Newly released dashcam footage shows chase before 2016 fatal crash

Keep me motivated by donating to https://paypal.me/thisisbutter

Viewer discretion is always advised when watching this video or any others videos. I do not take any responsibility for your trauma, psychological and/or mental harm.

I do not recommend anyone to attempt, act/reproduce, and/or create hate from what you see in this video or any other videos.

Enjoy.
--------------------
Five seconds after Winnebago County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Moski decided to terminate a February 2016 vehicle pursuit, Joy Lambert was killed in a horrific crash, newly released dashboard video camera recordings show.

Lambert, 55, was a wife, mother, grandmother, active church member and BMO Harris Bank employee. She was driving to work on a Monday morning when a Ford Fusion fleeing a routine traffic stop at speeds of more than 90 mph ran a red light and crashed into her Buick like a missile.

This was just months after Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana had loosened restrictions on police pursuits to combat what he said was an epidemic of people fleeing traffic stops. The 2015 policy change allowed deputies to chase drivers suspected of felony crimes, including traffic-based felonies like aggravated fleeing to elude.

Although Caruana defended the policy change and said the fault for the crash rested on the shoulders of the driver who fled police, he refused for more than five years to comply with the Rockford Register Star's public records request to provide a copy of the video.

That was despite repeated rulings from the Illinois Attorney General's Office that the recording was a public record and that there was no legitimate reason under the law to withhold it.

Caruana, who was not available for an interview, previously said he was fulfilling his obligation to follow the advice of the Winnebago County state's attorney, then under the direction of a previous administration, by refusing to release a copy of the video.

Lawyers for the county argued that releasing the video could taint the jury pool — first at a criminal trial and then at a civil trial for a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lambert's family.

The county appealed the ruling that the recording was a public record in court.

Cook County Judge Eve Reilly in May upheld a binding opinion from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul's office that the video should be released under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. She ordered the immediate release of the material to the Register Star.

After weeks more of legal wrangling the video was finally released Friday. It mostly confirms a narrative provided previously by Caruana and the sheriff's department of what happened.

The entire tragedy unfolded in about a minute and a half.

At about 7:54 a.m. Moski spots a black Ford rental car and pulls a U-turn on Meridian Road to follow it.

After catching up on West State Street to the vehicle occupied by Laronda Graham, the driver, and Eric L. Brown, a passenger, Moski determines the vehicle is traveling at about 68 mph in a 45 mph zone and at about 7:55 a.m. attempts a traffic stop.

Moski turns on his lights and blares his siren but quickly realizes something is wrong.

The car "is not stopping for me," Moski tells emergency dispatchers.

Graham steers the vehicle through traffic and signals a right turn south onto Springfield Avenue with Moski pursuing. Moski reports the direction of travel, that traffic conditions are light and that he is pursuing the vehicle for "traffic charges only."

As Graham increases her speed on Springfield, Moski begins to fall behind even while driving at speeds that reach 83 mph.

"I'm shutting it down," Moski tells dispatchers, turning off his emergency lights and beginning to slow down about three-tenths of a mile from Cunningham Road.

Graham continues to speed into the intersection where her vehicle collides with Lambert's car. One witness said the crash looked like “someone threw a snowball at a brick wall."

Lambert was ejected and killed. Graham and Brown — who were rescued from their burning vehicle by Moski and a passerby — suffered severe injuries.

Police said Brown, on parole from a 2014 weapons charge, had 2.3 grams of heroin and 1.7 grams of marijuana in his possession.

Graham was later sentenced to five years for reckless homicide and one year for aggravated fleeing from police.