Chicago officials had a chance to own up to a catastrophic decision. Instead, they voted to fight it in court. 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 gets negotiated first.
An 11-Mile Chase, Not a Split-Second Mistake
Gomez died on Sept. 28, 2022, at 31st and Kedzie after a police pursuit tore through city streets at speeds reaching 95 mph, in an area where the posted limit is typically 30 mph. This wasn’t a split-second judgment call. It was an 11-mile chase in which the pursuing officer ran 20 red lights and multiple stop signs. That same officer had already been involved in three previous chases that ended in crashes, including one just 10 days earlier, and had been suspended three times for violating department chase policies before this pursuit even happened.
A Policy That Failed in Practice
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 here, spectacularly. The suspects had allegedly committed multiple carjackings earlier that day, moving from McKinley Park to Pilsen and back again, and allegedly even attempted 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, and two weapons were recovered from the scene.
Who’s Actually Left Holding the Bill
One alderman argued the suspects bore sole responsibility for what happened. But the city’s own attorneys acknowledged that the driver, who pleaded guilty to reckless homicide and is now serving 14 years, has no assets to compensate the victim’s family. That leaves taxpayers and city leadership facing the consequences of the department’s own pursuit policies and enforcement failures instead. The same officer involved in this chase is also named as a defendant in two other pending lawsuits tied to crashes during separate police pursuits.
A Pattern That’s Hard to Ignore
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 criminally, was never disciplined before retiring in 2005, and continues to draw a city pension to this day.
The pattern here is difficult to look past: policies ignored, warning signs sidelined, and costs ultimately pushed onto the public. Carjackers deserve to be stopped, and drivers deserve safe streets, but when enforcement turns residential roads into a 95-mph racetrack, 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 simply outrun the consequences.