Family Accuses Lax Bedford Park Cops Of 'Negligence' In Crash That Injured Their Children

BRIDGEVIEW, IL — A bright future lay ahead for Remah Abdelghani and Mohammad Ali Odeh, and their two active, healthy children. Their lives changed forever last March, when the driver of a stolen USPS truck slammed into Abdelghani’s car, leaving their children with life-altering injuries.

Now, the family is suing the Village of Bedford Park accusing its police officers of negligence. The complaint argues village police officers failed to detain Miguel Alvarado, 36, when they had him in custody, who would abscond by stealing a Bedford Park police vehicle.

“We have two young kids whose lives have changed horrifically, who now have guarded uncertain futures,” said the family’s attorney, Jack Casciato. “Clearly, Alvarado was a complete danger to society. Instead of [police] putting him in a police car and controlling their suspect, their plan is to run him to the orange line and let him have a convenient cigarette.”

The morning of March 19, Alvarado was reportedly setting fires in the parking lot of the Bedford Park Walmart Supercenter at 70th Street and Cicero Avenue. He was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct before being “unexplainably” released by Bedford Park police, the complaint stated.

Hours after Alvarado was released for his alleged arson activities, Bedford Park police were dispatched to a Speedway gas station at 6800 S. Archer Avenue. They encountered Alvarado a second time, who was reportedly ripping products off the shelves while threatening people.

Bedford Park police officers allowed him to finish his cigarette before giving him a ride to the CTA orange line. The complaint maintains that the three officers were captured on security video chatting with their backs turned to Alvarado. Due to the officers’ “inattentiveness,” Alvarado was able to steal a police vehicle and flee.

“The video shows these three police officers standing in a circle,” Casciato told Patch. “It’s pretty embarrassing that they are so inattentive and that [Alvarado] is able to start walking farther away toward the [police] car.”

For the next several hours, Alvarado is believed to have driven aimlessly around the Chicago Ridge and Oak Lawn areas, when the stolen police vehicle became disabled. He is then alleged to have carjacked a U.S. Postal Service truck in Oak Lawn, forcibly taking the government vehicle from a postal worker.

Bridgeview police said Alvarado was barreling northbound on Roberts Road at speeds clocking 80 mph, when he slammed into the rear of Abelghani’s car, crushing the backseat, where her two young children were strapped in their car seats.

Abelghani and her children, along with Alvarado, were rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Her 7-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury; her 4-year-old daughter suffered a spinal cord injury and can no longer walk. Both children remain hospitalized at Comer’s Children’s Hospital.

“I have decided to file this lawsuit because my children need a lifetime of care,” the children’s father, Ali Odeh, said during a Tuesday news conference when the lawsuit was filed. “The police officers were beyond careless, and now they have to hold that matter.”

The family’s attorneys argue that the violent crash never would have happened, had Bedford Park police been paying attention and recognized that Alvarado as a “clear and present danger to the community” by properly detaining him.

“A lot of this case is premised on how you have this known clear danger at your fingerprints and the police’s plan was to place him on the orange line,” Casciato said. “He should have been arrested and brought to a police station. This accident should never have happened. How embarrassing for the police.”

Alvarado faced felonies in three different towns during his alleged crime spree on March 19, including aggravated possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated reckless driving causing great bodily harm to a child in Bridgeview. He also faced charges of aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen police vehicle in Bedford Park, and vehicular hijacking in Oak Lawn.

Weeks after his arrest, officials said Alvarado was found dead of an apparent suicide on April 6 in the shower area of Cook County Jail’s residential treatment unit. A family friend told Patch that Alvarado suffered a form of PTSD with psychosis, from serving two combat tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Odeh family will be seeking significant damages. An amount has not yet been set, but Casciato said it would be well into the eight figures.

“We have two young kids whose lives have changed horrifically, who now have guarded uncertain futures,” the family attorney said. “When the medical bills start coming in, lawsuits are sometimes the only chance families have.”