Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Police Department

Christina Cole

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A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, seeking damages from Wichita Falls Police Department and one of its officers for a car accident that resulted in the death of a 29-year-old man in April 2005.

Two relatives, heirs to the man's estate, are suing the department and unnamed officer. Court documents describe the officer as "an unknown officer with said police department."

This is an action for wrongful death, including mental anguish he suffered as his imminent death became apparent, including damages suffered by his survivors.

An April 2005 Times Record News article cited a police news release, and gave this account of the early morning incident:

An officer suspected the driver of a 1990 Honda Accord was intoxicated, and tried to pull him over in the parking lot of the Motel 6 in the 1800 block of Maurine about 12:30 a.m. April 2. The car came close to striking the officer, and it fled. Police followed the vehicle as it traveled along several roads. At Fairway and Southwest Parkway, the vehicle failed to stop at a flashing red light. The driver swerved to avoid a collision and lost control. The car crossed a median and the northbound lanes of Fairway, went over a curb and hit a concrete bridge abutment. The man was pronounced dead at the hospital.

"On April 2, 2005, he was minding his own business in a gas station in Wichita Falls, Texas," the federal complaint reads. "An officer of the City of Wichita Falls Police Department decided to pursue his vehicle when he drove away from the gas station... Some eight (8) miles from the gas station, in the midst of the pursuit by the officer, his vehicle ran into a ditch and rolled over, killing him."