Opinion
July 11, 1983
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Herkimer County, McLaughlin, J.
Present — Dillon, P.J., Doerr, Denman, Boomer and Schnepp, JJ.
Order unanimously reversed, without costs, motion granted, and complaint dismissed as against defendant Village of Mohawk. Memorandum: In this action wherein plaintiff alleges an assault perpetrated on him by a third person in plain view of a police officer of defendant village, Special Term erred in failing to grant defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a cause of action (CPLR 3211, subd [a], par 7). A municipality may not be held liable in damages for failure to furnish adequate police protection to specific individuals such as plaintiff ( Riss v City of New York, 22 N.Y.2d 579) unless plaintiff can show that the police owed a special duty to him or that they induced reliance, to his detriment ( Malerba v Incorporated Vil. of Huntington Bay, 78 A.D.2d 899, affd 54 N.Y.2d 863; Zibbon v Town of Cheektowaga, 51 A.D.2d 448, app dsmd 39 N.Y.2d 1056). While the refusal of the police to render assistance can have serious effects, as it did herein on plaintiff, under the state of existing law the complaint does not state sufficient facts to spell out a cause of action against the Village of Mohawk.