AUSTIN (KXAN) — The City of Austin and an Austin Police Department officer are being sued in relation to a September 2019 deadly crash that began as a police chase.
KXAN previously covered the incident, when an officer tried to pull over a truck. When the driver didn’t stop, the officer began a high-speed chase.
The driver of the truck died after running a red light and hitting another car at the intersection of East Parmer Lane and Dessau Road.
The lawsuit was filed by the occupants of the second car.
Attorneys argue Officer Richard Bozelli violated department policy and shouldn’t have gone ahead with the dangerous pursuit.
In March, Bozelli was suspended for 10 days for failing to properly stop the chase. An APD disciplinary memo said that the investigation into the crash found that Bozelli was going 82 mph with his lights and sirens on at the time of the collision.
In a statement to KXAN on Monday, the plaintiffs’ attorney Aaron von Flatern said:
“City policy prohibits officers from engaging in high-speed pursuits of non-dangerous traffic violators. Unfortunately that policy was violated in this case. A driver ran a stop sign, then failed to pull over. An APD officer chased that driver at increasing speeds until the driver ran a red light. A mother and her unborn child were hospitalized as a result. FVF Law filed suit on behalf of our clients to help determine why this happened, and to keep it from happening again.”
KXAN has reached out to the City of Austin for comment.
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