Opinion
December 2, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (Robbins, J.).
Ordered that the orders are reversed, on the law, with one bill of costs, and the motions are denied.
The plaintiff Matthew Iaccarino, a New York City Police Officer, was injured when he fell over demolition debris while chasing a burglary suspect. He commenced this action, alleging that the defendants negligently allowed a dangerous condition to arise by permitting demolition debris to accumulate without posting adequate barriers or warnings. The Supreme Court concluded that the action was barred by the "fireman's rule" (see, Santangelo v State of New York, 71 N.Y.2d 393, 397), and granted each of the defendants' motions for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. This was error.
Police officers are not precluded from recovering damages in all cases where they are injured in the line of duty. The determinative factor in deciding whether recovery is precluded is "the degree of separation between the negligent act directly causing the injury and the act which occasioned the police officer's services" (Starkey v Trancamp Contr. Corp., 152 A.D.2d 358, 361). Because services of the plaintiff police officer in attempting to apprehend a burglary suspect were distinct and separate from the defendants' alleged negligent maintenance of the premises, the action was not barred by the "fireman's rule" (see, Brofsky v City of New York, 172 A.D.2d 640; Zigo v 1172 Anderson Corp., 171 A.D.2d 789; Magness v Glandorf, 171 A.D.2d 652; Murphy v Creative Foods Corp., 170 A.D.2d 441). Thompson, J.P., Bracken, Sullivan and Lawrence, JJ., concur.