A Philadelphia woman who survived a police chase through Delaware County this spring, which ended in a fiery crash, sued the Pennsylvania State Police involved in the pursuit, calling their actions unnecessary and unjustified.

Kemone Manning is joined in the lawsuit by the families of two people who died in the crash and a third person who was seriously injured.

Manning, 18, and the parents of Ka-Lyn Billups, Tyjana Motley and a minor who has not been identified, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Soldiers were following a Ford Taurus in which the four, as well as three others, had entered after he fled a traffic stop in Concord Township in April.

At the time, investigators said they believed one of the car’s occupants was connected to a shoplifting incident at a nearby mall. Police also said the vehicle’s inspection had expired and the temporary license plate was illegally concealed by a colored backing.

David Inscho, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said Wednesday that the deaths and serious injuries from the crash should never have happened.

“This tragic accident occurred due to a traffic stop that was unjustified for an alleged equipment violation and resulted in a reckless and ultimately fatal pursuit through Delaware County in the middle of the day, exposing our customers and many others to a unnecessary danger.” he said.

A state police spokesman declined to comment Wednesday on the pending litigation.

Billups, 21, and Motley, 17, were killed April 24 when Isaiah Miller lost control of the Ford Taurus the group was in on Route 322 in Boothwyn. Miller, 20, and front seat passenger Ikeam Rogers, 20, also died in the crash. Motley was pregnant at the time, and her unborn child did not survive an emergency C-section, according to the lawsuit.

Manning, Bishop Young, 20, and the juvenile survived the crash and were hospitalized with serious injuries, including burns, broken bones and traumatic brain injuries, according to the lawsuit.

At the time of the crash, state police officials said troopers tried to pull the group over after seeing them at the Brinton Lake Mall in Concord Township. A state police spokesman said one member of the group — he did not specify which — matched the description of a suspect from a previous shoplifting incident at a Lululemon store there.

Officer Daniel Sgambato, stationed at the mall in an unmarked vehicle, tried to pull over Taur, according to the lawsuit.

Miller, the driver, sped off from the stop, leading Sgambato and Trooper Jason Eckman on a five-minute, seven-mile chase. During the pursuit, Miller drove into rush hour traffic and made illegal turns against the flow of traffic, the lawsuit states.

Inscho, the attorney, said troopers should have recognized the “low risk” of allowing Miller to flee the stop because the problems with his vehicle did not outweigh the “high risk” of the reckless driving he used to cause them. avoid.

Officers had other options, including using the vehicle’s license plate to track its owner and steering the vehicle in the direction of another trooper in the area, who was ready to deploy spike lanes to disable the Taurus, the lawsuit says.

The filing also calls for an overhaul of state police pursuit policies, citing a similar pursuit a few months earlier.

In that incident, four people allegedly stole $5,000 worth of merchandise from the same Lululemon store. Troopers chased the group, all from Philadelphia, onto I-95, where they hit the car and disabled it. No one was injured in the collision, and the occupants of the car have pending criminal charges for receiving stolen property and related offenses.

Speaking about the incident in April, Inscho said: “We represent two families who have lost children and two others who are significantly injured and whose lives will be changed by this. We want to hold the state police accountable and we want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”