Chicago panel to weigh $2M settlement in fatal police chase

CHICAGO (AP) - A man whose wife was struck and killed by a car being pursued by Chicago police officers will receive $2 million if a city committee approves a proposed settlement over her death.

The Chicago City Council's Finance Committee is set on Monday to consider the settlement involving Julia Lynn Callaway, who was struck so violently in May 2018 her body was thrown 50 feet (15.2 meters) into the air.

If the settlement is approved, the money would go to her widower, David Brown, the minister of Shiloh Baptist Church, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Brown had taken his 55-year-old wife shopping for Mother's Day when she was struck and killed along a sidewalk in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood by a car fleeing a traffic stop.

Officers claimed to have smelled a 'œstrong odor of cannabis'ť coming from Curtis Pugh's car before they pulled up next to his vehicle, prompting Pugh to speed away with two passengers inside.

He was pursued by officers as he swerved through traffic, running stop signs and red lights before he drove onto a sidewalk, fatally struck Callaway and also injured a 31-year-old man.

Pugh, then 22, acknowledged leading police on the chase, but said he thought he had enough space to avoid hitting the two pedestrians. The Matteson man was charged with first-degree murder as well as drug and traffic offenses.

Pugh remains incarcerated for convictions related to the incident.