Fort Worth will pay $250,000 to the family of a man killed two years ago when a police officer crashed into his vehicle during a high-speed chase.
Fort Worth police officer Linuel Joel was pursuing a suspected stolen vehicle July 6, 2023, when he ran a red light at the intersection of Evans Street and Rosedale Street and hit 57-year-old Andre Craig's car. Craig was not involved in the chase. The crash ejected him from his car, and he died on the scene.
Craig’s father, Uriel Lemon Brown, sued the city of Fort Worth in February 2024. Brown alleged Joel – and therefore the city – was negligent and reckless for failing to control his speed, failing to keep a proper lookout and failing to obey all traffic laws, among other things.
City council members approved the settlement during their meeting Tuesday. KERA News has reached out to the city as well as Brown’s lawyers for comment. Craig's sister declined to comment.
A Tarrant County jury declined to indict Joel on criminal charges. He received a 15-day suspension for violating FWPD’s police chase policy, according to disciplinary records obtained by KERA News, but his specific violations were redacted.
The driver of the alleged stolen vehicle, 20-year-old Brian Hunter, was charged with evading arrest in a vehicle causing death.
The Fort Worth City Council approved a $140,000 settlement in a similar lawsuit earlier this year filed by two men over the same incident. They alleged Craig’s car hit their truck and they were injured.
Craig’s death, along with the death of 15-year-old Samaria Ezell in a separate chase that summer, sparked scrutiny over the Fort Worth Police Department’s police chase policy. After media outlets – including KERA News and the Fort Worth Report – filed open records requests in an attempt to obtain the department’s policy, the Texas Attorney General’s Office ruled some but not all of FWPD’s vehicle pursuit policy could be withheld.
The city sued the AG’s office to continue withholding those records, claiming their chase tactics were confidential and fully releasing them would endanger officers and the public. After reporting from KERA News and the Fort Worth Report showed why police departments across North Texas say they release their own vehicle pursuit policies, FWPD released a redacted version of its policy after declining to do so for months.
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