$52.75 million price tag? City Council OKs settlements tied to police abuse, wrongdoing

Chicago taxpayers have paid tens of millions of dollars in recent years to compensate victims of alleged abuse and wrongdoing by Chicago Police Department officers, but it’s hard to imagine a more costly single day than Wednesday.

The City Council shoveled $52.75 million out the door to settle three different cases.

The largest of the settlements — $45 million — goes to Nathen Jones, who suffered a massive traumatic brain injury that left the now 18-year-old on a feeding tube, unable to walk or speak after an unauthorized police chase triggered by a blown stop sign.

Earlier this week, Jones’ mother, Erika Boyd, told reporters “no amount of money” can compensate her family for the daily heartache CPD Officer Jhonathan Perez caused when he decided to chase a 2002 Volkswagen after that car went through a stop sign on the Near West Side in April 2021. Nathen Jones was a backseat passenger in the Volkswagen.

“Nathen was a regular, happy, healthy, active 15-year-old kid. He brought our family a lot of joy. He still does. But the price that he had to pay for being in a car — no amount of money can bring back the child I had before this,” Boyd said Monday, as Nathen sat at her side in a wheelchair.

Settlement OK’d for kidnapping suspect

The second-largest settlement — for $5.5 million, approved with 12 dissenting votes — goes to a man who spent 22 years in prison in a case investigated by notorious CPD Det. Reynaldo Guevara. Ricardo Rodriguez says Guevara and his investigative cohorts bullied witnesses into identifying him as the shooter in a 1995 shooting in Belmont Cragin. Rodriguez is in line for that payout as he also faces charges for a home invasion and kidnapping he’s accused of committing a year after his release.

Another 33 cases remain pending against Guevara in the courts — cases that could trigger similar settlements.

The third settlement is for $2.25 million. It was approved 33 to 15 and goes to the family of Roshad McIntosh, shot and killed by a Chicago police officer nearly a decade ago.

In the days after the teen’s death, McIntosh’s family had raised questions about the August 2014 shooting and the chase preceding it, a case twice investigated by police oversight authorities — with the officer who opened fire cleared of wrongdoing each time.

Democratic National Convention security restrictions

The settlements were approved at a Council meeting that also saw Mayor Brandon Johnson introduce an ordinance authorizing Police Supt. Larry Snelling to designate the boundaries of a security footprint around the Democratic National Convention.

The precise borders of that protective bubble have not been established — but within those boundaries, it would be illegal to:

• Push, pull or transport any vehicle, cart or float.

• Throw any item.

• Operate any small, unmanned aircraft.

• Possess, carry, control or have immediate access to any item that poses potential safety hazards, as determined by CPD, the U.S. Secret Service and the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Among the items banned in the bubble: tents and structures; sealed packages and large bags; animals other than service or guide dogs; bicycles and scooters; folding chairs; balloons; coolers and glass, thermal or metal containers; umbrellas with metal tips; aerosols; tobacco products, e-cigarettes, lighters and matches; fireworks; laser pointers; firearms, ammunition, stun guns, mace, pepper spray, tasers and toy weapons.

In other action

• Johnson also set the stage to overhaul the board overseeing the Chicago Park District with four new appointments: Philip Jackson, Sean Garrett, Robert Castaneda and Coya Paz.

• Alderpersons confirmed several members of Johnson’s slow-to-assemble Cabinet: Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney; Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner Julie Hernandez-Tomlin; Human Resources Commissioner Sandra Blakemore, and Jose Tirado, the former Chicago Police Department counterterrorism chief now serving as executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

• Two Council members, Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) and Ald. Matt Martin (47th), called for hearings to lower the citywide default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph.