Family Sues Miami Police Officer Over Fatal Crash During High-Speed Chase

The family of a delivery driver who was killed when a Miami police officer ran through a stop sign during a high-speed chase has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officer and the City of Miami.

On March 31, 2023, Angel Morales, a 64-year-old delivery driver for Hialeah-based party supply store COD Supplies, was approaching an intersection in Allapattah when Miami police officer Luis Quesada vehicle sped through a stop sign in an unmarked police, according to a crash report. The car struck Morales' box truck, causing it to spin 180 degrees and flip onto its side. The 64-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash report stated that the officer failed to yield the right of way and "exceeded posted speed."

In a new lawsuit, Morales' wife of 28 years, Melba Morales, is suing the city, Quesada, and a police officer who was a passenger in Quesada's vehicle, on counts of negligence, wrongful death, due process violation, and municipal liability. Melba says the police department did not immediately inform her that her husband had died and that she instead learned from his employer.

"The police officer defendants initiated an improper vehicle pursuit with speeds approaching or exceeding three times the speed limit and ran a stop sign at high speeds on a busy residential road, which pursuit was initiated and continued based upon alleged mere traffic violations," the complaint contends.

According to the lawsuit, Quesada was pursuing a black truck for traffic offenses in his unmarked Ford Taurus without its siren activated, traveling three times the speed limit of 25 miles per hour.

Quesada allegedly did not stop or slow down as he entered the intersection at NW 28th St. and NW 25th Ave. before striking Morales' truck. A witness at the scene said the unmarked vehicle did not have its emergency lights on, a claim which Quesada has denied. The complaint says the second police officer deviated from protocol "by not stopping Officer Quesada from engaging in an improper and dangerous pursuit and did not turn on his body camera as required."

"At the time the pursuit was initiated, the officers did not know the identity of the driver and the only information and belief the officers had at the time they initiated the improper high-speed pursuit was that the driver of the black truck had committed traffic offenses," the lawsuit reads.

The complaint says the officers' actions were contrary to the Miami Police Department's policies that state police pursuits are reserved for fleeing violent felony offenders, and that officers' vehicles must have their siren and emergency lights engaged.

"These policies are in place to protect the officers as well as the public and the City of Miami should be enforcing Chapter 7 of Departmental Order 11, which they have failed to do on multiple prior occasions, allowing these dangerous pursuits to continue with little or no consequences and allowing their officers in engage in vehicle pursuits for nonviolent and traffic offenses as they have in this matter," the suit alleges.

The lawsuit also states that Quesada previously violated policies regarding high-speed chases. In 2019, Quesada allegedly claimed he pursued a fleeing suspect for felony battery on a police officer. However, body cam footage revealed that no battery took place, according to the pleading.

"The 2019 incident lasted about two minutes and fifteen seconds and also resulted in a crash," the complaint reads. "Luckily, there were only minor injuries to the driver of the fleeing vehicle."

In October, Quesada accepted a plea deal on a careless driving citation and avoided criminal charges in the crash that killed Morales. His lawyer said Quesada remained remorseful about the accident.

"We felt the electricity in the courtroom, the loss of the family. But police work is community service. We will continue to do and serve the community, and bad things happen. Sometimes there [is] just not criminal blame assigned," attorney Robert Buschel told NBC6.

Under the agreement, Quesada had to perform 125 community service hours and pay $119 in court fees.