In a tragic incident involving a 13-year-old girl who was struck and killed during a police chase, the city of Cleveland, Ohio, has agreed to a $4.8 million settlement with the victim’s family, marking the end of legal fights and investigations since the tragedy occurred in December 2019.
A police chase ensued after the armed carjacking of a 72-year-old woman outside a local grocery store, as reported by CNN.
Tamia Chappman was walking on a sidewalk with her friends when the vehicle that was fleeing from Cleveland officers struck and killed her during a high-speed chase.
Stanley Jackson, an attorney from the Cochran Firm in Cleveland, criticized the city of Cleveland for its negligence following the settlement. “The city of Cleveland didn’t follow its own policy, didn’t follow its own procedures, didn’t have common sense during the chase, nor any decency when they were involved in it,” Jackson said in a statement.
In May 2020, the Chappman family filed a wrongful death lawsuit to address an “egregiously reckless and unnecessary pursuit that caused the tragic death,” citing several violations of state law by the police.
According to the lawsuit, the police acted with “conscious disregard or indifference to a known or obvious risk of harm” that was unreasonable under the circumstances. The lawsuit also alleged that they violated Ohio law and the “standard operating procedures of the Cleveland Police Department” by not driving their vehicles with “due regard for the safety of all persons and property” on the highway.
The police chase originated from the carjacking on the west side of Cleveland, according to WKYC. The pursuit concluded near Euclid and Lakefront avenues in East Cleveland when the vehicle driven by the suspect collided with Tamia as she was on a sidewalk. The police chase reached speeds of more than 89 miles an hour on Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland.
East Cleveland police reported that Tamia had been walking to a library after school with her siblings and cousins at the time of the incident, all of whom witnessed the tragic event.
In the aftermath, Tamia’s family and their legal representative criticized the Cleveland Division of Police for the choices its officers made on that fateful day.
“I miss my daughter. We won’t ever get her back,” Sherrie Chappman, Tamia’s mother, said during a press conference in Cleveland on Monday, as reported by Ideastream Public Media. “I don’t want nobody else’s kids or elderly person [getting] hurt — doing these chases. I hope they stop.”
Lawyers argued the defendants violated Ohio law and the standard procedures by not “terminating the pursuit when the pursued vehicle was driven at speeds” far exceeding “safe limits relative to road and traffic conditions,” allegedly showing a “blatant disregard for the safety of other vehicles or pedestrians.”
However, as reported by WHIO-TV, there are no standard laws in place that govern police chases in Ohio, sparking debates and calls for action to establish standard police chase laws. Each of the 29 law enforcement agencies in Montgomery County, for instance, sets its own rules when it comes to pursuits.
Still, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office does provide a set of guidelines for chase policy, but those are merely suggestions and not enforceable laws, WHIO-TV added.
The perpetrators who fled from police were quickly apprehended and convicted for their involvement in both incidents. The driver of the stolen vehicle that struck Tamia, then-15-year-old D’Shaun McNear, was sentenced in October 2021 to a prison term of 26 to 31 years, with a minimum time served of nine years, the Cochran Firm noted.
“The $4.8 million settlement is believed to be the largest wrongful death settlement involving a pursuit in the state of Ohio,” according to the Cochran Firm, the law group that represented the Chappman family.’
However, the city rejected the claim of any wrongdoing or policy violations in the chase, describing the decision to settle the case with Chappman’s family as “an extremely difficult one,” according to several media reports.
“The City had to consider all relevant factors prior to this outcome, including a potential trial and additional costs,” said spokesperson Tyler Sinclair. “We want to be clear that there are no winners or losers in a case as tragic as this one, and — while it is easy to point fingers one way or another — the fact remains that if the armed carjacker never committed that crime, then Tamia would still be here with us today.”
