Family of man killed in crash with ex-Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy file civil lawsuit

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MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The family of a man who was killed when a former Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy ran a red light and crashed into the other man's vehicle is now filing a civil lawsuit.

Joel Streicher drove into an intersection in January 2020 without stopping at a red light and collided with another car driven by Ceasar Stinson. Stinson was killed in the crash and Streicher later pleaded guilty to the crime.

Streicher was sentenced to six months in jail with two years of probation. Stinson's family learned Streicher was serving his jail sentence at home with GPS monitoring and fought to have Streicher serve that time in jail. They were successful in accomplishing that earlier this month.

Now the family is aiming for more justice in its civil lawsuit.

"Now that we have him behind bars where he belongs, the next step of the process is obtaining civil justice," Stinson family attorney Mark Thomsen told CBS 58.

In the civil lawsuit filed this week, attorneys for Stinson's family stated the facts of the case and call for payment of damages for Stinson's death, something that is limited in the criminal proceedings.

"The essence of this is, under state law recovery of people that are killed like this are limited to $250,000 per claimant," Thomsen said. "It's really draconian, it's antiquated."

The complaint does not say what amount the family is seeking but Thomsen said the family wants to be made whole for the loss of a husband, father and community activist.

"Ceasar Stinson was a giant in this community," Thomsen said. "The value of that life, you know, how do you put a dollar amount on it? It's time now for civil justice to take place."

CBS 58 reached out to Streicher's attorney for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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