The city of Cleveland, Ohio has agreed to pay $4.8 million to the family of a Black teenager who was fatally hit by a car during a police chase, per CNN.
Tamia Chappman, 13, was walking with her friends on a sidewalk in December 2019 when she was hit by a vehicle fleeing from police.
Cleveland Police Department officers said they engaged in a high-speed pursuit of the vehicle following an armed carjacking of a 72-year-old woman outside of a grocery store. The suspects "were arrested, later convicted of crimes related to both incidents and are currently serving decades-long prison sentences,” the department said in a statement.
Chappman's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against 22 Cleveland officers in 2020, saying the high-speed chase was “egregiously reckless and unnecessary.”
On Monday (April 22), the family and the city of Cleveland “mutually (dismissed) all claims against each other with prejudice,” according to court records.
“We felt that resolving this case at this point would be best for the family,” attorney Stanley Jackson said in a statement, noting that the $4.8 million settlement was the largest for a police pursuit in Ohio history. “We believe that shows, that Tamia’s life mattered and will change how Cleveland, and other area police departments, go about their business as it relates to the value of life and property."
Cleveland spokesperson Sarah Johnson said the decision to settle the case “was an extremely difficult one."
“On one hand, you have police officers who were trying to do their job to remove violent armed individuals from the streets so they couldn’t victimize more people and commit additional violent crimes. On the other hand, a 13-year-old girl was tragically killed leaving her family, friends, and entire community in heartbreak," Johnson said.
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