Politics
After City Council Refused to Settle, Jury Rejects Lawsuit Filed by Family of Woman Killed by Driver Chased by CPD
(WTTW News)
A Cook County jury determined Chicago police officers were not liable for the death of a 55-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a driver being chased by officers, records show.
The Chicago City Council refused in February to pay $8.25 million to resolve the lawsuit filed by the family of Dominga Flores Gomez, who died in the crash that ended the chase launched by two Chicago Police Department officers just before 9 p.m. on Sept. 28, 2022.
After a three-week trial, the jury determined that the fatal injuries suffered by Flores Gomez, who was survived by five children and eight grandchildren, were the fault of the driver who refused to stop for police, records show.
The verdict represents a major victory for members of the Chicago City Council who contend the city’s lawyers are too eager to settle cases before trial, which they say encourages those guilty of criminal wrongdoing to sue the city in the hopes of an easy payday.
Chicago taxpayers have spent more than $277 million since the start of 2026 to resolve lawsuits alleging a wide range of misconduct, according to a WTTW News analysis of city records. That includes $62.6 million to the families of those killed or seriously injured during a police pursuit that violated CPD policy, records show.
The Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s appeal of a $10.5 million jury award to the family of a man who was struck and killed in 2018 by a driver being chased by Chicago police.
Thomas Power, the attorney for Flores Gomez’s family, did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
A spokesperson for the Department of Law said its leaders “recognize the profound loss at the heart of this case.”
During the debate over the settlement recommended by the city’s lawyers, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) argued, and a majority of the City Council agreed, that officers were justified in chasing the driver, who had just attempted to apprehend him after he used force to carjack a vehicle.
“My heart does go out to this family,” Lopez said, calling the death of Flores Gomez a “tragedy.”
Lopez said he was pleased that “the jury saw what I saw, which is that the city is not responsible” for the actions of those who commit crimes.
Lawyers recommended settling the case filed by Flores Gomez’s family after “a disciplined process” and “a careful review of the facts and the city’s liability exposure,” a Law Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Lawyers for the city warned a jury was likely to return a verdict of more than $31 million, Lopez said.
“Sometimes you have to stand up,” Lopez said.
Through July, the city paid three private law firms more than $703,000 to defend the city and the officers involved in the pursuit and the crash that killed Flores Gomez, according to records obtained by WTTW News. An updated accounting of the cost of the trial will not be available for several months.
The pursuit that ended with Flores Gomez’s death lasted for 11 miles and reached speeds of up to 95 mph in an area of the city where the speed limit is 30 mph. Officer Tobias Houston, who led the pursuit, “ran 20 red lights and several stop signs,” Deputy Corporation Counsel Maggie Mendenhall Casey told members of the City Council’s Finance Committee.
The jury heard that Houston has been suspended three times for a total of six days for engaging in pursuits that violated CPD policy. One of those pursuits, which ended in a chain-reaction crash involving five cars, occurred just 10 days before Flores Gomez was killed, Mendenhall Casey said.
The lawsuit filed by Flores Gomez’s family also names Juan C. Vazquez, the driver of the stolen car that crashed into her car at Kedzie Avenue and 31st Street and killed her. Vazquez, who was convicted of reckless homicide, remains in prison, Mendenhall Casey said. Vazquez was subpoenaed to testify.
Vazquez, who was 17 at the time of the crash, has no assets that could be used to compensate Flores Gomez’s family for her death, Mendenhall Casey said.
More than three years after Flores Gomez was killed, the pursuit was still under investigation by CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs when the City Council rejected the settlement recommended by the city’s lawyers, according to a CPD spokesperson.
A federal court order requires internal affairs complaints to be resolved in six months.
CPD changed its vehicle pursuit policy in 2020 and then again in 2022 — before Flores Gomez was killed — to require 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.”
Mendenhall Casey told committee members that attorneys for Flores Gomez’s family will likely argue that Houston, and those officers supervising the pursuit, allowed it to reach excessive speeds and last for too long to comply with that balancing test.
In addition, Houston led the entire pursuit while driving an unmarked police vehicle, even though CPD’s policy calls for a squad car — with lights and sirens — to replace an unmarked car during a pursuit as soon as possible, Mendenhall Casey said. There is no evidence that officers complied with that provision of the policy.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
