Father of innocent bystander killed in police chase sues city of Fort Worth for negligence
The father of a 57-year-old man who died during a police chase in July is suing the city of Fort Worth, alleging negligence and wrongful death.
Uriel Lemon Brown, the father of Andra Craig, filed his lawsuit in Tarrant County on Jan. 11, according to court records.
Fort Worth police officers from the Directed Response Unit were pursuing a stolen Dodge Challenger the evening of July 6. The suspect refused to stop and continued to evade officers even after police used stop sticks and deflated one of the Challenger’s tires, officials said.
Craig, an innocent bystander, had just left a birthday party when he unknowingly drove into the path of the high-speed chase, according to the lawsuit. A police Tahoe collided with Craig’s vehicle at the intersection of Rosedale Street and Evans Avenue.
Craig had the green light according to witnesses, but the police vehicle struck his car “suddenly and without warning,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges that the high-speed pursuit was “unlawful,” and the officer involved didn’t even try to apply his brakes or avoid the crash.
“Craig had no way of avoiding being struck by the police cruiser,” according to the lawsuit.
Craig was ejected in the crash and died at the scene, police said.
The police Tahoe hit a second vehicle after colliding with Craig, and the driver was treated at the scene, according to police. The officer was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.
The lawsuit alleges that the police officer, who is not identified by name in the lawsuit, “was clearly not paying attention” when his vehicle collided with Craig’s.
“The negligent, careless, and reckless acts of the City, through its employee, violated the duty it owed to Craig on the occasion in question,” the lawsuit states.
Brown, who is suing on behalf of himself and Craig’s estate, is asking for over $1 million in damages and “a demand for judgment for all the other relief to which the parties deem themselves entitled.”
The city has not yet filed a response with the court.
On July 7, the day after Craig’s death, the Star-Telegram filed an open records request with the Fort Worth Police Department for the department’s policy on making decisions about when to initiate, continue or call off a vehicle pursuit.
Similar requests were made by the Fort Worth Report and CBS.
The city asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for permission to withhold the records under the Texas Homeland Security Act. Paxton’s office, which reviews requests by governments in Texas to withhold information, said that at least a portion of the records should be released.
The attorney general determined the city hadn’t demonstrated that the documents met the criteria to be exempted from open records requests.
In September the city of Fort Worth filed a lawsuit in Travis County asking for relief from the attorney general’s rulings because city officials said they believe the determination of when to call off a vehicle pursuit is tactical information that, if made public, would interfere with the department’s ability to prevent, detect or investigate crimes.
The Fort Worth Police Department released parts of its vehicle chase procedure on Monday but left out some sections including forbidden pursuit tactics and the use of tire deflation devices.
The released portions of the chase policy serve “the public’s interest in accountability and allows them to educate themselves on the department’s policies while simultaneously protecting the Fort Worth Police officers and our residents by not providing specific tactics used to apprehend offenders,” the department wrote in a news release.
The segments released Monday begin on page 106 of the general orders on the department’s website.
It’s not clear whether the police department or the city attorney’s office believes that the released segments satisfy the public record requests filed by the Star-Telegram and the other news organizations, or whether the release resolves the city’s lawsuit against the attorney general.
