A person who was hit by a Chicago police officer during a tense protest in 2020 is now waiting to get a $280,000 settlement from the city.
An official report from the Civilian Office of Police Accountability says that activist Miracle Boyd lost a front tooth at a protest near the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park. This happened when retired officer Nicholas Jovanovich hit her phone, which hit her face. On Monday, the deal was moved forward by the Finance Committee, making it ready for a final vote on Wednesday.
Boyd told the aldermen that the damage was worse than just her teeth before the committee’s 22–7 vote.
She said, “I remember it like it was yesterday because I still can’t get over the harm that was done to me.” “That officer shouldn’t have done that because it was already decided that I deserved it.”
GoodKidsMadCity is an anti-violence group that Boyd has worked with as an organizer. Mayor Brandon Johnson has shown great support for this group. Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) used her own connection to the group to make the case for why the deal should be accepted.
Taylor said, “I don’t think I need to say anything.” “$280,000 isn’t enough to fix what was wrong that day.”
The council also agreed to three more deals worth a total of $2.9 million that had to do with police driving.
A $400,000 deal was made for a person who was hit by a police car while the officer was running a red light. The police officer hit someone because he was “distracted by a call.” The person he hit now has chronic traumatic headaches, according to city attorney Margaret Mendenhall Casey. In the two other deals, drivers who were being chased by police were accused of breaking Chicago Police Department chase rules by hitting and killing people.
Mendenhall Casey said that officers were chasing a crazy driver at 87 mph without telling their bosses ahead of time, which led to the crash that killed Mignonne Robinson, 40. She said the driver who tried to get away pleaded guilty to reckless murder and was given a prison sentence of more than three years.
Before there was another accident in the Garfield Park neighborhood, Mendenhall Casey said, police chased a driver who had broken the law by going 30 miles per hour in a lane. Ezell Ricky Island, 54, died in the crash in February 2020. The families of the dead will get $1 million and $1.5 million in settlements.