CITY HALL — The City Council on Wednesday approved paying $4.7 million to settle lawsuits against the Police Department, including $3.75 million to the family of Esau Castellanos, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by an officer in Albany Park in 2013.
Officers initially claimed to have returned fire at Castellanos after he was stopped after a series of traffic violations. An autopsy later found he had a blood-alcohol level of 2½ times the legal limit.
But Jane Notz, of the Law Department, testified in Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting that "no gun was recovered."
The Council also approved a $550,000 settlement in what Notz said was the last case involving former officer Jerome Finnigan, a rogue cop known for shaking down drug dealers. A firefighter sued after Finnigan led a 2002 search of his home without a warrant, and claimed mental distress on the part of himself and two children in the home.
According to Notz, Finnigan was arrested later in 2002 and is now serving a 12-year prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire scheme. The Law Department, she said, handled 35 cases involving him, settling 25 at a total cost of $1.4 million.
The Council also granted a $425,000 settlement to two teenagers hurt in the aftermath of a high-speed police chase on the South Side in 2010. According to Notz, police officers violated Department policy for pursuing the high-speed case of a stolen car.
The officers claimed not to have been speeding, but Notz said global-positioning-satellite data showed their car going 99 miles an hour on Stony Island Boulevard.
The two teens were struck by the car thief's auto and by a light post that fell after the car struck it.
