San Diego is paying out $8 million to a man run over by an SUV in 2019 while city police officers detained him in the street after an alleged vandalism incident at a 7-Eleven in the Midway District.
The settlement is unusually large for an injury crash partly because the victim, Deovante Guy, suffered what city officials call “catastrophic” injuries — including internal decapitation — that require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.
In addition to internal decapitation, which includes a complete tear of the ligaments that attach the skull to the spine, Guy suffered torn organs, broken bones and internal bleeding.
The incident began around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, 2019, when several officers responded to a 9-1-1 call of vandalism to the 7-Eleven store at Rosecrans Street and Midway Drive.
According to court documents, officers pursued Guy on foot as he fled across Rosecrans until his route was blocked by a fence. An officer then caught up to Guy, twisted his arm behind his back and pinned him down in the roadway of Rosecrans Street.
While many vehicles stopped because of the incident, the driver of an SUV ran into the officer and drove over Guy’s body, according to a 2021 lawsuit filed on Guy’s behalf.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court instead of state court because it includes allegations of civil rights violations, says police at the scene ran to check on the injured officer but disregarded Guy’s medical needs.
Guy was subsequently taken to a hospital in an ambulance, where doctors recommended, at one point, that he be taken off life support, the lawsuit says.
The driver of the SUV, who was also a defendant in the lawsuit, agreed to a separate settlement with Guy. Terms of that deal have not been disclosed.
The lawsuit was filed by Guy’s legal guardian, Quintasia Walker.
In a separate case, the city is paying out $1.75 million to Thomas Keith Bell, who was injured when he was hit by a city truck last year in a driveway of Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo on Innovation Drive.
A lawsuit filed by Bell in state court in January alleges that he was hit while in a crosswalk and suffered significant injuries. The crash took place on July 26, 2022.
In a third settlement, the city is paying out $800,000 to the mother and friend of a man killed in 2017 when he ran into a wall on his motorcycle while being pursued by San Diego police in a high-speed chase that covered several neighborhoods.
The friend, Angelica Sanchez, was riding on the back of the motorcycle and suffered severe injuries in the crash.
The chase began at about 9:30 a.m. on March 26, 2017, when the man who died, William Higareda Flores, allegedly ran a red light.
When an officer attempted to pull him over, Flores entered the freeway and fled at speeds over 100 mph, the city said in court filings.
When Flores exited the freeway at Plaza Boulevard in National City, he lost control of his motorcycle as he ran a red light and tried to swerve around an oncoming car. He then hit a wall, killing himself and injuring Sanchez.
In a lawsuit she filed in state court in 2017, Sanchez said she suffered severe orthopedic injuries and emotional distress. Patricia Flores, the man’s mother, alleges wrongful death in the suit.
The City Council unanimously approved all three payouts Tuesday.
