City of Orlando v. Carmen Pineiro
On the evening of January 20, 2006, Edwin Alvarado, 21 years of age, had just left a barbershop when a pickup truck driven by Crowe struck his vehicle, killing him. Pineiro was appointed personal representative of her son’s estate and initially brought suit against both Crowe and the owner of the vehicle. The complaint was later amended to add the City. Pineiro asserted that officers from the Orlando Police Department, immediately prior to the accident, negligently engaged in a high-speed pursuit of Crowe in violation of the City’s pursuit policy and that the pursuit proximately caused or contributed to the accident and Alvarado’s death. Pineiro eventually resolved her claims against the other defendants and the case went to trial against the City. Because the impropriety of comments made during closing argument is dispositive of this appeal, we address those comments first. We then turn to other evidentiary rulings to provide guidance to the parties upon retrial and, finally, we address the City’s argument that the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence
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