Aldermen to weigh $5 million settlement for woman who lost legs to frostbite after police ignored pleas for help
By Todd Feurer
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — City attorneys are recommending the Chicago City Council approve a $5 million settlement with a woman who had both legs amputated after she got locked out of her home in February 2021, and couldn’t get help for hours despite calls to 911 and 311.
The City Council Finance Committee will vote Monday on the settlement with Briana Keys, who spent three hours outside in the extreme cold before she was able to get to a police station to get help, according to her lawsuit.
Keys was accidentally locked out of her home around 2 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2021, when the temperature was around 5 degrees and there was snow on the ground, and she was not wearing proper clothing for the extreme cold. Her lawsuit claims she called 911 and 311, but “was not provided assistance.”
She tried to get help from someone at a home a few blocks away, and that person also called 911, but Keys had already started walking to a police station a mile away, and when officers responding to the call later came across Keys, they wouldn’t take her somewhere safe, despite knowing she was at risk of injury from the extreme cold.
According to an online fundraiser set up by her family, the officers told Keys she could not get in their patrol car.
Around 5 a.m., she walked into the police station at 51st and Wentworth, and was already suffering frostbite but police did not immediately get her help, according to the lawsuit. As a result of the hours she’d already spent outside without proper clothing, and the delay in getting medical attention, she had both legs amputated below the knees due to severe frostbite.
If the $5 million settlement with Keys is approved by the Finance Committee, the full City Council could vote on May 21.
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