The family of Angela Parks, the woman who died as a result of catastrophic injuries she suffered when she was struck by a Jeep driven by a suspected criminal fleeing police, are poised to receive a multi-million dollar payout from the city of Chicago, under a $27 million settlement to end the family's lawsuit claims that the accident was the fault of the police officer who pursued the suspect.
Under the settlement deal, the family's lawyers from the firms of McNabola & Associates and Gallagher Law Offices would receive fees worth $9 million, or one-third of the settlement funds, according to court documents.
On Monday, Feb. 10, the Chicago City Council's Finance Committee recommended approval of the settlement with Elizabeth Galik, identified in Cook County Circuit Court documents as the administrator of the estate of Angela Parks.
Ted McNabola
| personalinjurylawchicago.com
The settlement would next advance to the full Chicago City Council at its next meeting on Feb. 19.
The deal would end the litigation launched by Parks' family against the city in April 2021, about eight months after the accident that initially left Parks a quadripilegic and which the family said ultimately took her life, when she died in February 2022.
According to court records, Parks' injuries and subsquent death were the result of a police chase which took place on Aug. 9, 2020, which they assert should never have happened and which they allege was conducted in a reckless fashion by the pursuing officer.
According to court documents, the pursuit began on South Federal Street, near its intersection with West 30th Street, near the Dearborn Homes public housing project in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood on the city's South Side.
According to court documents, a Chicago Police officer, identified as Richard Teneyuque, was on patrol in an unmarked CPD SUV wth two other officers when he reportedly spotted a Jeep pass their police vehicle.
According to court documents, the officers decided to pursue the vehicle for unspecified reasons, performed a U-turn and drove after the Jeep, as it accelerated eastbound on West 30th Street.
According to court documents, the driver of the Jeep - who was not identified in the court documents nor named as a defendant in the lawsuit - continued to accelerate until it ultimately reached a rate of speed well in excess of posted speed limits, ran stop signs without stopping, turned into oncoming traffic and committed other offenses in a bid to elude the pursuing officers.
According to court documents, the chase continued down South State Street, West 31st Street and South Wells Street. According to court documents, the police SUV was ultimately very close to the Jeep at that point, but had at no point activated its emergency lights and sirens.
At that moment, according to court documents, Parks was walking northbound across Wells Street, unaware of the pursuit approaching from her rear.
According to court documents, the fleeing Jeep struck Parks at a high rate of speed. According to court documents, she was thrown forward into the pavement, suffering a broken neck and severed spinal cord, leaving her a quadripilegic.
In the lawsuit filed a few months later, Parks' family asserted the city should pay, because the officers allegedly had violated numerous city policies generally forbidding police vehicular pursuits and strictly regulating those that might be permitted.
They asserted the officers had no reason to initiate the pursuit, and once they did, further violated city policies by failing to properly notify supervisors of the pursuit; failing to activate their emergency lights and sirens to alert those nearby of the approaching pursuit and danger; and failure to cut short the pursuit when the pursued suspects began to drive recklessly, presenting a danger to everyone around in an attempt to escape police.
Documents do not indicate if anyone was criminally charged as a result of the accident that caused Parks' injuries and death.
Teneyuque was not named as a defendant in the action.
In the years since the lawsuit was filed, the city attempted to dismiss some of the counts in the complaint.
However, Parks' family and the city ultimately agreed last fall to settle the case.
The settlement was approved in November 2024 by Cook County Circuit Judge Bridget J. Hughes, subject to approval from the Chicago City Council.
From the $27 million settlement total, Parks' relatives would receive $17.3 million.
The family's lawyers, including attorney Michael J. Gallagher, of the Gallagher Law Offices, of Chicago, would receive $9 million in fees, plus more than $388,800 in cost reimbursements.
Gallagher initially filed the complaint as a member of the now-disbanded firm of Wise Morrissey LLC.
Gallagher was later joined in the case by attorneys from the McNabola & Associates firm, of Chicago. Both firms were identified as the recipients of the $9 million in fees.
The city was represented in the action by attorney Emily E. Schnidt, of the firm of Borkan & Scahill Ltd., of Chicago.