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CHICAGO - The Chicago City Council will consider whether to pay $22 million to the family of a man killed in a 2023 car crash involving a car that was chased by a CPD squad car on the city’s West Side.
Angel E. Alvarez Montesinos, 25, died as a result of the crash with the suspect's car that was briefly chased by the police SUV, which did not have its emergency lights and sirens on at the time.
Despite concerns over ballooning costs to settle lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department, alders on the Finance Committee voted last week to advance the settlement to the full council for final approval during its meeting on Wednesday.
What we know:
A city attorney told aldermen that CPD officers Michael Spiloto and Erick Arroyo were in the squad car that pursued the fleeing car, reportedly driven by a teenage male suspect with guns.
Spilotro did not turn on his SUV’s emergency lights and sirens during the brief pursuit. Both officers also failed to respond to dispatcher requests for information.
The officers and the suspect drove in the wrong lanes of traffic, disregarded a stop sign, and made a right turn from the left lane during the pursuit, a city attorney said. The chase lasted nearly a minute and a half before the officers slowed down.
The suspect's car, traveling 88 mph, then disregarded a red light and struck the victim’s car, which had a green light. The teenage suspect later pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and served 90 days in juvenile detention.
City attorneys said the suspect car was stolen, but that was not confirmed at the time of the crash. A supervisor later testified that the officers only saw the suspect car commit a traffic violation, which would not have justified the chase per department rules.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) recommended that Spilotro be fired and Arroyo be suspended for 30 days because of their conduct, which CPD Supt. Larry Snelling agreed with.
What they're saying:
Ald. Bill Conway (34th Ward) said that despite the large settlement amount, it was still in line with, or relatively lower than previous amounts paid by the city in recent similar incidents. He praised the city’s attorneys for reaching a more "prudent" figure and supported its approval.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said he was conflicted about the settlement because he thought the offender was ultimately responsible. But, he acknowledged that if the officers had followed procedures like turning on their lights and sirens and keeping dispatch informed, the city would be on a stronger legal footing to defend the lawsuit in court.
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"I think that we as a council, especially as the mayor and others in this chamber, are trying to limit how much we’re spending on overtime and settlements and things of that nature, we really need to knuckle down, so to speak, with the superintendent, in particular, with our departments as a whole, to see how we are correcting this behavior," Lopez said.
He added, "As much as I love my first responders, we cannot continue down this path."
The alders referenced the massive overspending on legal settlements in recent years. The city budgets around $82 million for such settlements, but last year approved more than $200 million, according to a WTTW analysis.
The rationale for approving settlements is that they aim to save the city money by avoiding costly trials and judgments which could require larger payouts to victims.