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):
The court continued, limiting that general principle, however, by stating that "past cases establish that police officers . . ., like other persons, generally may not be held liable in damages for failing to take affirmative steps to come to the aid of, or prevent an injury to, another person. `As a rule, one has no duty to come to the aid of another. A person who has not created a peril is not liable in tort merely for failure to take affirmative action to assist or protect another unless there is some relationship between them which gives rise to a duty to act.' [Citation.] More specifically, `law enforcement officers, like other members of the public, generally do not have a legal duty to come to the aid of [another] person . . . .' [Citation.]" (Zelig v. County of Los Angeles, supra, 27 Cal.4th at pp. 1128-1129.)
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