NEW YORK — The daughter of a 71-year-old Brooklyn woman killed by a hit-and-run driver says the NYPD’s recklessness led to the crash — because officers chased the driver for eight blocks over a blown stop sign, according to a new federal lawsuit.

The crash that killed Juanita Vidal on May 9, 2024, came at the height of an NYPD push to engage in more aggressive police chases during the Adams administration. The lawsuit filed by her daughter, Jessica Vidal, points out the trend, highlighting then Chief of Department John Chell’s remarks about unregistered “ghost cars” at a July 2023 press conference.

“People thinking they can take off on us, those days are over,” Chell said.

The year of the crash, cops chased 2,278 fleeing vehicles, according to NYPD stats. About 25%, or 569, ended in a collision that caused either property damage or harmed someone. About 67%, or 1,526, were sparked by vehicles fleeing car stops. In January 2025, newly appointed NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch reversed that approach, ordering cops only to engage in pursuits when a felony crime or a violent misdemeanor is committed.

On the day of the crash, Juanita and her daughter, Jessica had just stepped into a Bushwick crosswalk when Robert Matthews slammed his Mazda CX-5 into them at Eldert St. and Knickerbocker Ave. as he was being pursued, He then crashed into a parked car and ran off.

Juanita, also a grandmother, died of her injuries, while Jessica suffered several fractured ribs, one of which pierced her lungs, the lawsuit states.

Jessica Vidal this week filed a lawsuit against the city and several unnamed officers, contending that Matthews got into the crash because police engaged in a dangerous, high-speed chase through the streets of Brooklyn at the height of the afternoon rush hour, never turning on their sirens to alert pedestrians to the danger barreling down the streets.

The cops were following Matthews because he ran a stop sign in front of them, then, after they pulled him over, he sped off, according to police and prosecutors. Jessica Vidal contends the officers alreadyhad Matthews’ license plate number from the car stop before he fled.

Nevertheless, “the officers pursued Matthews, far exceeding the speed limit in doing so, as well as running stop signs and red lights to keep up with Matthews,” the lawsuit alleges.

Matthews ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in April, and was sentenced to five to 10 years in May.

At his sentencing, Jessica Vidal said in a prepared statement she still deals with the trauma from the crash, and put some of the blame on the police.

“I completely understand this is not something Mr. Robert Matthews planned. I also believe if he could go back, he would have taken a different choice. I know that if he wasn’t being chased by cops today it would have been a different story, but it’s not,” she said. “I sincerely chose to forgive Mr. Robert Matthews because I believe in a God of forgiveness.”

The crash came less than three months after Matthews, who was driving with a revoked license, ran away from another Brooklyn wreck after he attacked and threatened to kill the driver of the other car, according to a criminal complaint.

Vidal’s lawsuit cites statistics showing that police pursuits and crashes rose sharply under the Adams administration.

“Although the NYPD maintained written pursuit policies recognizing that pursuits should be terminated when public safety outweighed the need for immediate apprehension, the City’s actual customs, practices, supervision, and institutional response encouraged or tolerated increasingly aggressive pursuits, failed to ensure compliance with those policies despite repeated notice of deadly consequences, and failed to impose meaningful corrective action after catastrophic pursuit-related incidents,” the lawsuit alleges.

Vidal’s lawyer, Cyrus Joubin, did not return messages seeking comment.

When asked for comment about Vidal’s lawsuit, the NYPD press office said it wouldn’t comment on pending litigation. The department did not return questions about the officers involved in the pursuit and whether they have faced any investigation or internal discipline for this incident.

“This was such a tragic loss. We will carefully review these claims,” city Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci said Thursday.

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