was developed, the plaintiffs’ voluntarily dismissed the case, with prejudice, as to the city.”
According to the suit filed in March 2020 in Worcester County Circuit Court, the defendant Price was traveling at a high rate of speed in his unmarked police cruiser without having the vehicle’s emergency lights or siren activated. The suit also alleges Price was looking down and not at the roadway in front of him just prior to the collision.
“The defendant was traveling at an excessive speed at all times leading up to and at the time of the crash, and at the time of the crash was traveling at least 22 miles per hour over the speed limit,” the complaint reads. “Based on information and belief, the defendant was looking down in his vehicle during his approach to Mr. Lawlor, not at the roadway directly in front of him. Mr. Lawlor had crossed into the right northbound lane when the defendant swerved and smashed into Mr. Lawlor, sending him flying into the air and then crashing down into the pavement.”
The complaint alleges the other defendants, which no longer includes Ocean City, of allegedly knowing of dangers of the motor vehicle event and taking the appropriate action to train and deploy its allied law enforcement officers, and for negligently entrusting the vehicle to the trooper when they had reason to believe it could be used in a high-speed activity during an event where vehicles intermingle with heavy pedestrian traffic.
