Police Civil Liability Issues in Touch of Evil - Essay Example

Police Civil Liability Issues in Touch of Evil Movie Police Civil Liability Issues in Touch of Evil Movie Introduction The movie, “Touch of Evil” is an American movie produced in 1958 and directed by Orson Welles. The castings in the movie include Janet Leigh, Akim Tamiroff, Charlton Heston, Marlene Dietrich and Joseph Leign. In the movie police operations and work is seen in different parts. In the movie a car exploded after crossing the Mexico border. The exploration resulted from an implanted bomb. The passengers lost their life and this was a result of police failure to search the car or prevent the perpetrator from planting the bomb. The movie consist many instances in which police are liable to the civilians harm. There are many instances in which the police fail to prevent harm. Plot The movie starts by a man planting a bomb timed to explode at a certain time in a car. There after a man accompanied by a woman (Joi Lansing) enters the car and starts driving ending to American- Mexico border. On there away, drug enforcement officers from the government of Mexico passed the car on foot and they do not take any action. Joi realizes that there is a problem with the car but the drug enforcement officers did not take any action or search the car to notice the bomb. Immediately after crossing the border, the car exploded and killed the occupants. The explosion of a Mexican bomb in America drew attention of Harry Shannon who was the Police Chief, Mike who was interested in investigating the issue and latter Ray Collins (the district attorney) arrived at the scene. A one legged police officer known as Orson Welles also arrived at the scene together with the district attorney. The officers carried out investigation while suspecting Sanchez who happened to be the husband to the daughter of the victim (Joanna). Quinlan and Menzies carried on with the investigation in order to identify the cause of the tragedy. At the end of the movie, Quinlan admitted that he was not genuine but used to plant evidence on people. He admitted the Menzies that the most of the people were innocent but he planted evidence to have them convicted. Quinlan attempts to kill Menzies using the Vargas gun because they had recorded him testifying on the evils which he did instead of doing police work. He manages to shoot Menzies but Menzies shoots him dead before shooting Vargas. At the end of the movie it is noted that Quinlan was preventing investigation by protecting the suspects. Latter Quinlan says that Sanchez had accepted the crime. It is noted that Sanchez was the one who planted the bomb to the car but Quinlan being an investigator was protecting him by planting evidence to innocent people. Joi and the man in the car died innocently. The corrupt Quinlan also died but confessed every evil which he had done secretly. Incidents Involving Police Civic Liability There are more incidents in the movie which holds the police reliable for the death of the innocent people. There are also other instances in which civilians are reliable and should compensate the police for the harm caused. At the beginning of the movie a man plants a bomb in a car. The car ends up exploding after reaching America. The occupants of the car end up dying on the spot. The bomb was planted in Mexico and the Mexican police are reliable for the death of the civilians. On the way the car come across drug enforcement officers from Mexico, and they were not able to detect the bomb or warn the occupants about the bomb (Kappeler, 2006). At the end of the movie an officer (Menzies) dies after knowing the truth about the case. The case involved the bomb and the officer was investigating the person whom had planted the bomb to the car. One of the detectives known as Quinlan knew the truth but did not want to arrest the suspect. The suspect who had confessed the crime was Sanchez. After Menzies discovered the truth, Quinlan shot him but he was also shot by Vargas. In this case Sanchez who is an accomplisher of the murder case is also reliable for the death of the Menzies who died innocently in the line of duty (Kappeler, 2006). Another incident, Vargas is still investigating about the bomb case and a group gangster assaults his wife. He visits the Susie’s motel but he did not find her. Vargas then confronted the gang which had previously attacked his wife. After a while Vargas was informed that Susie was arrested and charged of murder. Susie the owner of the motel was set up by Quinlan. He was then taken to police cell and spent more days their while the motel operation had stopped. It is after the arrest of Susie that the Vargas and Menzies decided to investigate Quinlan because his cane was found in the murder scene. Quinlan had killed Grandi in order to discredit Vargas and flamed Susie. The investigations which were being carried out about the bomb issues made Susie to leave his motel at Mexico and move to a small hotel in America. The cases and corrupt nature of Quinlan made Susie to suffer innocently (Kappeler, 2006). Facts The movie has many incidents in which the cause of action can be attributed to the police involvement. In many instances the police led to the suffering of the victims in the movies. The civilians are also reliable to the harm caused to police in the movie. The police should compensate individuals whose harm or death took place as a result of police failure or negligence (Kappeler, 2006). The police were supposed to safe the occupant of the car from the bomb. The bomb was a timed, and they were in position to prevent the bomb from exploding. The person who planted the bomb did it while there were police officers who were on patrol and they were supposed to have ensured safety of the people in the streets. The drug enforcement officers from Mexico come across the car and failed to search it to identify the bomb. At the border also the border patrol officers allowed the car to cross the border without searching it and they should have identified the bomb. The officers patrolling the streets, the border patrol unit officer and the drug enforcement officers who come across the car were responsible to the death of the occupants. They acted in negligence and they should be held responsible for the death which took place as a result of bomb explosion. They failed to act and the dependants of the victims should claim compensation from the border patrol unit, drug enforcement agencies and the street patrol officers. In the issue police negligence was the cause of the death of the victims (Kappeler, 2006). In another incidence a corrupt officer Quinlan forcefully planted evidence on innocent people to hold them reliable for his mistakes. Innocent Susie is arrested and charged with murder while Quinlan was the accomplisher of the crime. The police did not realize the corrupt nature of Quinlan. The police also did not investigate the issue but they ended up arresting Susie who was innocent. Susie closed his motel leading to loss. The police should compensate Susie for the loss incurred and for arresting her while she did not commit any crime. The corrupt nature of Quinlan who was a police officer led to the suffering of Susie. In this case, since Quinlan died at the end of the movie, the police department should compensate Susie (Kappeler, 2006). Menzies also died at the end of the movie. He tried to find out the truth about the case and Quinlan told him what he was doing. Then after realizing that he can expose the truth, he shot him to death. Sanchez who had planted the bomb to the car had bribed Quinlan to hind evidence. As a result, Menzies discovered the truth which made him to loose his life. This incidence involved the death of a police officer while trying to find out the truth about the bomb and Susie case. As a result, the civilian had made it difficulty for the information to be obtained by bribing Quinlan. Sanchez was involved in murder case after planting the bomb in the car and also his actions led to death of Menzies. Compensation claims should be filed against Sanchez. He should compensate the dependants of officer Menzies since his action together with Quinlan led to his death (Kappeler, 2006). Conclusion In conclusion, the movie has more incidences which show the police civic liability. Some action of the police lead to harm experienced by members of the public. From the movie people should learn that they should involve the police in carrying out search of their properties in order to detect explosives. The police should also be keen while dealing with the public in order to ensure that their action can not amount to negligence after an incident. Reference Kappeler V. E. (2006). Critical Issues in Police Civil Liability, 4th Edition. New York: Waveland Press Read More