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2 Investigators: City Hall Won't Reimburse Landlord After Police Pursuit Ends In Crash

(CBS) -- During a morning rush hour there was a police chase through Chicago's South Side streets and alleys, ending with a car hitting a home.

Apartment building owner Delmarie Cobb is now stuck with at $20,000 repair bill and stuck fighting both City Hal and the Chicago Police Department for answers about exactly who caused all of her damage.

Cobb showed 2 Investigator Dave Savini the damage that remains from a stolen vehicle that crashed into her South King Drive building.

They could have easily hurt someone. It could have been more than a fence and a porch taken out -- it could have been another life taken out," she says.

Also damaged was her back porch and its concrete supports for the three-story structure, causing the need for a new deck and concrete work.

Cobb, the building owner who also lives on the premises says she was away at the time and never contacted by police.

Making matters worse, she says, was when police had the car towed away. The vehicle was dragged across her lawn, over her decorative stone water garden and through her backyard fence, causing even more damage.

She says police were supposed to be in control of the scene and shouldn't have allowed the extra damage to occur. She could have opened a gate that would have allowed the car and tow truck to exit.

Cobb contacted the 2 Investigators because she says for the last year the city refused to give her any details involving the crash or tell her who the tow truck company was. She says all she received was a denial letter from the city saying it must "decline any claim" resulting from the incident.

"I'm very upset," Cobb says. "First of all, I am not asking the city every day to do something for me. I actually contribute to the city, and when the city does something wrong it should be willing to contribute to me."

Her insurance would only cover half the cost and not the damage to the yard or fence. Now, she feels the city should have to pay the other half of her bill, along with reimbursing her for a $2,500 insurance deductible.

"It shouldn't be on me to come up with $9,000 to replace my fence when I am not the reason my fence is damaged," she says.

Cobb says she would have tried to go after the fleeing suspect for some of the cost and the holder of the stolen car's insurance policy. She says she was given absolutely no information by the Chicago Police Department about the identity of either.

A spokesperson for the CPD says the claim was properly denied because the damage was caused by the fleeing offender and not police, who were properly executing and enforcing the law.

The city disputes keeping any records from Cobb and claims they are all available online. Cobb says she made two visits to the police station after the crash and no one ever gave her any information about how to get these reports in person or online.

Cobb has appeared on CBS 2 in the past as a political expert and is a former press secretary for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

 

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