Woman Awarded $1.2M in New Mexico Stolen Car Crash

A Santa Fe County, N.M. jury has awarded an 80-year-old woman more than $1.2 million after she was injured in a crash involving a stolen car chased by Santa Fe police.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the jury decided that Arlena Jackson was entitled to damages following the April 2016 crash.

Jackson filed a lawsuit against the Santa Fe Police Department, the city of Santa Fe and a local Toyota dealership where police say 30-year-old Jeremy Chavez had stolen the vehicle.

Jackson’s lawsuit argued that police acted negligently when they chased Chavez.

The lawsuit says the crash left her with eight fractured ribs, a fractured pelvis, bleeding in the lungs and other injuries.

Attorney Scott Hatcher, who represented the city of Santa Fe, says police were only doing their jobs.