Jury awards woman struck during police chase $2.5 million

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     ST. LOUIS (AP) – A St. Louis jury has awarded a $2.5 million judgment against the city police department for a 2011 police chase that resulted in a pedestrian’s death.

     The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the jury awarded the money Friday to Elvira Secic.

     Secic and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Daunte Simmons, were struck on a Poplar Street Bridge off-ramp by a driver fleeing police as they walked home from an Illinois nightclub. Secic’s left leg was amputated. Simmons died from his injuries.

     Secic accused the officer of speeding, failing to activate his siren and only turning on his emergency lights seconds before the accident.

     St. Louis lawyers denied the officer was to blame but said he violated department policies and city ordinances that require emergency lights and sirens during a chase.






   

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