California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Toth v. City of Anaheim, No. G041307 (Cal. App. 5/11/2010), No. G041307. (Cal. App. 2010):
A special relationship can be created when "a police officer . . . undertakes to come to the aid of another." (Minch v. California Highway Patrol (2006) 140 Cal.App.4th 895, 905.) In that case, the officer "will be liable if his failure to exercise care increases the risk of harm or the harm is suffered because of the other's reliance on the undertaking." (Ibid.) But this rule is "narrow, to be applied in a limited class of unusual cases. [Citations.] The rule is not triggered `simply because police officers responded to a call for assistance and took some action at the scene.' [Citations.] And it is not enough to assert that the law enforcement officers took control of the situation. [Citation.]" (Ibid.)
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