A key City Council committee on Friday backed a $27 million settlement with the family of a mother of six killed in a crash during a high-speed police chase, after city attorneys warned alders taking the case to trail could risk a verdict of more than $100 million against the city.
The settlement would go to the family of Stacy Vaughn-Harrell, who was driving with her daughter, Kimberlyn Myers, near 59th and LaSalle streets in Englewood on June 24, 2017, when their car was hit by a white Kia Sorrento fleeing from police.
If the settlement is approved by the full City Council next week, the deal would call for taxpayers to cover $20 million of the settlement, with the city’s insurance company paying $7 million.
Vaughn-Harrell’s family won a $10.2 million verdict against the city in 2023 – approximately $5 million for her death, and $5 million for Myers’ injuries – but the city later appealed that verdict and won a new trial.
The city’s Law Department recommended settling the case for far more than that original verdict because of new evidence the family would have presented at trial. The family’s attorneys have argued the officers involved in the chase tried to cover up the chase and did not try to help Myers or Vaughn-Harrell after the crash.
“We have a different case with new evidence,” John Hendricks, managing deputy corporation counsel of litigation for the city’s Law Department, told the Finance Committee. “We have a different case with new witnesses. We have a different case with new and broader claims for damages. And we have a likelihood of more evidence coming in that was not allowed in the first trial.”
Deputy Corporation Counsel Maggie Mendenhall Casey told alders that Vaughn-Harrell’s family likely would tell a jury that “officers were callous” towards her and her daughter after the crash, and would show the jury video showing Myers “crawling over her mother’s dead body and falling to the ground while officers stood by and watched.”
Myers spoke to alders during the public comment period of Friday’s committee meeting, telling alders, “I am the individual who crawled out of that car, who was not assisted by no officer.”
“I did not see one hand reach out for me in the middle of me crawling out that car,” she added.
Myers had just finished a singing event in Indiana, and her mom was driving her home as a police chase was developing nearby.
Officers were chasing a car that they believed had been involved in a shooting. After pulling that car over, officers were able to pull a back seat passenger out of the vehicle, but the driver took off, leading police on a chase that reached 60 mph before crashing into Vaughn-Harrell’s car.
At a press conference on Thursday, Myers said her mom would be alive if Chicago police officers in hot pursuit would have used their emergency lights and sirens during the chase.
“She would have been here if you guys would have just parked on your sirens or something. She would have been here, but you guys didn’t,” Meyers said.
Vaughn-Harrell’s family sued the city over the crash, accusing officers of violating multiple Chicago Police Department policies, including failing to activate their squad car’s lights and siren, and leading the chase with an unmarked vehicle. CPD policy requires vehicle pursuits to be conducted by marked squad cars with their lights and sirens activated.
Last August, after the city won a new trial, newly hired lawyers for the family handling the lawsuit said they found officers on the scene failed to activate their body cameras or turned them off during the chase.
The family’s new attorney, Lance Northcutt, has said the officers involved in the chase tried to cover up what happened.
“What happened that day was not the work of heroes. It was the work of cowboys who decided they were not only going to pursue a vehicle in violation of department policy, they decided they were going to cover it up,” Northcutt said. “The coverup was wide. The coverup was systemic. The coverup was not part of the first trial, but will be in the second.”
In addition to the new evidence that a jury would be allowed to see and hear if the case were allowed to go to a second trial, Hendricks warned alders that a similar lawsuit against the city involving another deadly police chase resulted in a nearly $80 million verdict against the city in 2024.
On Sept. 2, 2020, Kevin Spicer was with his son and daughter in a car near 80th and Halsted streets in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood when they were hit by a car fleeing from police.
Officers in unmarked squad car were following a black Mercedes Benz for a traffic violation, and the Mercedes ended up hitting a gray car being driven by a 57-year-old woman and then slammed into the Spicer family’s car.
Spicer’s 10-year-old daughter, Da’Karia, was killed in the wreck. Her little brother, Dhaamir, only 5 at the time, was severely injured. Spicer and the woman in the other car both suffered less serious injuries in the crash.
The Spicer family sued asking for $100 million for suffering, emotional distress, loss of society, and other damages. In December 2024, a jury awarded the family $79.85 million in damages.
Alders approved the settlement in Vaughn-Harrell’s case by a voice vote with only two committee members even asking questions, and none appearing to oppose the deal.
Ald. Bill Conway (34th) reluctantly backed the settlement after hearing the jury in the first trial determined officers were liable for “willful and wanton” conduct in the crash even with more limited evidence than a jury would hear in a second trial.
“Despite the big dollar amount, I think this sounds like a reasonable settlement, and I encourage my colleagues to support it,” he said.