In first settlement of its kind, city of Durham pays more than $2 million in police chase lawsuit
The estate of an off-duty Durham detention officer, killed more than five years ago, was awarded a settlement by the city of Durham.
Brooke Lyn Maynard – an off-duty detention officer – was a single mom, only 24 years old, when a suspect trying to flee police crashed into her car.
The money will go to Maynard's daughter, who was only 4 when her mother died.
WRAL News previously reported that Maynard was killed Aug. 2, 2018, when a car fleeing police crashed into hers at the intersection of North Duke Street and Club Boulevard. In a settlement agreement from Aug. 2023 that was initially confidential, WRAL Investigates learned Maynard's estate received a payout of $2.25 million from the city – $1 million from taxpayer dollars, the remaining from the city's insurance policy. The settlement was the first of its kind in North Carolina, according to the estate's attorneys Don Strickland and Don Beskind.
"We were well aware that nobody else had recovered in a police chase case on behalf of a plaintiff, but we thought the facts of this case were so egregious that we had a really good shot," explained Strickland.
"North Carolina standard is a very hard standard to meet," Beskind added. "In order to prevail in this case, we have to show a level of negligence way beyond ordinary negligence."
The attorneys pointed to body and dash camera video of the Durham Police pursuit to support their claims.
As WRAL News previously reported, the video showed officers chasing a car that had been reported stolen in a carjacking earlier that day. The pursuit lasted approximately 10 minutes, going through busy areas of downtown, sometimes traveling the wrong way on one-way roads.
"They were just so hellbent on catching this person that they were risking the lives of people on the streets of Durham," Strickland said. "We just felt like, even though nobody else had won one, that this was the kind of case that we needed to take on for the public of Durham."
In a mediation video played for the court, provided to WRAL Investigates by the attorneys, Maynard's family and friends spoke of Maynard's impact on them, and her impact on her daughter.
"She was the greatest child ever," said Mike Kelley, Maynard's stepfather who had raised her since she was a month old. "She was wonderful. She was everything that she could have been. And she could’ve been a lot more. It just wasn’t enough time."
Kelley's long-time girlfriend spoke of the profound loss for Maynard's daughter, who "even asked Santa for her mom back."
Another speaker in the video recalled, of the little girl: "She’ll ask me, 'Do I look pretty like my mommy?' I say 'Yes you’re pretty like your mommy.' She’ll ask me 'Can you hold me tight? My mommy used to hold me tight when I went to sleep.'"
Beskind and Strickland say Maynard's loved ones were pleased with the settlement amount, but also want to see change within the Durham Police Department. They went more caution to be exercised during pursuits.
"It was a systemic problem," Beskind said. "Everybody involved should have been able to, and should have stopped the chase."
"It could have just as easily been one of our family members who was going through that green light and was killed," added Strickland.
