Historic $45 million Chicago police misconduct settlement moves forward

“This is going to be the rest of our lives,” Boyd said. “Just a simple, ‘Hey mom, how was your day?’ — I’ll never be able to get that again.”

The city would likely be forced to pay much more than the $45 million settlement if the case went to trial, said attorney Patrick Salvi Jr. of the family’s law firm, Salvi Schostok & Pritchard. The high price, which Salvi said he believes will become the largest police settlement in Chicago’s history Wednesday, shows how important it is that policies like the “no chase” rules are followed.

“These are rules that have been written in blood,” he said.

If approved by the full City Council, the settlement would compel the city to pay $20 million and its insurer to pay $25 million. Aldermen also advanced expensive settlements Monday in two additional lawsuits involving Chicago police.

The Finance Committee advanced in a 21-4 vote a $2.25 million settlement for the family of Roshad McIntosh. McIntosh was fatally shot by police in 2014 after fleeing from officers who had responded to a tip about possible illegal guns. McIntosh’s mother alleged in a federal lawsuit her son was surrendering and unarmed when he was shot and that police misconduct in the shooting had been hidden by a “code of silence.”

Police said McIntosh, then 19, pointed a gun at an officer before he was shot, but CPD reopened its investigation into the shooting in November 2017 after surveillance video showed testifying officers weren’t as close to the shooting as they had said — an inconsistency that led to one officer’s resignation. Police at the time said they recovered a loaded 9mm pistol near his body, though an Illinois State Police inspection found no usable fingerprints. McIntosh’s mother claimed the gun was planted.

Council members also approved a $5.5 million settlement for Ricardo Rodriguez, a man who spent decades in prison for what his attorneys say was a wrongful conviction for a 1991 shooting murder.

In a federal lawsuit, Rodriguez accused disgraced former Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara of extracting a false confession using physical and psychological abuse during an interrogation, while having no physical evidence to link Rodriguez to the crime.

Guevara has been accused of fabricating evidence against people throughout his career with the Chicago Police Department, leading to dozens of overturned convictions, including Rodriguez’s. Legal awards in cases involving Guevara have cost the city around $55 million, according to city attorneys.

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