Erika Boyd, mother of Nathen Jones, speaks to reporters on Monday.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Chicago taxpayers have paid tens of millions of dollars in recent years to compensate victims of alleged abuse and wrongdoing by Chicago Police Department officers, but it’s hard to imagine a more costly single day than Wednesday.
The City Council shoveled $52.75 million out the door to settle three different cases.
The largest of the settlements — $45 million — goes to Nathen Jones, who suffered a massive traumatic brain injury that left the now 18-year-old on a feeding tube, unable to walk or speak after an unauthorized police chase triggered by a blown stop sign.
Earlier this week, Jones mother Rekia Boyd told reporters “no amount of money” can compensate her family for the daily heartache CPD officer Jhonathan Perez caused when he decided to chase a 2002 Volkswagen after that car went through a stop sign on the Near West Side in April 2021. Nathen Jones was a backseat passenger in the Volkswagen.
“Nathen was a regular, happy, healthy, active 15-year-old kid. He brought our family a lot of joy. He still does. But the price that he had to pay for being in a car — no amount of money can bring back the child I had before this,” Erika Boyd said Monday, as Nathen sat at her side in a wheelchair.
Settlement OK’d for kidnapping suspect
The second-largest settlement — for $5.5 million, approved with twelve dissenting votes — goes to a man who spent 22 years in prison in a case investigated by notorious CPD detective Reynaldo Guevera. Ricardo Rodriquez says Guevera and his investigative co-horts bullied witnesses into identifying him as the shooter in a 1995 shooting in Belmont Cragin. Rodriguez is in line for that payout as he also faces charges for a home invasion and kidnapping he’s accused of committing a year after his release.
Another 33 more cases remain pending against Guevera in the courts — cases that could trigger similar settlements.
The third settlement is for $2.25 million. It was approved 33 to 15 and goes to the family of Roshad McIntosh, shot and killed by a Chicago police officer nearly a decade ago.
In the days after the teen’s death, McIntosh’s family had raised questions about the August 2014 shooting and the chase preceding it, a case twice investigated by police oversight authorities — with the officer who opened fire cleared of wrongdoing each time.
Democratic National Convention security restrictions
The settlements were approved at a Council meeting that also saw Mayor Brandon Johnson introduce an ordinance authorizing Police Superintendent Larry Snelling to designate the boundaries of a security footprint around the Democratic National Conventions.
The precise borders of that protective bubble have not yet been established. But, within those boundaries, it would be illegal to:
• Push, pull or transport any vehicle, cart or float.
• Throw any item.
• Operate any small unmanned aircraft.
• Possess, carry control or have immediate access to any item that poses potential safety hazards, as determined by CPD, the U.S. Secret Service and the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
That will include these items banned in the bubble: tents and structures; sealed packages and large bags; animals other than service or guide dogs; bicycles, scooters, folding chairs, balloons and coolers; glass thermal or metal containers; umbrellas with metal tips; aerosols; tobacco products, e-cigarettes, lighters and matches; firearms, ammunition, fireworks, laser points, stun guns, mace, pepper spray, tasers and toy weapons.
In other action
Johnson also set the stage to overhaul the board overseeing the Chicago Park District with four new appointments: Philip Jackson; Sean Garrett; Robert Castaneda and Coya Paz.