INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A police pursuit at the center of a 41 Action News investigation is now the subject of a lawsuit.
In January, Sherry Ross was driving her 91-year-old father to mass when they were caught in the middle of a high-speed chase in Independence.
According to a police report, the pursuit was initiated over a seat belt violation.
When the suspect, James W. Mathis, refused to stop, police chased him through a residential area. They continued pursuit as Mathis reached speeds of 84 miles per hour and ran three red lights, eventually crashing into Ross and her father at the intersection of Sterling Ave and Blue Ridge Blvd.
Mathis was later found to have a revoked license and a small amount of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Ross walked away with a broken sternum, while her father suffered the same, plus eight broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Ross and her family are suing Mathis, the officer who pursued him and the City of Independence for damages.
The suit alleges recklessness on the part of the city and the officer on several counts, including failure to follow the policies of the Independence Police Department.
Although the IPD pursuit policy allows officers to chase for any crime, it specifies that "pursuits for traffic violations or for misdemeanors will be avoided or terminated if they pose unnecessary risk to life or property."
In previous interviews with 41 Action News, Ross and her family called for further restrictions to that pursuit policy to prevent other innocent bystanders from getting hurt.
"I want to prevent his from happening to somebody else. I think the city needs to ask itself different questions. Not how much do we have to pay out in a lawsuit," Angela Angotti, Ross's niece said, "It's what can we do to make the public safer? What can we do to revise our policy so we're not forcing young officers who don't have a lot of experience to make these life and death decisions."
This is not the first time the city has faced a lawsuit over a pursuit. Records obtained by 41 Action News show that from 2012 to 2017, chases resulted in payouts totaling $1.1 million. The largest of those was for a 2014 pursuit after which one man died and two women were severely injured.
