(WTTW News)
The Chicago City Council is set to pay $1.4 million to the family of a toddler who was struck and killed by a car driven by a man being chased by police.
The Chicago City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously approved the settlement, which is scheduled for a final vote by the full City Council on Wednesday.
Shatrell McComb was waiting for a bus near 63rd Street and Ellis Avenue in Woodlawn on the afternoon of July 11, 2015, with her 8- and 4-year-old daughters and 13-month-old son, Dillian Harris, who was in a stroller. The family planned to spend the afternoon at the beach, said Mimi Ruether, the deputy corporation counsel of the city’s torts division.
At the same time, an off-duty aviation security officer called 911 to report that he saw someone in a red Toyota Avalon fire a gun in the 7700 block of south Kingston Avenue, about four miles away.
Several police vehicles chased the car, which was driven by Antoine Watkins, reaching speeds of 87 mph through residential neighborhoods where the speed limit was 25 mph, Ruether said. It is unclear whether the chase was properly supervised or compiled with Chicago Police Department policies that require officials to balance the need and ability to apprehend a person suspected of a crime with the need to protect members of the public, Ruether said.
Dillian died after Watkins lost control of the Avalon, jumped the sidewalk curb and slammed into the family.
Watkins was convicted of reckless homicide in connection with Dillian’s death, and spent nearly five years in prison, Ruether said.
In November, the City Council voted to pay $2 million to the family of Julia Lynn Callaway, who was killed in May 2018 when she was struck by a car driven by Curtis Pugh while he was being pursued by police after officers smelled marijuana coming from his car.
The city paid $6.2 million for vehicle pursuit-related settlements in 2019, accounting for nearly one-third of the entire amount the city spent settling police misconduct cases, according to the most recent litigation report from the department.
The department changed its policy for vehicle pursuits in August 2020. That policy now requires officers to “consider the need for immediate apprehension of an eluding suspect and the requirement to protect the public from the danger created by eluding offenders” and ensures that no officer could be disciplined for terminating a pursuit.
Marked police cars must also take the lead in pursuits, and activate their lights and sirens, according to the revised policy.
In a separate case, members of the Chicago City Council will consider a recommendation to pay $1.2 million to two men who were shot by a Chicago Police officer while they sat in a parked car in Old Irving Park in December 2020.
Jomner Orozco Carreto and Carlos Ramirez, who were unarmed, were shot while using a mobile navigation system. Orozco was hit in the hand, and two of his fingers were injured, according to the lawsuit.
The officer, Kevin Bunge, has been charged in connection with the shooting.
Members of the Chicago City Council will also weigh whether to pay $150,000 to a man who spent seven years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in connection with a 2004 shooting that wounded three people and killed a man.
An Illinois Appellate Court overturned Chad Johnson’s 2009 conviction in 2012, and he was acquitted at his second trial in 2018.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
