CHICAGO — A City Council committee voted in favor Monday of paying a $5 million settlement for the mother of a 17-year-old who was shot and killed by Chicago police officers while running away from a car crash in February 2019.
Alice Martin, the mother Michael Elam, filed the suit months later against the city and the officer, Adolfo Bolanos. According to the suit, Elam was a passenger in the back seat of a car that police tried to pull over for a traffic violation around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 16, 2019. The officers were in an unmarked car. After a ten-block pursuit, the 2004 Acura that Elam was riding in crashed at the intersection of 21st Place and Keeler Avenue, and the passengers inside tried to run away.
Right after the crash, the officer exited his car without his body camera activated and began firing his gun as Elam attempted to run away, hitting Elam in the back of the head and back, according to the lawsuit, which said Elam was unarmed and not a threat. “More than five minutes passed” from the time the teenager was shot and when officers requested an ambulance, the suit said.
