3 Detroit police sued over high speed chase that killed 2 children, injured 3 others

Three Detroit police officers were sued Friday over a 2015 high-speed chase in a residential neighborhood that killed a brother and a sister and seriously injured three other children –- all of whom were struck while playing in their yards.

According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the three accused officers were chasing a red Camaro that was traveling 100 miles per hour through an east side neighborhood. Police were chasing the vehicle because one of the passengers in the Camaro allegedly was seen by an officer "brandishing a black, semiautomatic handgun," the lawsuit states.

During the chase, the police cruiser bumped the Camaro, which spun out of control and hit two siblings as they played in their front yard on Nottingham. Killed were 3-year-old Makiah Jackson and her 6-year-old brother Michaelangelo.

But the mayhem didn't end there.

According to the lawsuit, after hitting the two children, the Camaro continued down the street until striking a parked minivan nearly a block away. The impact pushed the minivan into three children who were playing at the side of the house, seriously injuring all three. An 8-year-old boy was flown to a hospital in Ann Arbor after his lungs collapsed, the suit said.

Police chased the Camaro's driver through back yards and fields until eventually catching him four blocks away. But the gun that police reported seeing -- which triggered the chase -- was never found, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit blames the officers for the injuries and the deaths of the victims, saying they recklessly and/or deliberately disregarded the DPD policy on chases. The suit cites the policy, which states: "A pursuit shall be discontinued when, in the judgement of the primary unit, there is clear and present danger to the public which outweighs the need for immediate apprehension of the violator. ... Officers must place the protection of human life above all other considerations."

The officers in this case failed to do that, the lawsuit states.

"(The) officers unreasonably and unlawfully pursued the red Camaro at highly unreasonable and dangerous speeds through a densely populated residential neighborhood," the lawsuit states.

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DPD officials declined to comment citing pending litigation. The lawsuit also names the city of Detroit as a defendant.

Named in the lawsuit are Officers Richard Billingslea, Steven Fultz, Hakeem Patterson and unnamed supervisors. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the mother of Jackson children and relatives and friends of the three injured children.

According to the lawsuit, the Camaro’s computer confirmed that the vehicle was traveling at over 100 miles per hour in the densely populated neighborhood.

“This is not the first time that Billingslea and Patterson have been involved in thuggish and dangerous behavior that resulted in the harm of innocent citizens,” attorney Solomon Radner, who is representing the victims' families, said in a statement.

Radnor said Billingslea recently was criminally charged for an assault caught on camera by two Detroit residents, both of whom are also represented by Radner.

Friday's lawsuit comes six months after a 15-year-old Detroit boy was killed when his ATV four-wheeler hit the back of a pickup truck while he was fleeing from Michigan State Police troopers.

The boy fled on his four-wheeler after troopers tried to stop him for reckless driving in northeast Detroit. The chase ended when the teen tried to drive off the road onto the sidewalk, but lost control and hit the rear of a pickup truck.

Tresa Baldas can be reached at tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tbaldas