Chicago police body camera video shows moments before chase, crash that killed girl
CHICAGO (CBS) – New body camera footage sheds light on what happened during a 2020 chase in Chicago that ended in a crash that killed a 10-year-old girl.
The girl's family has been fighting the city in court to get to the truth of what took place.
At the time of the crash, the city had strict rules about when an officer can chase a fleeing vehicle, and since the crash, the Chicago Police Department has denied any wrongdoing. CBS 2 Investigators on Wednesday obtained body camera video revealing officers in hot pursuit down side streets over a blown traffic sign.
It was a horrific crash with cars and parts scattered throughout the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Kevin Spicer was driving his daughter Da'Karia and son Dhaamir to pick up a laptop for her school.
The Spicer family had no idea that just moments before the crash, a police chase was headed their way.
The crash happened in September of 2020, but the body camera video has been kept under wraps. Officers were driving an unmarked car and had started following a black Mercedes for a traffic violation. The body camera footage shows them appearing to blow through stop signs and head down alleys and side streets.
Hot pursuits over traffic violations are a direct violation of Chicago Police Department policy.
The officers in the police car said during the ordeal that they knew the car they were chasing would not stop.
"I knew he wasn't going to stop. He gone!" said one of the officers in the pursuing squad car.
He added, "I knew it. I seen him."
Another officer said, "He going to crash. He's about to crash right now. Boom!"
For some reason, the officers stopped their squad car and left it behind to run to the car instead. The Mercedes first hit a 57-year-old woman in another car and then the Spicers.
"We got a kid in the car," one of the officers said.
Kevin Spicer is seen in the video trying to frantically pull his children out of the car. Dhaamir, the 5-year-old, was in a car seat. Da'Karia was in the rear driver seat.
"Da'Karia, I'm with you. Take me with her," Kevin Spicer was heard saying.
Once officers got the children out, they rushed them to a hospital, where Dakaria died.
The Chicago Police Department could not comment because of an ongoing lawsuit by the family. One officer involved in the chase is still on duty while another officer is inactive.