A police officer who caused a fatal accident by driving at reckless speeds to catch a driver for a routine traffic stop, and who later pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, cannot be sued by the surviving victim under a state-created danger theory—but the outcome will be different in similar cases going forward, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Tuesday held 2-1 that ex-Nesquehoning police officer Stephen Homanko was entitled to qualified immunity and could not be held constitutionally liable by the driver whose wife he killed, plaintiff Michael Sauers.