<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1sCl1x_1GqD86iZ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1sCl1x_1GqD86iZ00" width="1200" height="600" >CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Two lawsuits now accuse Chicopee Police of breaking their own chase rules in a 2023 crash that killed a 13-year-old. The newest was filed by a passenger who was in the car. We’re also hearing from the attorney for the man who was asleep inside the home.The City of Chicopee now faces two lawsuits over this crash. One comes from a passenger in the car — the other comes from Joe Lucia. He was asleep on his couch when that car came crashing through his wall. His attorney told us Joe’s life has been changed forever. This was Joe Lucia’s home on Montgomery Street. In an instant, it became a crash site.It was around 2:45 in the morning on March 25, 2023. A Lexus, fleeing police, rolled and broke through the wall. The crash started a fire that consumed the house and the car. Lucia was hurt — permanently. Seconds before the crash, according to the complaint, the car was going 86 miles per hour. The posted speed limit on that road is 35. Lucia’s attorney, A.J. O’Donald, said Joe suffered a traumatic brain injury that night. He called it a ‘catastrophic change’ caused by what he describes as a ‘conflux of horrible decisions.’In a statement to Western Mass News, O’Donald said: ‘a liquor store serving a minor tequila. A mother handing car keys to her intoxicated son, and Chicopee Police unnecessarily engaging in a high-speed pursuit in violation of its police pursuit policy’O’Donald said Lucia’s lawsuit is nearly identical to the one just filed by Branden Bynum. Bynum was 17 and sitting in the back seat, the crash fractured his spine.Da’vant Byrd, 13, was trapped in the car and died. Bynum’s complaint reads: “[officers Kyle] Robbins and [Aaron] Beaulieu had time and opportunity to choose a safer course yet continued the dangerous effort to catch the lexus despite the obvious and escalating risk of a catastrophic crash.”According to the complaint, the city’s pursuit policy told officers to balance the danger of a chase against the need to immediately detain someone. Bynum’s lawsuit accuses the officers of depriving him of his due process rights. It accuses supervisors of failing to train officers or step in and stop the pursuit, and it accuses the city of negligence.The complaint also makes a claim against J&amp;J Package Store, accusing it of selling two bottles of tequila to a 19-year-old without asking for identification. The lawsuits put the spotlight back on the hiring and training of the officers involved.The complaint said one of them had been let go from the Harwich Police Department FOR reasons that included “difficulty responding to training” and “poor officer-safety techniques.”Bynum’s Attorney, Richard Herbert, said: “it took a lot of wrong things to happen for this disaster to occur.” attorney O’Donald said Joe Lucia is now living with the permanent consequences of those decisions.We reached out to Chicopee’s attorney for comment but have not yet heard back. We are continuing to track both of these lawsuits as they move through the court system.</div></body>

Block Source: westernmassnews.com

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CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Two lawsuits now accuse Chicopee Police of breaking their own chase rules in a 2023 crash that killed a 13-year-old. The newest was filed by a passenger who was in the car. We’re also hearing from the attorney for the man who was asleep inside the home.

Lawsuit filed after devastating 2023 crash in Chicopee

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CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Two lawsuits now accuse Chicopee Police of breaking their own chase rules in a 2023 crash that killed a 13-year-old. The newe

Lawsuit filed after devastating 2023 crash in Chicopee

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