Officer's Negligence Caused Crash: Lawsuit

BOLINGBROOK, IL - A Bolingbrook Police officer and the village of Bolingbrook now find themselves as co-defendants in a recent negligence lawsuit accusing the officer of driving his squad car carelessly and in an unsafe condition when he collided with another car at the intersection of Schmidt Road and Lily Cache Lane one year ago.

The new civil lawsuit was filed at the Will County Courthouse by the Chicago personal injury trial law firm of Fisher & Lamonica. The firm is seeking an award from the court in excess of $50,000 on behalf of their plaintiffs, Maira Silva-Avila and Rosaura Silva.

Bolingbrook Police Officer Joseph Cassidy was involved in the Nov. 29, 2017 crash that injured the plaintiffs, the lawsuit states.

Here are the key assertions made in the Will County lawsuit:

Silva-Avila was driving southbound on Schmidt Road near Lily Cache Lane and Rosaura Silva was the passenger. Cassiday, the lawsuit states,"was operating a marked police vehicle westbound on Lily Cache Lane at or near its intersection with Schmidt Road."

The plaintiffs, the lawsuit states, "entered the intersection of Schmidt Road and Lily Cache Lane on a solid green light for northbound and southbound traffic."

Next, Officer Cassidy's squad car entered the intersection "through a solid red light for eastbound and westbound traffic ... Cassidy made contact with the driver's side of the vehicle."

At the time of the collision, Cassidy had activated his emergency lights, the lawsuit states.

The Bolingbrook officer's actions left Silva-Avila, the driver, having "suffered great pain and anguish, both in mind and body .... plaintiff further expended and became liable ... for large sums of money for medical care and services endeavoring to become healed and cured of said injuries," the lawsuit states.

File image via John Ferak/Bolingbrook Patch Editor