The city of Chicago will pay a $15 million settlement to the family of a woman killed in June 2020 when an unmarked police car blew a red light and slammed into her SUV.

Guadalupe Francisco-Martinez, a 37-year-old mother of six, was on her way home after her first day at a new job when a police cruiser in the middle of a high-speed chase plowed into her SUV at 89 mph, reports said.

The Chicago City Council approved the hefty payoff Wednesday without discussion, settling a wrongful-death suit from Francisco-Martinez’s family as a debate ensued over the department’s policy about high-speed chases.

“There will be enormous sympathy for the family of (Francisco-Martinez), who endured such a tragic, tragic event,” Chicago Law Department counsel Mimi Ruether said before the Finance Committee unanimously authorized the settlement.

“The accident involved the Chicago police officer himself; it was not the offender that was involved in the accident, which is going to potentially affect the amount of a settlement and a verdict.”

Both the officer and the vehicle he was pursuing blew through a red light, the Chicago Tribune reported. The officer barreled into Francisco-Martinez while she had a green light and was moving between 20 and 27 mph, according to the publication.

Francisco-Martinez died at the hospital during surgery.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last year that 180 out of 270 police chases in 2019 ended in crashes and the death of eight people.

Two months after Francisco-Martinez’s death, the Chicago Police Department revised its policy that requires officers to “check for traffic” before driving through an intersection. 

The officer in the crash is still employed with the Chicago Police Department, a spokesperson told the Tribune.

The driver of the car police were chasing is still sitting in Cook County Jail on charges of first-degree murder, car hijacking and more. He is being held on $1 million bail.

With Post Wires