Two people have filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming they were among five injured last year when a vehicle being chased by Chicago Police officers crashed into a Far South Side bus stop.
Dechez Booker and Shaniece Wilson filed the suit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, claiming they were both injured in the Aug. 22, 2014 crash.
About 8:40 p.m., Calumet District officers tried to stop a vehicle driven by 48-year-old James D. Pugh, police said.
The vehicle sped away, police said at the time. While traveling north on Michigan Avenue near 103rd Street, it collided with another vehicle and then crashed into a bus stop.
Four pedestrians standing at the bus stop were injured, as was one person inside the second vehicle that was hit, authorities said.
The suit alleges Booker and Wilson were among the four pedestrians. Both suffered serious injuries and sought medical treatment.
Pugh, of the 1400 block of West 115th Street, attempted to run away after the crash, but was eventually apprehended, police said. He declined medical attention.
He pleaded guilty in November 2014 to aggravated fleeing causing bodily injury, court records show. He was sentenced to four years in prison and given credit for 199 days served.
The two officers involved in the pursuit, Pugh and the driver of the vehicle that was struck by Pugh’s vehicle are all named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The suit claims all of the drivers were negligent. Specifically, the officers unnecessarily pursued a fleeing suspect into a populous intersection and, among other things, failed to keep a proper lookout for traffic in the roadway.
The five-count suit is seeking at least $250,000 in damages.
The city has not yet been served with the suit, said city Department of Law spokesman John Holden, who declined to comment on it Thursday evening.
