Two victims have filed a lawsuit against the City of Zion after they claim that a police officer failed to yield at a stop sign and crashed into their vehicle, leaving three injured.
Attorney Craig Sandberg filed the lawsuit last month in Lake County Circuit Court on behalf of Devin Petersen, a Kenosha County resident, and Yasmine Gonzalez, a Lake County resident.
Peterson had been driving a 2015 Jeep Cherokee around 9:15 p.m. on July 28 westbound on Route 173 approaching Horeb Avenue in Zion.
A Zion police officer was traveling southbound on Horeb Avenue in a marked squad car, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Ari Briskman told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
The squad had its emergency lights and siren activated, Briskman said at the time.
The officer was responding to assist another law enforcement agency in a vehicle pursuit.
The lawsuit said that the female officer never stopped at the stop sign before entering Route 173 from Horeb Avenue.
The suit also said the officer never yielded to traffic on Route 173.
“Unable to avoid the ZPD officer’s sudden entrance into the intersection, the vehicles driven by Devin Petersen and a Zion Police Department officer violently collided,” the suit said.
Peterson, Gonzalez — who was a passenger in the Jeep — and the police officer were all transported to a local hospital for their injuries.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team was called to conduct an investigation of the crash.
Gonzalez and Peterson are both seeking damages in excess of $50,000 and have demanded a jury trial.
A case management conference is scheduled for November 8.