Teen gravely injured in police chase could get $45 million in proposed settlement [Chicago Tribune]

Chicago Tribune (IL)

Chicago aldermen will soon weigh whether to award a $45 million settlement to the family of a teen boy who suffered “catastrophic” injuries in a police chase car crash.

The settlement for the teen, who cannot talk or walk and is expected to need around-the-clock medical care for the remainder of his life, is one of the largest in the city’s recent history.

Nathen Jones, then 15, was one of three passengers in the backseat of a 2002 Volkswagen CC when police officers attempted to pull the sedan over for a rolling stop in April 2021. The officers in the unmarked car turned on their lights and began pursuing the Volkswagen down the rainy road, according to a lawsuit and statement made by attorneys for Jones’ mother.

A high-speed chase ensued southbound down North Wood Street, then onto Grand Avenue going west as the Volkswagen’s driver ran stop sign after stop sign. None of the three officers riding in the unmarked police car radioed supervisors to alert them as they chased the Volkswagen at speeds approaching 70 miles per hour.

As the speeding Volkswagen entered the intersection at Damen Avenue with police close behind, it crashed into a Toyota Yaris, the lawsuit said.

In the crash — which the family’s attorneys say was caused by an unauthorized, illegal police pursuit — the teen suffered “severe and permanent injuries.”

The lawsuit names police Officer Jhonathan Perez as the unmarked police car’s driver and Officers Andrew Pang and Eulalio Rodriguez as passengers. The teen’s family also sued the Volkswagen’s driver, Khalil Raggs.

In a separate criminal case, Raggs pleaded guilty to four charges related to the crash, including illegal gun possession. A judge sentenced him to three years in prison in April 2022 while giving him credit for time served. He is currently being held in the Cook County Jail on charges of burglarizing and looting a Humboldt Park business in April 2023.

The City Council’s Finance Committee will consider the settlement for Jones’ family Monday.

Jones will never again be able to walk, speak or independently function and has no hope of a medical recovery, according to a statement made by the law firm representing his family, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard. He will need 24-hour nursing and medical care for the rest of his life, an estimated 50 years, the statement said.

At the time of the crash, he was an eighth grader who dreamed of college and success now untouchable for him, the statement said.

“Nathen Jones is now a young man who was robbed of his future,” the statement continued. “He cannot speak or communicate his feelings. He cannot dress himself and the nourishment he receives comes from liquified food inserted through a tube into his stomach. Nathen’s glazed look and distant stare of incomprehension rarely changes. He cannot walk on his own and never will.”

The proposed settlement will be considered Monday by the City Council’s Finance Committee. If it proceeds, it will need to be approved by a vote of the full council.

The $45 million agreement reached between the city’s Law Department and the family’s attorneys would include $20 million paid by the city and another $25 million paid by the city’s insurance.

By reaching a settlement, the city will avoid what the teen’s attorneys say would have likely been “a historically high verdict.” The officer who drove the police car has since testified that the chase violated department policy, but no officers have been publicly disciplined for the crash, according to the law firm’s statement.

The high price will yet again force the city to contend with the “human cost of one officer’s misconduct,” attorney Lance Northcutt said in the statement.

“There are no winners in this case, only degrees of loss,” he said.

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