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Lawsuit Filed Over Fatal Crash At Harlem & Dempster


Members of the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Major Crash Assistance Team (NORTAF) responded to the scene of the Thursday, Sept. 6 fatal crash at Dempster and Harlem, were seen examining a Cook County Sheriff’s Police squad car involved in wreck.

The estates of two elderly women killed in a car accident with a Cook County Sheriff’s squad car in Niles filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Cook County Sheriff’s Department and Thomas Nortman, the sheriff’s deputy driving the squad car.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Oct. 9, seeks $50,000, in a trial by jury alleging negligence against Nortman in the wrongful deaths of 64-year-old Halena Lukasik, of the 7500 block of W. Addison Street, Chicago, and 69-year-old Ludwika Moskal, of the 4300 block of N. Ottawa Avenue, Norridge. The two women were in the 2000 Honda Accord struck by the 2014 Ford Taurus Cook County Sheriff’s car at 5:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 6.

The lawsuit was filed jointly by attorney James O’Hagan, whose office is in Chicago, and Sam Amirante, whose office is in Des Plaines.

The complaint alleges Nortman was driving his squad car at a high rate of speed eastbound on Dempster Street when he failed to stop at a red light in the intersection of Dempster and Harlem Avenue and struck the Accord traveling southbound on Harlem, killing Lukasik and Moskal.

Honda Accord involved in wreck at Harlem Avenue and Dempster Street in Niles. Two individuals in the Accord died as a result of injuries.

O’Hagan said he believed the Accord had just made a left turn off westbound Dempster onto southbound Harlem. He said based on the damage impact and distance the two cars traveled, he believes the squad car was traveling at a high rate of speed and the Accord was stationary or traveling at a very low rate of speed while turning in the intersection.

The lawsuit complaint also alleges Nortman’s squad car had defective brakes and that he failed to sound his horn prior to the collision. The Niles police report does not address the squad car’s brakes condition, as it was a preliminary report.

The Journal obtained preliminary Niles police reports on the accident only saying the squad car was traveling east on Dempster and the Accord was traveling south on Harlem. Niles police said the squad car impacted the front passenger door of the Accord.  

Members of the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Major Crash Assistance Team (NORTAF) responded to the scene Sept. 6 and are heading up the investigation. A NORTAF crash team spokesman said they expect the investigation to be handed over to the Cook County State’s Attorney sometime later this week for consideration of any criminal charges. NORTAF will not release its investigative report until after it has been reviewed by the state’s attorney’s office.

A spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff’s Department told the Journal that Nortman was off duty and driving his take home squad car into work at the time of the accident. They said he was not responding to a call and did not have lights or sirens engaged at the time of the accident.

Police investigate crash involving Cook County Sheriff’s squad car and Honda Accord at Harlem Avenue and Dempster Street, Niles, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. (Tom Wessell/Journal photos)

Sheriff’s officials said Nortman was “de-deputized” and placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the NORTAF investigation and an internal sheriff’s investigation, which is awaiting the NORTAF report.  

In a written statement, Cara Smith, chief policy officer to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, said, “We are reviewing the lawsuit at this time and awaiting the results of the ongoing (NORTAF) investigation into the traffic crash that resulted in this tragic loss of life.”

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