Crime & Law
City Poised to Pay $3M to Man Severely Injured During Police Chase
(WTTW News)
Chicago taxpayers should pay $3 million to a man seriously injured when a police vehicle pursuing a man during a 2018 chase ran him over, city lawyers recommended, the latest massive settlement prompted by police pursuits that violated department policy.
Matthew Aguilar was injured just before midnight on Oct. 9, 2018, when he was struck by an unmarked Chicago police vehicle, which ran over his face, according to an investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.
The two officers in the unmarked vehicle were attempting to stop Aguilar and another man they saw walking through a Brighton Park alley and suspected were armed, according to the investigation by the agency known as COPA.
When the men did not stop, one of the officers left the vehicle to chase the men on foot while the other officer drove after the men, according to the probe.
The vehicle driven by Chicago Police Detective Eric Duron “drove over a construction metal plate covering the pavement,” according to the probe.
Duron told investigators that distracted him, causing him to take his eyes off of Aguilar, according to the probe.
“At that moment, Detective Duron heard a thud,” according to the final summary of the probe, which does not identify (Aguilar), in keeping with COPA regulations. “The thud was the sound of (Aguilar) colliding with Detective Duron’s unmarked vehicle. (Aguilar) fell onto the ground and the rear of Detective Duron’s unmarked vehicle drove over (Aguilar’s) face.”
A gun was recovered from the scene, and Aguilar was charged with resisting arrest.
COPA concluded that the incident was an “unfortunate accident” caused by Duron’s decision to take his attention off of Aguilar, according to the report.
Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling agreed with COPA’s findings that Duron “was careless operating a Chicago Police Department vehicle” and failed to properly activate his body-worn camera and should be suspended for 10 days.
Duron earns more than $134,200 annually as a CPD sergeant, according to a city database.
In 2020, Aguilar was declared permanently disabled, court records show.
The proposed $3 million settlement is set to be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee. A final vote of the City Council could come on Wednesday.
CPD changed its vehicle pursuit policy in 2020 and then again in 2022 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.”
Marked police cars, with their lights and sirens activated, must also take the lead in pursuits, after immediately notifying a dispatcher in the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, according to the policy.
In all, Chicago taxpayers have spent more than $120.3 million since January 2019 to resolve 31 lawsuits filed by Chicagoans injured during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
