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City Should Pay $250K To Settle Suit Against No. 2 Cop, Lawyers Advise

By Heather Cherone | February 17, 2017 2:52pm | Updated on February 20, 2017 8:53am
 First Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro (center), flanked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel  and Supt. Eddie Johnson, is accused of negligence related to an on-duty traffic accident in 2011.
First Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro (center), flanked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Supt. Eddie Johnson, is accused of negligence related to an on-duty traffic accident in 2011.
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DNAinfo/Kelly Bauer

DOWNTOWN — The city should pay a motorcyclist who was struck by a Chicago Police SUV driven by an officer who is now the department's second-highest ranking official $250,000, city attorneys recommended Friday.

The incident occurred nearly five years ago when Officer Kevin Navarro, now the Police Department's first deputy superintendent, was called to investigate reports of drag racing on South Chicago Avenue near 85th Street.

Carlos Russian, 26, a bartender, was driving a Suzuki GSX-R 750 just before 2 a.m. Aug. 30, 2011. In a lawsuit against the city and Navarro, he alleged that he crashed into the Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Navarro when the officer made a U-turn and headed north in the southbound lanes on South Chicago Avenue, without his emergency lights or sirens on.

Russian was catapulted 30 feet by the force of the impact and was seriously injured, according to his lawsuit.

The suit accuses Navarro of acting negligently, and claims he was poorly trained by the city.

The City Council's Finance Committee is scheduled to consider the settlement at its meeting set for Tuesday. The full Council could approve the settlement Wednesday.

Navarro is expected to take over the Police Department when Supt. Eddie Johnson goes on leave for a kidney transplant when an organ becomes available.

Also Tuesday, the Council's Finance Committee will consider the city attorney's recommendation to pay $370,000 to a city employee who sued the city for false arrest after getting caught up in a 2008 prostitution sting.

Hugo Holmes, a former field service supervisor for the Chicago Department of Transportation, said he was falsely accused of soliciting sex from undercover officer Michelle Acosta, who was named in the suit.

All charges against Holmes were dropped by Cook County State's Attorney's Office.