Children of couple killed in Sacramento police pursuit file wrongful death lawsuit
The children of a couple killed last year when a vehicle being chased by Sacramento police crashed into their car have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police, accusing officers of negligence by continuing a high-speed chase through rush-hour traffic.
The lawsuit stems from a 26-second police chase on May 21, 2022, in which the parents of Cathy and Johnny Le — Binh Nguyen and Tien Thuy Le — were killed as they were driving for coffee in the city’s Little Saigon neighborhood. Cathy Le is 9, and her brother is 5.
The pursuit began around 8:45 a.m. that Saturday, with police reporting two vehicles “driving recklessly” on Stockton Boulevard and giving chase for about one-half mile.
The chase ended just north of 65th Street when a 2012 Mercedes Benz S550 allegedly driven by J C Monroe crashed into the couple’s 2016 Toyota RAV4, killing them.
Sacramento County jail records say Monroe remains in custody without bail on charges of murder, felony evading of police, driving under the influence and driving on a suspended or revoked license.
The lawsuit names Monroe and Marlena Verna Clovin, who allegedly was in the Mercedes with Monroe, as well as the city and police.
The suit, filed by Sacramento attorney Joseph Babich in Superior Court, says unnamed police officers “negligently initiated and continued a police chase in early-morning rush-hour traffic in an area commonly overrun with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.”
“This horrific accident resulting in the devastating loss to these two young children should never have happened,” Babich wrote in a statement to The Bee Monday. “Our investigation has revealed the circumstances did not warrant such a police pursuit given the nature of the alleged crime and the traffic conditions at that time of day.”
The suit alleges that officers failed to follow police pursuit guidelines and “failed to terminate the subject police pursuit despite its high risk to public safety, leading to the foreseeable collision.”
A city spokesman declined to comment Monday, saying officials had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
A Sacramento Bee investigation last year found that Sacramento has the highest vehicle pursuit rate among California’s largest 10 cities.
The department initiated 725 chases from 2018 through 2021, a rate of about 10 chases per 1,000 reported violent or property crimes, The Sacramento Bee found, with 69 chases resulting in collisions with at least one injury.
