U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz II of the Eastern District of New York.

A federal judge has rejected New York City government lawyers' bid to extinguish a lawsuit over its alleged liability in a road rage incident involving an off-duty corrections officer who chased down two Brooklyn residents in his car and brandished a handgun.

U.S. District Judge William Kuntz II of the Eastern District of New York denied the city's motion for summary judgment aimed at dismissing a lawsuit now set to go to trial in which the plaintiffs said that, on June 26, 2014, Bruce Sutton, a former New York City Department of Correction employee, pursued them in his Mercedes-Benz, stopped them and demanded to see their identification.

Sutton repeatedly pointed a firearm at plaintiffs Yolma Haylett and Kenneth Eastmond during the incident, Kuntz's decision stated, which occurred at about 1 p.m. in the East New York section of Brooklyn after the plaintiffs said they passed Sutton while he was stopped at the scene of an accident. They allege that Sutton followed them for a mile.

The city moved to dismiss the suit on the grounds that Sutton, who was off-duty at the time of the road rage incidents, was acting outside the scope of his employment and that the plaintiffs failed to show that the city was negligent in its hiring, training and retaining of Sutton.

But Kuntz disagreed, noting that one of the city's agencies concluded that Sutton was acting within the scope of his employment during the incident, that he flashed his badge at the plaintiffs and that he made an officer in need of assistance call.

“A reasonable jury could easily conclude that such actions were taken to further the city's interest or to carry out law enforcement duties incumbent upon Sutton,” the judge said in a ruling issued on Monday.

Gabriel Harvis of Harvis & Fett, who represented the plaintiffs, said that Kuntz's ruling could help clarify the law regarding municipal liability for off-duty employee conduct.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Elissa Jacobs and Tobias Zimmerman appeared for the city. Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city's Law Department, said the city is disappointed with the ruling.

“We will continue to defend our position that as a matter of law the city should not be held liable for the actions of an employee acting outside the scope of his employment,” he said.