Baltimore to pay $56K in wrongful death lawsuit involving police chase

Baltimore city’s spending panel is scheduled to approve Wednesday a $56,500 settlement with the family of a woman killed in a car accident allegedly caused by a police chase.

Jordasha Rollins was 22 years old when she was killed at the intersection of North Avenue and Poplar Grove Street in an April 2012 collision that seriously injured her infant son and mother, who were in the car with her.

Yolanda Williams, Rollins’ mother, sought $2 million in damages, according to the lawsuit, filed in February in Baltimore City Circuit Court. A motions hearing in the case had been scheduled for last month but was canceled, according to online court records.

Williams was driving a 2001 Dodge Intrepid that was struck by a 2004 Cadillac De Ville driven by Charles Jeffries, according to the lawsuit. Jeffries ran a red light on Poplar Grove after being pushed from behind by an unmarked police car that had been chasing Jeffries for six blocks, according to the lawsuit.

The force of the accident caused Williams to “spin around and strike other vehicles” on North Avenue, according to the lawsuit.

The officers in the car did not activate the siren or emergency lights and were not on a call at the time of the incident, according to the lawsuit.

All four people were taken to The Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment, according to the lawsuit. Jeffries pleaded guilty last July to vehicular manslaughter and attempting to flee the scene and was given a suspended sentence, according to the lawsuit.

The city is seeking to settle the case “because of the serious nature of the injuries suffered, and the uncertainties and unpredictability of jury verdict,” according to the Board of Estimates agenda.

Williams was represented by the Law Offices of A. Dwight Pettit P.A. in Baltimore.

The case is Yolanda Williams, et al., v. Mayor and City Council for Baltimore City, 24C15000935.