A thief crashed a stolen van into a car occupied by Brenda and Ricky Whitlock, both of whom were injured in the crash. The Whitlocks each filed a lawsuit to recover damages for their injuries, naming not only the thief as a defendant, but also the rightful owner of the stolen van, Alvin David Moore, and his friend, Tram Nguyen. The Whitlocks allege that Moore and Nguyen negligently were chasing the thief at the time of the crash and, by their pursuit, actually caused the crash. Moore and Nguyen filed a motion for summary judgment, and when the Whitlocks offered the affidavit of a police officer in opposition to the motion, Moore and Nguyen moved to strike portions of the affidavit. The court below granted both motions. The Whitlocks appeal,1 contending that the court below erred when it granted these motions. We find no error and affirm. The record shows that, while Nguyen was visiting Moore at his home in Stone Mountain on the evening of November 14, 2007, the two friends saw someone stealing Moore’s van, which had been parked in his garage. The van backed out of the driveway and sped away, causing the tires to squeal. Moore and Nguyen lost sight of the van as the thief drove away, so they went out in Moore’s car to try and find the van. Nguyen drove the car in the direction in which the van had gone, while Moore called police from a mobile telephone and reported the theft of his van. When Moore and Nguyen came to the end of the street on which Moore lived, they still could not see the van,2 and they decided to turn left onto a crossroad, guessing that the thief might have gone that way. After driving down this crossroad for some distance, Moore and Nguyen spotted the stolen van, which was stopped at a traffic light.
Moore and Nguyen pulled up behind the stolen van, and Moore exited his car and walked towards the van. The thief apparently saw Moore as he approached, and although the traffic light was red, the thief suddenly drove the van past the traffic light and turned left onto a busy four-lane road, nearly colliding with several other cars that were approaching the intersection. Moore returned to his car, and after the traffic light turned green, Moore and Nguyen turned left and began again to search for the van, which had disappeared once more from their view. Moore and Nguyen did not see the van again until they came upon the scene of the crash, about a mile down the four-lane road. By that time, the thief had abandoned the van and was running across the road, and other drivers already were out of their cars, attending to the injured Whitlocks. Moore exited his car again and chased the thief on foot, eventually apprehending the thief and holding him until police arrived.
