Family of innocent man killed during Monroeville police chase sues department
MONROEVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) — The family of a man who was hit and killed by a car that police were chasing is suing the Monroeville Police Department.
According to the family's attorney, Luis Hernandez was coming home from work when he was hit by a fleeing driver in Wilkinsburg.
The lawsuit, filed by the family of Hernandez, is now in federal court. The attorney representing them said this pursuit should have never happened and was always going to end in tragedy.
According to the lawsuit, the pursuit of Jack Sherwood in August 2022 reached speeds of 107 miles per hour. It started in Monroeville on William Penn Highway and went through Churchill before Hernandez was fatally hit at William Penn Highway and Graham Boulevard in Wilkinsburg. He died at a local hospital. His three children are without a father.
"They obviously are just tragically stricken by the loss. The loss is incomprehensible," Robert Daley of Robert Perice and Associates said.
Daley said the chase should have never started. Sherwood was allegedly known to police. According to the Allegheny County Police Department, after Sherwood hit Hernandez, he continued leading other officers on a vehicle chase before being stopped and trying to hit an officer with his car. Police said they shot him in the arm.
Daley said Monroeville's pursuit policy needs to change. In body camera footage from that night, an officer can be heard telling a Churchill officer Monroeville's threshold for a chase.
"Their pursuit policy is pretty lenient comparatively speaking," an officer can be heard saying on camera.
Another camera shows Monroeville Police Chief Doug Cole saying he considered telling officers to stop.
"Thought about trying to call you guys off," Chief Cole said.
"Thought about it too. Until we hit this part, it wasn't terrible on traffic," an officer replied.
"It's just incomprehensible that the chase would have occurred at that speed at that time when they knew where Mr. Sherwood lived," Daley said.
Daley said the department's policy may have played a role when a PRT bus hit a house in Homewood in August. Monroeville police officers were chasing a suspect who then hit the bus, which then hit the house.
"Sometimes people think we see in TV and movies police chases, car chases are all the rage, but they should be used as an absolute last resort," Daley said.
KDKA-TV reached out to Monroeville police for its side of the story, but the department said it can't comment on pending litigation.