Chicago Faces $27M Settlement in Deadly Police Chase Case

Chicago taxpayers are staring down a $27 million settlement after the city’s decision to appeal a 2023 jury verdict in a deadly police chase case backfired badly, spawning new legal exposure and a far larger bill than the original $10 million award.

The Finance Committee is being asked Friday to authorize the settlement with the family of Stacy Vaughn-Harrell, a 47-year-old woman killed in June 2017 when a car fleeing Chicago police crashed into her vehicle in Englewood. Under the proposed deal, taxpayers would cover 74% of the total, with the city’s catastrophic insurance picking up the rest.

The facts of the underlying case are not in dispute. Vaughn-Harrell and her then-21-year-old daughter, Kimberlyn Myers, were driving home after Myers performed at a singing engagement in Indiana. A white Kia, which police had pulled over on suspicion of involvement in a nearby shooting, sped off after a passenger exited the vehicle. Officers gave chase through a residential Englewood neighborhood at roughly 50 mph. The Kia blew through four stop signs before slamming into Vaughn-Harrell’s car at an intersection.

Vaughn-Harrell died. Myers survived but suffered a concussion, a lacerated liver, and a broken collarbone that required a plate and five screws. Vaughn-Harrell left behind six children, three of them teenagers.

The family’s attorneys argued at trial that the chase itself violated Chicago Police Department policy, which requires a marked vehicle with both lights and sirens active to lead any pursuit. Instead, officers conducted the chase in an unmarked car, with a marked vehicle trailing behind.

A jury agreed in 2023, awarding roughly $5 million each to Myers and Vaughn-Harrell’s husband, Henry Harrell.

The city appealed. That decision proved costly. An appellate court ordered a new trial, citing an improper closing argument and other legal violations. But the retrial process apparently surfaced new factual allegations that changed the city’s calculus entirely.

John Hendricks, managing deputy of litigation for the city Law Department, acknowledged as much. After the first trial and the appeal, new facts came to light “that required substantial reevaluation,” he said. City attorneys must “regularly reassess the value of cases” based on emerging evidence. Given what would be presented at a second trial, Hendricks argued the $27 million settlement is “in the best interest” of Chicago taxpayers.

That argument may be legally defensible. It is also a stark admission that the city’s initial decision to fight the verdict made things considerably worse. The tab grew from $10 million to $27 million, a difference of $17 million, directly attributable to the appeal and its aftermath.

This is familiar territory for Chicago. The city has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade settling police misconduct and use-of-force cases. Police chases, in particular, carry consistent and predictable legal risk. Officers pursuing a suspect vehicle through residential streets, especially in violation of their own department’s protocols, place innocent bystanders directly in danger. When those bystanders are killed or injured, juries tend to respond accordingly.

The Vaughn-Harrell case carries an additional weight that numbers alone cannot capture. Kimberlyn Myers had been building a music career, and her mother served as her manager. Trial attorney Zane Smith described Vaughn-Harrell as Myers’ “mom manager.” According to Smith, after her mother’s death, Myers never sang again.

That detail, contained in testimony from the original trial, speaks to a category of loss no settlement figure can fully address. The legal system can assign dollar values to injuries, lost wages, and wrongful death. It cannot restore what was taken from that family on an Englewood street corner nine years ago.

The Finance Committee vote Friday will determine whether Chicago formally closes this chapter. If approved, the settlement moves to the full City Council. Whatever the outcome, the broader question of how Chicago handles police pursuits through residential neighborhoods, and whether the department’s policies and officer training are actually sufficient to prevent the next Stacy Vaughn-Harrell, will not be resolved by a check.

That question belongs to the mayor’s office and police leadership. It has for years.