$17.5 Million Verdict - Stotis & Baird

$17.5 Million Verdict for Husband of Woman Killed in Police Chase by Mike Baird

"She was the most beautiful, loving, warm-hearted person that I have ever known". That’s how Yong Huang described his wife Qing. On the day she died, she was 25 years old, had two master’s degrees, and was pregnant. She, like thousands of other people who worked in downtown Chicago, was just trying to get home. She was killed as she stood on the corner of Madison and DesPlaines, about one block from her apartment. She died because a Chicago Police Officer ignored his training, ignored a supervisor’s order, and ignored common sense. The officer conducted a high-speed chase through downtown Chicago at rush hour over a stolen wallet. The police claimed that Qing’s death was all the fault of the pickpocket. Attorney Michael Baird was able to convince the jury otherwise. They awarded Yong $17.5 million.
Over the years, police agencies began to collect statistics about crashes and police chases. The statistics showed that police chases are very dangerous, and that more than one in four chases end in a crash. As a consequence, police agencies train their officers that chases should not be done unless the need to apprehend the suspect is greater than the risk to the public. According to Professor Geoffrey Alpert, of South Carolina University, the officer can accept more risk if the crime is of a serious or violent nature. When the crime is minor, like it was in this case, the danger to the public is too great to chase. This is especially true when the chase goes through a highly populated area like downtown Chicago. Professor Alpert testified for Yong at the trial.
When a police chase takes place in Chicago, the department assigns a supervisor to listen in on the radio. The supervisor is given the responsibility to decide if the chase is worth the risk. In this case, the supervisor ordered that the chase be terminated. The officer argued that he was not required to follow the supervisor’s order because the supervisor was the same rank as he was. Several other things happened during the chase that also should have caused the officer to stop chasing. The suspect’s car hit a cab while running a red light. The cars were weaving in and out of traffic at high speed through crowded streets. In perhaps the most ironic twist, the thief actually abandoned the wallet halfway through the chase, by laying it on a street corner. Despite all of these things, the officer chose to disregard the rules and continue the chase.
The city refused to make any reasonable settlement offer. Their lawyers said that they never lose a chase case when it is the suspect’s car that hits the victim. That may have been true at the time, but it’s not true anymore.

Mike Baird is a partner and founder of Stotis & Baird Chartered. Mike represented Qing’s husband in this wrongful death lawsuit. In addition to medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits, Mike specializes in police misconduct litigation.