Politics
City Lawyers Recommend Paying $6M to Family of Man Killed by Driver Being Chased by Police
(WTTW News)
Chicago should pay $6 million to the family of a man who was struck and killed by a driver being chased by Chicago police while waiting at a CTA bus stop, city lawyers recommended, the latest massive settlement prompted by a police pursuit.
Michael A. Jordan, 27, died in the crash that ended the chase just before noon on June 30, 2019, while sitting at the bus shelter near 99th Street and Van Vlissingen Road in Jeffrey Manor, records show.
Jordan was the father of three children when he died, according to his family’s lawsuit, which alleges that the pursuit violated Chicago Police Department policy.
The City Council’s Finance Committee is set to consider the proposed settlement on Monday. A final vote by the City Council could come Sept. 23.
The incident began when Chicago Police Officer Christopher Moore was assigned to help recover a stolen white Jeep Cherokee, according to records published by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability in December 2023.
The owner of the Jeep, whose name is redacted in keeping with the rules governing the agency better known as COPA, tracked his car to 101st Street and Crandon Avenue. When Moore met him there, they saw the car drive by, records show.
Moore attempted to stop the driver of the Jeep, who fled. Moore pursued the stolen car, records show.
Less than 30 seconds later, the Jeep swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle and slammed into a bus shelter, fatally injuring Jordan and another person waiting at the bus stop, records show.
At the moment of impact, the Jeep was traveling 77 mph, according to data obtained by COPA.
The driver of the Jeep fled after the crash, and was apprehended after a short foot pursuit, records show.
The driver told COPA investigators that he did not steal the car but paid $600 to rent the car from a friend for a month, records show. He said he did not stop when Moore attempted to pull him over because he had an open container of alcohol in the car, records show.
The driver, who was not identified in COPA’s report, was charged with reckless homicide and possession of a stolen vehicle, records show.
COPA investigators determined there was “insufficient evidence to support allegations” against Moore in connection with Jordan’s death, according to its report. However, it recommended that Officer Mark D’Amato be suspended for three days for failing to activate his body worn camera while chasing the driver of the Jeep.
In April 2019, two months before Jordan was killed, CPD updated its policy to prohibit officers from initiating a pursuit when the most serious suspected offense was possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
It is not clear why COPA did not determine that Moore violated that policy, even though he told investigators he stopped the Jeep and then pursued it because it had been reported stolen.
In 2019, CPD officers launched 270 vehicle chases with two-thirds ending in crashes. Those crashes killed eight people, according to an analysis prepared for former Mayor Lori Lightfoot that was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
CPD changed its vehicle pursuit policy again in 2020 and once 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.”
It also banned supervisors from disciplining officers for terminating a pursuit.
In February, the City Council’s Finance Committee rejected a recommendation from city lawyers to pay $8.3 million to resolve the lawsuit filed by the family of Dominga Flores Gomez, a 55-year-old mother of five children.
A majority of committee members said they believed the driver who fled from police was responsible for her 2022 death.
That lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 21, records show.
An Illinois Appeals Court panel ruled in March that the city was responsible for paying the entire $10.5 million verdict in a separate wrongful death case filed by the daughter of a man who was killed in 2018 after being struck by a car driven by a man fleeing police. That pursuit violated CPD policy, the jury determined.
The appeals court panel rejected arguments from city lawyers that the man who fled from police should be ordered to pay some portion of the verdict because the judge determined he was partially responsible for the crash.
The city has appealed that ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, which is set to decide this month whether to take up the case, the court’s spokesperson said.
Chicago taxpayers have spent at least $46 million since the start of 2026 to resolve eight lawsuits brought by people who were injured or on behalf of those killed during police pursuits, with the city’s insurance companies paying an additional $9 million, according to an analysis of city data by WTTW News.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
