“He should not have died”, was all Shatrelle McComb, the mother of Dillan Harris, managed to say before being overcome by emotion. The lawsuit filed on behalf of McComb targets 20 unnamed police officers who allegedly disregarded superior’s orders, according to CBS Chicago. “And had it been stopped appropriately this would not have occurred”, lawyer Antonio Romanucci said. “It’s like, escalation continues the escalation”. Watkins is also named in the suit.
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The pursuit wound through 3.5 miles of residential South Side neighborhoods, and Romanucci called it a “police chase that never should have happened”.
McComb was on her way to the beach with her three children two weeks ago when a man fleeing Chicago police after allegedly killing a Chicago rapper affiliated with Chief Keef jumped a curb and fatally struck her youngest child as he sat in a stroller.
Watkins has been charged with first-degree murder in Dillan’s death, but has not been charged in connection with Carr’s death, as of Thursday morning. McComb said her baby would be alive if police heeded the instructions.
In a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, city attorneys blamed Watkins for Dillan’s death.
The officers “recklessly engaged in a high-speed chase which caused the vehicle pursued to strike Dillan Harris”, the suit stated.
“This is a tragedy that we’re sick and exhausted of hearing in the city of Chicago”.
“It all circles back to the culture that is instilled in the police department – they never accept responsibility”, Romanucci said. “However, while we are deeply saddened by this tragic event, there is no evidence to suggest that anyone other than Antoine Watkins is responsible for this incident”, Holden said. He questioned whether police would have continued a similar chase on the North Side.
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The directive goes on to say that “all members involved in or supervising a motor vehicle pursuit must be prepared to justify their actions”.
