A man injured in a multi-car crash involving a fleeing felon is suing the Tucson Police Department for negligence, saying it failed to ensure his safety, court records show.
In a lawsuit filed in Pima County Superior Court in June, Victor Alvarez says the department and city exercised negligence and gross negligence in their handling of the traffic stop and subsequent chase.
On June 19, 2015, Tucson police officers pulled over a truck linked to a felony investigation, in the parking lot of a Walgreens at South 12th Avenue and West Ajo Way, according to the police report.
The driver, Donald Terry, put the truck in reverse, ramming an occupied vehicle and pushing it until it struck another car in the parking lot.
Officers who were following the truck on foot recognized that Terry posed a serious threat to people in the area, several of them firing their guns in an attempt to stop the truck, the police report said.
Terry continued to drive in reverse until he pulled out of the parking lot and rushed east on Ajo Way. One vehicle was struck at the 12th Avenue intersection, before the pickup truck crashed to a stop at South Sixth Avenue, in a wreck that involved at least nine vehicles — including a police car, according to the police report.
Alvarez was in a vehicle involved in the Sixth Avenue crash, and was injured, but the type and extent of his injuries are unclear from the lawsuit. However, the lawsuit says that as a result of the collision, he “will continue to experience injury from this incident.”
In the suit, Alvarez says police were conducting surveillance on Terry at a hotel prior to the incident. He was seen leaving a room and getting into his truck, but police didn’t make contact with him or prevent him from driving out of the hotel parking lot, according to the lawsuit.
The suit argues that it’s the duty of police to protect the general public, and by failing to stop Terry before he was in the Walgreens parking lot, police are directly responsible for his injuries.
Alvarez is asking the court to award unspecified damages and has requested a jury trial .
A hearing will be scheduled for Judge Jeffrey Bergin to rule on Alvarez’s request for a jury trial .
The city has said it does not comment on pending litigation.
