WHOOPS -I think we posted this at the exact same time!!


Family plans protest, sues Waukegan cop

(http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article)

February 24, 2007

By RYAN PAGELOW RPAGELOW@SCN1.COM

WAUKEGAN -- Friends of an uninsured, undocumented immigrant from Waukegan who died in an accident with a city squad car are planning to protest in front of the Lake County Building at 8 a.m. Monday.

The family of Wilson "Alex" Lopez-Ochoa has sued a Waukegan police officer, Michael Newman, and the city for wrongful death of their relative in the 2005 accident. Lopez's brother, Rolando, was appointed by the court to act as the special administrator of his estate.

Representatives of both parties were scheduled to meet for informal arbitration on Monday, but it was canceled Friday, said Lopez's attorney, Larry Ruder. The civil lawsuit is scheduled for a jury trial March 12 before Judge Mary Schostok, Ruder said.

Organizers of the protest claim the police officer involved in the accident was never charged although he was speeding and did not have his flashing lights or siren on at the time of the crash.

"We just want to bring attention to the case and send a strong message that we haven't forgotten about it and we're closely monitoring it," said Margaret Carrasco, an activist with Casa Mexiquense in Waukegan.

Originally from Honduras, Lopez-Ochoa did not have a valid driver's license or insurance. He had a driver's license and insurance through an assumed name, which police said he used for employment purposes. Under his real name he had two tickets for disobeying a traffic control device.

Citing pending litigation, a police spokesperson declined Friday to comment on the case.

Lopez-Ochoa, 21, died Feb. 7, 2005, at St. Therese Medical Center in Waukegan, a few hours after an accident with the squad car at 10:15 p.m. Feb. 6. The squad car was traveling 40 mph -- 10 mph over the speed limit -- when it struck Lopez-Ochoa's vehicle as he exited a laundromat parking lot at 1819 Grand Ave.

A Lake County coroner's jury in April 2005 ruled that Lopez-Ochoa's cause of death was multiple traumatic injuries from blunt force trauma following the accident. The jury was instructed to rule the death either accidental, a homicide, a suicide or undetermined. It ruled his death undetermined.
__________________________________________________ _________

I can't tell you how much 'trouble' and lawsuits one Margaret Carrasco has brought to Waukegan. I'll go before work to see if I see the protest. Maybe there is time to work up a counter protest. The man should NEVER have been driving on our roads.

Comments?