CLEVELAND — A mother of three wants to keep anybody else from going through her pain.
She is taking the city of Parma and its police force to civil court after a deadly crash more than one year ago that left her severely injured.
Victoria Miranda Velazquez is in a dark place. She views every surgery, and she’s had seven of them so far, as a setback.
Most days, Victoria sits on her boyfriend’s porch, watching everyone else’s life go by.
“Every day I cry, every day I feel lonely. I feel I’ll never get back to me. My happiness was stolen away from me that day,” Velazquez said.
That day was Aug. 24, 2023. Victoria’s attorney shared with News 5 Investigators Parma police body and dash camera video.
Cleveland council members want to sit down with Parma.
"Bad wreck,” you hear one officer say.
A Parma police chase ended in a crash at Pearl and Woburn in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.
Victoria was hit head-on.
The suspect’s car was crumpled and on fire. The driver died.
“It just came right at me in a blink of an eye my whole life changed,” Velazquez said.
"You're breathing, we're going to stay with you, okay dear,” you hear a first responder say to Victoria.
She was trapped in her SUV in the middle of Pearl Road.
"She's pretty banged up she's innocent all this,” heard on body camera.
One year and one month later, Victoria shares with News 5 Investigators what life has been like.
“Still in a lot of pain, still like a bunch of like trauma like survivor’s guilt,” Velazquez said.
Victoria showed us her scars up and down her legs and feet.
“The gas pedal went through my ankle,” she said.
The brake went through her calf. She can’t stand longer than 10 minutes and grabs onto things when she does walk. She lives with her boyfriend, who built a ramp for her.
“Every time they tell me I’m going to be walking again I go back into surgery,” Velazquez said.
The dash cam video shows Parma officers making a U-turn when a car is zipped by them. Parma police records show the car was going more than 100 miles an hour.
Officers can’t keep up and then seem to lose the car before the crash in Old Brooklyn.
“His reckless actions were occurring prior to the officer pursuing him,” Parma Police Capt. Dan Ciryak said in August 2023.
"Your job is to diffuse the situation, your job is to calm it down what happened here,” Velazquez said.
Victoria’s lawyer says he is suing Parma because two of its officers recklessly chased a car at high speeds outside their jurisdiction, which involved nothing more than a traffic violation.
“I just wonder if they think of me. Does it hurt a little bit when you look in the mirror at night does it. Or do you feel like your badge is shinier now,” Velazquez said.
Victoria says she was on her way to her small business on Pearl Road when she was hit.
She hasn’t returned to work because she says it’s not safe for her to be in a wheelchair.
She also says she is missing out on mom moments.
“My daughter she just had her homecoming and I couldn’t take her dress shopping,” Velazquez said.
I asked Victoria if anything would make things right.
“Nothing is going to make all of this go away; nothing is going to bring this brighter back to the person I used to be,” Velazquez said. The city of Parma does not have a comment. Parma said they have not received a copy of the complaint.
As for the officers, police say one got no discipline, and the other was given after-incident counseling.
Parma could not comment on the pending lawsuit.
