A Chicago-area family was awarded nearly $80 million last week as part of a lawsuit related to a brief police chase that caused the suspect’s car to crash and kill their 10-year-old daughter four years ago.
After a five-day trial, a Cook County jury delivered the stunning verdict against the city of Chicago, which only recently admitted culpability for the fatal collision that claimed the life of Da’Karia Spicer in Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Sept. 2, 2020.
The girl’s father, Kevin Spicer, and younger brother, Dhaamir Spicer, now 9, who were both in the vehicle at the time of the crash, sustained severe injuries but survived.
The father was behind the wheel on the day of the crash. He and Da’Karia, along with her brother Dhaamir, were on their way to pick up a laptop for Da’Karia to begin remote learning as she prepared to start fifth grade at Foster Park Elementary School.
Around the same time, police attempted to pull over a black Mercedes-Benz traveling east on 80th Street, while Kevin Spicer was driving west along the same road, approaching Halsted Street, where tragedy struck.
The driver of the Mercedes evaded the traffic stop and sped off toward the intersection, reaching nearly 90 mph, with police in hot pursuit.
The Mercedes first struck a 57-year-old woman in another car before Kevin Spicer noticed the Mercedes speeding toward them.
He quickly swerved to the side of the road in an attempt to avoid the collision, but it was already too late. The Mercedes plowed into the driver’s side of the tan Honda sedan, crushing Da’Karia and leaving Kevin Spicer with fractured ribs.
After the crash, three people bailed out of the Mercedes and fled on foot, according to the Chicago Tribune. Police later questioned at least one suspect, however, there is no indication that anyone was ever arrested or criminally prosecuted in the case.
Throughout the legal proceedings, the city denied any fault for the accident, and it was only in November that it finally admitted the officers involved were responsible.
Attorneys for the Spicer family asked the jury to award $140 million in damages, while the city’s lawyers countered with a significantly lower sum, suggesting an amount between $12 million and $15 million. Judge Preston Jones presided as the jury awarded the Spicer family $79.85 million.
Jurors heard closing arguments Wednesday morning and began deliberations at 1 p.m. before delivering the verdict just before 5 p.m., according to reports.
Patrick Salvi, an attorney for the Spicer family, described the jury’s verdict as a reflection of the “profound loss” that the girl’s relatives have endured.
“This case speaks to the extreme dangers that are police pursuits,” Salvi said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “We recognize fully that there are instances where the police must pursue. … But that wasn’t the case here.”
Family attorneys with Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard claimed that the city’s insurance carriers obstructed efforts to resolve the case. Before the trial, they proposed a $55 million settlement, but the insurers would only offer $12 million.
“The insurance companies that are supposed to protect taxpayer dollars for the city of Chicago gambled with those taxpayer dollars,” said Lance Northcutt, another attorney representing Da’Karia’s father, Kevin Spicer, and mother, Darnesha Johnson. “They gambled with the fact that a Cook County jury would not recognize the incalculable loss that the Spicer family endured with the loss of their little Da’Karia.”
The family’s lawyers said they intend to pursue a separate lawsuit against the insurance providers, accusing them of failing to settle the case before it went to trial.
Back in June, nearly four years after the horrific crash, the Chicago Police Department finally released body camera footage that shed light on what happened. Officers were captured blowing through stop signs, driving down alley ways in an unmarked car and seemingly making light of the prediction when the driver of the Mercedes Benz would crash.
The trial began on Dec. 5 in Cook County, with jurors hearing extensive testimony from Da’Karia’s parents, mental health experts, and medical professionals.
“This case is about some of the deepest depths of pain and loss,” Salvi told jurors during his closing statement, the Sun-Times reported. “The bright shining star of the family was killed,” Salvi continued, emphasizing the family’s unique bond. “That was their life, and the city took it. They took it away.”
Kevin Spicer, 47, took the stand on the first day of the trial, describing his daughter’s death as a gaping wound that remained unhealed.
“There is nothing you can do to replace that,” Kevin Spicer said, sobbing as he spoke. “I miss my daughter and nothing is going to change that.”
Kevin Spicer managed to climb through the sunroof of his wrecked car to reach his children despite his injuries on that day tragedy struck his family.
Dhaamir, who was 5 at the time, suffered serious injuries, including a fractured skull around his eye and acute respiratory failure. He spent three days on a ventilator at Comer Children’s Hospital. While he has since recovered, he was left with a prominent scar above his left eye.
The last time Kevin Spicer saw his daughter, she was lying on a stretcher, her eyes open but lifeless. “Da’Karia, I’m with you. Take me with her,” Kevin Spicer was heard saying at the scene.
The girl was rushed to a nearby children’s hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
During her decade of life, Da’Karia was a cheerleader, Girl Scout, and dancer with a passion for geography. Her bedroom was adorned with maps of Chicago, the United States, and the world.
The day after the crash, the city denied responsibility, with then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot going before the cameras and claiming the brief high-speed chase wasn’t to blame. However, police pursuits stemming from traffic violations directly violated Chicago Police Department policy.
A week before trial, the city finally admitted liability but contested the damages.
