Politics
Pay Family of Man Struck and Killed by Driver Being Chased by Police $22M, City Lawyers Recommend
(WTTW News)
Taxpayers should pay $22 million to the family of a man who was struck and killed by a driver being chased by Chicago police, city lawyers recommended, the latest massive settlement prompted by a police pursuit that violated department policy.
The City Council’s Finance Committee on Wednesday is set to consider the proposed settlement, which calls for taxpayers to pay $20 million and the city’s insurance company to pay $2 million. A final vote of the City Council could come Jan. 21.
Angel Eduardo Alvarez Montesinos, 25, died in the crash that ended the chase launched by Officer Michael Spilotro just after 6 p.m. June 16, 2023, records show. A Venezuela-based news site Carora TV identified Alvarez Montesinos as a citizen of that country.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency charged with investigating police misconduct, recommended that Spilotro be fired for his actions that led to the death of Alvarez Montesinos, and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling agreed.
Spilotro, who earns $111,252 annually, has been stripped of his police powers, according to a CPD spokesperson.
City officials officially moved to fire Spilotro on Friday, a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Board said. Spilotro could ask an arbitrator or the board to decide his fate.
The system Chicago officials used for 60 years to hold officers accused of the most egregious misconduct has been frozen since March 2024 amid a protracted legal dispute set to be decided by the Illinois Supreme Court.
On patrol in the Homan Square neighborhood, Spilotro and his partner, Officer Erik Arroyo, who had just joined the Chicago Police Department and was still on probation, responded to 911 calls that a silver Hyundai with tinted windows was speeding through the alleys, according to the probe conducted by the agency better known as COPA.
Those findings were first reported by the independent news organization Unraveled Press.
One caller to 911 said there were four men in hoodies with firearms inside the Hyundai, according to the probe.
After Spilotro, who was driving, and Arroyo located the Hyundai, they attempted to stop the car, which sped away, according to the probe. Spilotro and Arroyo chased the car without activating their lights or siren or notifying dispatchers with the Office of Emergency Management Communications, as required by CPD policy.
“Officer Spilotro did not comply with traffic laws as he drove,” according to COPA’s probe. “Specifically, he ran four stop signs, reached speeds of up to 61 mph (in a 30 mph zone), crossed the double yellow lines into the opposite direction of travel three times, turned right onto Roosevelt Road from the left turn lane of Homan Avenue while cutting off traffic and ran one red light.”
Approximately six minutes after the first 911 call, and two minutes after the pursuit began, the Hyundai crashed into four other vehicles and a light pole at 3801 W. Roosevelt Road, killing Alvarez Montesinos, who was driving one of the vehicles struck by the Hyundai.
A video of the aftermath of the crash was posted to the @mylifeinthechi Instagram account.
No guns were recovered from the Hyundai, which had been reported stolen, or its driver, a 15-year-old boy, according to the probe. He was charged with reckless homicide and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to COPA’s report, which did not identify him, in keeping with the agency’s rules.
During COPA’s investigation, “Officers Spilotro and Arroyo provided accounts of the incident that were contradicted by available evidence in several ways,” according to the probe.
Spilotro’s decision to pursue the silver Hyundai violated CPD policy, COPA concluded.
Despite reports that there were “multiple males inside the Hyundai with firearms, the officers themselves admitted the windows of the vehicle were tinted and they were unable to confirm this information before the pursuit,” according to the probe. “Given these facts, the officers faced a situation where CPD policy prohibited a pursuit. Eluding a peace officer is a traffic offense and initiation of a pursuit on that basis is expressly forbidden.”
Department policy 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.”
The pursuit took place during heavy rush hour traffic on a major West Side street, COPA concluded.
“COPA therefore finds that the danger posed by the vehicular and pedestrian traffic, combined with the high speeds of the pursuit, substantially outweighed the necessity to immediately apprehend the Hyundai,” according to the probe.
In addition, neither Spilotro nor Arroyo activated their body-worn cameras during the incident as required, the probe concluded.
Spilotro had been reprimanded twice in 2022 for preventable accidents, resulting in a one-day suspension, records show. Spilotro was disciplined for another preventable accident in March 2024, after the fatal crash, and suspended for two days, records show.
Snelling agreed with COPA’s recommendation that Arroyo be suspended for 30 days, concluding that he “had only been a police officer for one year when this incident occurred, and many of his errors can be attributed to inexperience and/or inadequate training,” according to the probe.
A CPD spokesperson said Arroyo, who is assigned to the Harrison (11th) District and earns $105,906 annually, had asked an arbitrator to overturn his suspension.
Chicago taxpayers spent at least $83.1 million in 2025 to resolve lawsuits brought by 13 people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
The city’s insurance companies paid an additional $61.5 million to resolve three of those lawsuits, which resulted in deaths.
If approved by the City Council, the settlement for Alvarez Montesinos’ estate would be the fourth time taxpayers have paid $20 million or more to resolve lawsuits sparked by police pursuits that resulted in a grave injury or death since January 2025.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
