By Shawn Henry 
Chicago officials had a chance to own up to a catastrophic decision. Instead, they voted to fight. The City Council Finance Committee rejected an $8.25 million settlement for the family of 55-year-old Dominga Flores Gomez, who was killed during a high-speed police chase in Little Village. The 18-15 vote sends the wrongful death lawsuit toward trial, unless the full City Council intervenes or a lower figure is negotiated.
Gomez died on Sept. 28, 2022, at 31st and Kedzie after a police pursuit tore through city streets at speeds reaching 95 mph. The posted limit in those neighborhoods is typically 30 mph.
This wasn’t a split-second mistake. It was an 11-mile chase. The pursuing officer ran 20 red lights and multiple stop signs. He had already been involved in three previous chases that ended in crashes, including one just 10 days earlier. He had also been suspended three times for violating department chase policies.
Chicago Police Department policy requires officers to weigh the need to immediately apprehend a suspect against the danger created for the public. That balancing test failed. Spectacularly.
The suspects had allegedly committed multiple carjackings earlier that day, moving from McKinley Park to Pilsen and back again, even attempting to set fire to a stolen pickup truck. Police later spotted the stolen Honda SUV and gave chase. The pursuit ended when the fleeing driver crashed into Gomez’s car. All four suspects were arrested. Two weapons were recovered.
One alderman argued the suspects were solely responsible. But the city’s own attorneys acknowledged the driver, who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and is serving 14 years, has no assets to compensate the victim’s family.
That leaves taxpayers and city leadership facing the consequences of their own pursuit policies and enforcement failures. The same officer is also a defendant in two other pending lawsuits tied to crashes during police pursuits.
On the same day the committee rejected Gomez’s settlement, it approved $29.2 million in wrongful conviction settlements tied to former Detective Reynaldo Guevara, who was accused of framing suspects in dozens of cases. He was never charged, never disciplined before retiring in 2005, and continues to draw a city pension.
The pattern is impossible to ignore. Policies ignored. Warnings sidelined. Costs pushed onto the public. Carjackers deserve to be stopped. Drivers deserve safe streets. But when enforcement turns residential roads into racetracks at 95 mph, the line between justice and recklessness gets crossed.
Now Chicago will have to defend that decision in open court. And this time, it won’t be able to outrun the consequences.
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