City To Pay $20M In Wrongful-Death Lawsuit Over Cop's DUI Deaths

CHICAGO, IL — Lawyers for the City of Chicago agreed to settle a lawsuit earlier this month in the middle of closing arguments in a wrongful-death trial. The city has agreed to pay $20 million to the families of two men who were killed in a DUI crash caused by a former Chicago cop. The city suddenly revealed an important report mid-trial, which only helped to further the 'code of silence' allegations.

A U.S. District Judge called the report's late release and its information "highly damaging." The documents show that former Chicago cop Joseph Frugoli got into a drunken bar fight about 17 years before he killed the two men in the drunken driving crash in 2009.

The families of the two men launched a lawsuit against Frugali and the city. The lawsuit contends that the Chicago Police Department's 'code of silence' led Frugoli, 50, to "drink and drive with impunity," after he wasn't tested for alcohol in a 2008 collision. Frugoli pleaded guilty to charges of drunk driving that killed the two men a little over a year later.

The amount of the city's settlement was not made public, but the Chicago Tribune reported it was able to obtain the figure through sources. The agreement will have to be approved by the city's Finance Committee before the City Council votes on it.

After the report on Frugoli's 1992 bar fight was released, the families' attorneys called for sanctions against the city. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall chose not to call a mistrial, but called the city's sudden release of the report a "mess."

The report shows that Frugoli allegedly beat up two people at the First Base Tavern in Bridgeport in 1992. He also allegedly broke bar stools and threw glasses. Records show that Frugoli wasn't given a sobriety test after the fight, and was let off with a five-day suspension. Charges filed against Frugoli were dropped with "no record why," Kendall said.

Frugoli took the witness stand in the wrongful death suit last Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. He was brought from prison, where he's serving an eight-year sentence for his DUI conviction in the 2009 crash. He testified that as far as he knew, the day he killed the two men was the first time he drove drunk.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that city may never have released the report detailing the 1992 bar fight if Frugoli had not testified that he had been suspended after the fight. His testimony was intended to prove that he had been disciplined by the CPD, and that the department wasn't turning a blind eye under a 'code of silence.'

City lawyers claimed the report was lost during a transition to a new computer system.

Frugoli testified that he drank between 10 and 20 drinks multiple times a week throughout much of his career as a Chicago cop. Frugoli was involved in two previous crashes in January 2008, which happened about 24 hours apart. Police reports show he wasn't given a sobriety test after both crashes.

Image via IL Department of Corrections