City to pay nearly $5 million to family of 84-year-old woman killed in crash involving CPD
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City of Chicago will pay out millions to the state of an 84-year-old woman who was killed in a crash involving a police car.
In May 2019, a Chicago Police transport van was responding to an emergency call at Laramie Avenue and Division Street in the North Austin neighborhood. The van hit an unmarked police sport-utility vehicle that was crossing in front of it.
The two police vehicles then crashed into the blue car in which Verona Gunn was sitting. The beloved mother and grandmother died soon after the crash. Ten officers and at least one other civilian also were injured in the crash.
Gunn family attorney Andrew Stroth claimed in the wake of the crash that the police vehicles were violating department rules requiring them to slow down as they approach an intersection, to make sure it's safe to proceed.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said following the crash the officers were responding to a nearby call for a man with a gun at the time of the crash, but Stroth said after the crash that such a call is not unusual for Chicago – and didn't require officers to drive the way they did.
Attorneys for Gunn's family said Wednesday that a jury awarded her estate $4.93 million.