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Lawsuit filed in police chase that led to fiery crash that killed family of 3

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — The mother of one of three victims killed in a fiery Thanksgiving Day crash in North Versailles has filed a lawsuit that names more than just the driver who set off the deadly chain of events.

Channel 11 News learned Wednesday that Catherine Bianco filed a lawsuit against two police departments, two officers and the driver who hit the car her 28-year-old son was driving with his fiancée and daughter as passengers.

All three were killed on impact by a car driven by Demetrius Coleman, who police from East McKeesport and North Versailles were chasing following a traffic stop. An East McKeesport officer had stopped Coleman for making an illegal turn, checked his background, learned he was wanted for violating his probation in a drug case and then called for North Versailles officers to back him up, authorities said.

Shortly after the backup officers arrived, Coleman sped away from the convenience store parking lot where he'd been stopped and onto Route 30 in North Versailles, police said.

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“This is a tragic accident where Catherine lost both her son and her granddaughter, and we believe there were parties who were at fault,” Maximillian Beier, Bianco's attorney, said.

Channel 11 News confirmed that in addition to Coleman, the lawsuit names the East McKeesport Police Department and its Officer Scott Lowden, who originally stopped Coleman. It also names North Versailles Township police and Officer Norman Locke, who joined the chase.

“We agreed with the position taken by District Attorney (Stephen) Zappala that there were parties responsible for the loss of life,” Beier said when asked why the officers were named in the lawsuit. “DA Zappala pointed out (that) a pursuit in that situation would not have been recommended under all the conditions.”

Beier would not say whether he will call Zappala to testify against local police.

Police from both municipalities said the chase was called off well before Coleman’s car struck the vehicle drive by Bianco’s son that then hit a second vehicle.

Coleman, a convicted felon who was on probation at time of the crash, remains at the Allegheny County Jail and faces numerous charges in connection with the fatal crash.

Cox Media Group

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