Apartment owners not liable for guard's actions

A ruling Tuesday by the Minnesota Court of Appeals made it clear that the owners of Skyline Tower in St. Paul can't be held liable for a shooting by a private security guard in the apartment building's parking lot. The incident left a teenager suspected of theft permanently paralyzed.

The ruling, however, did not resolve the criminal case against the guard, Timothy Engle, or the lawsuit filed by shooting victim Hussein Musse and his family against Engle and his former employer, Wolf Protective Agency.

The case stems from an incident on Nov. 3, 2003, outside Skyline Tower, 1247 St. Anthony Av. Engle, 25, and another armed guard chased Musse, then 15, through the parking lot after he was believed to have stolen a car stereo.

The teenager jumped into a stolen car and accelerated backward, sideswiping Engle's leg, according to court documents. Engle pulled his gun and ordered Musse out of the car. A scuffle ensued, Engle fell on his back with the teen on top of him and the gun discharged.

Musse was hit in the back and paralyzed from the waist down. He was never charged with a crime.

Engle waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted in 2005 by Ramsey County District Judge George Stephenson of recklessly discharging a firearm within a municipality. An appeal followed, and in January the state Supreme Court returned the case to the District Court for another look.

Engle's attorney, Steven Meshbesher, submitted motions for a judgment of acquittal or, alternately, to reopen the case to submit additional evidence. Stephenson denied that motion in March; Meshbesher said he plans an appeal.

Musse's attorney argued in part that because Engle and other guards were asked by Skyline to deliver mail to residents and deal with some maintenance issues, the agency was, in fact, an agent of Skyline and was liable.

The court said, however, "Here, the undisputed facts in the record show that while Skyline ... did have some level of control over Wolf and the actions of its security officers, that control was limited to what duties the security officers were to perform and not how they performed those duties."

A jury trial on the lawsuit against Engle and Wolf had been scheduled for September but has been postponed until the criminal case is resolved, said Patrick Elliott, Engle's attorney on the civil matter.