Colorado Politics reported Thursday that a federal judge ruled a Kiowa County deputy and the sheriff’s office can be sued following a fatal vehicle collision in May 2022, despite typical governmental immunity protections. Judge Charlotte Sweeney determined the county did not meet requirements for immunity due to concerns about the placement of emergency lights on Deputy Jacob Marlow's vehicle. Marlow is now the Kiowa County Undersheriff.

The lawsuit, filed by Dale and Anna Murphy of Oklahoma, along with Dale’s mother Donna - who was killed in the crash - alleges negligence on Marlow’s part while responding to a separate incident. The Murphys claim Marlow was traveling at nearly 95 miles per hour when he collided with their car as they turned onto Highway 50 near Lamar.

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While the county argued Marlow acted reasonably and used warning signals, Judge Sweeney found that the deputy's emergency lights – positioned just above the license plate – did not meet state standards requiring them to be “mounted as high as practicable.” This deficiency, she wrote, could have contributed to the accident.

The ruling references a similar case decided by the Colorado Supreme Court, emphasizing that immunity is forfeited if inadequate lighting potentially played a role in a collision. Marlow also filed counterclaims, but these do not negate the issue of improper emergency equipment.

The case will now proceed toward potential trial, focusing on whether Marlow’s actions directly caused the crash and resulting in Donna Murphy's death.

Read the full article at Colorado Politics.

Editor’s note: Portions of this article have been augmented with the assistance of Large Language Models for analysis, with human review, editing, and original material.