Former Chicago mayor's deposition to be part of wrongful death case

Attorneys allege Lightfoot mischaracterized the cause of a 2020 fatal crash that killed a 10-year-old

It is a battle not over what was said, but whether the public will ever get a chance to hear it.

Attorneys for the city of Chicago squared off in a Daley Center courtroom Friday over a deposition former Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave in a wrongful death case brought as a result of a 2020 traffic collision that took the life of 10-year-old Da’Karia Spicer.

Spicer was a back seat passenger in a car with her father and her 5-year-old brother. They were on their way to school to pick up a new laptop computer.

According to police, they were struck by a black sedan that was trying to avoid being pulled over. The family insists the vehicle was being chased by an unmarked police car during an unauthorized pursuit.

The family's attorneys filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the officers involved violated city policy by failing to "abandon the alleged vehicle pursuit when it was the most reasonable course of action."

Part of the lawsuit involves a recent deposition from Lightfoot. Attorneys for the city's Law Department argued Friday it should be kept under wraps.

"Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot was not the least bit bashful about offering her opinions about the facts of this case the day after it happened," said Lance Northcutt, who represents the estate of Da’Karia Spicer. "For Lightfoot and the city’s Law Department to try and prevent her words from appearing in any public record when those words are highly relevant to the claims that will be litigated at trial is an outrage."

Judge Scott Mckenna agreed with the attorneys for the Spicer family and ordered the contents of the deposition be made public. Attorneys for the city had no comment as they exited the courtroom.

"A person is not entitled to private litigation, meaning you can't just sanitize pleadings, sanitize motions to exclude things people said just because they are a former public official," Northcutt said.

Even though she is not named in the complaint, Northcutt said that, unless a judge rules otherwise, it is his plan to call the former mayor to the stand when the trial begins in November.