$41.6M verdict against government follows tragic police chase in 2017
High-speed pursuit ended in crash that permanently injured teenage passenger
A judge in South Dakota has awarded two victims in a high-speed police chase one of the largest verdicts of its kind against the federal government following years of litigation.
Judge Lawrence Piersol on Monday awarded the parents of Morgan Ten Eyck more than $39.5 million after she suffered life altering injuries that will require continuous care for the rest of her life. Piersol also rendered a verdict of $2.1 million on behalf of Micah Roemen after he was seriously injured in the same crash. The suit was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Ten Eyck and Roemen’s injuries were the direct cause of an unnecessary high-speed chase conducted by the chief of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribal Police Department at the time, Rob Neuenfeldt, Piersol concluded. Neuenfeldt violated the policy of Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement when he failed to discontinue the pursuit when officer safety was not a factor.
