Cops Sued in Woman's Death During Lombard Traffic Stop

The husband of a woman who was struck and killed by a passing car after being pulled over by a Lombard police officer filed suit on Thursday, saying the officer was negligent in ordering her out of her care on a busy street.

David Dabrowski of Lemont, the husband of Michele Dabrowski, filed the suit in DuPage County Circuit Court. Michele Dabrowski, 35, died Dec. 18 when a car struck her on Butterfield Road east of Fairfield Street in Lombard.

Dabrowski’s attorneys, Thomas Prindable and Michael Krzak, said at a news conference in their Chicago office that they also filed a motion for an order requiring Lombard police to preserve all evidence and information collected in the case. They said a hearing on the motion will be Wednesday. David Dabrowski, 30, attended the news conference and read a statement but did not answer questions.

"Because of this negligent, reckless act, my live and the lives of our children ... have been forever altered." Dabrowski said in the statement, "My wife, my best friend, the mother of our children, has been taken from us because of a reckless, senseless careless decision--a police officer pulling a citizen over in a lane of traffic on a busy road and directing her to get out of her care in a dangerous area when safer places were just yards away."

Prindable said Lombard and DuPage County police have declined to explain why the officer, who has not been publicly identified, pulled Michele Dabrowski’s car over there.

"We filed the suit to get some answers to the question of why an office would put someone in a position of peril, a traffic lane with no protection from passing cars, when there are safer place that the officer could have directed her to 50 and 100 yards away." Prindable said.

He said that if the officer had pulled Dabrowski off Butterfield and into an office park driveway about 50 yards away or into Technology Drive, about 100 yards away, "this never would have happened."

Lombard Police Chief, Ray Byrne said Thursday that he had not seen the suit or the motion and therefore couldn’t comment. He said he has asked the DuPage County sheriff to investigate the incident to ensure objectivity. He declined to answer other questions.

Authorities have said that a 17-year-old Bellwood boy hit Dabrowski, possibly after falling asleep at the wheel. He was treated and released at an area hospital after the accident. He has not been charged with a crime.

Dabrowski’s lawyers said the couple have two children, Michael, 7, and Ryan, 4. They said Michele has been a nurse for the last three years at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park. They said she was returning home from a holiday dinner with co-workers when Lombard police stopped her care about 2 a.m.