Jury orders Manchester to pay $4.25M in motorcyclist death

A Delaware County jury has ordered the city of Manchester to pay $4.25 million to the parents of Augustin “Gus” Mormann in the wrongful death lawsuit they brought against the city and a police officer, finding the officer responsible for their son’s death.

The jury reached a verdict March 22, finding James Wessels, a now-retired lieutenant with the Manchester Police Department, had committed assault and battery and wasn’t justified in his actions when he chose to pursue a high-speed chase of Mormann’s motorcycle on Dec. 10, 2020, according to court documents.

The jury also ordered Wessels to pay $10,000 in punitive damages to parents Dan and Sandy Mormann, of Colesburg.

Messages seeking comment from Manchester city leaders were not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.

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According to the lawsuit and police reports, other officers ended the pursuit for safety reasons, but Wessels continued and then struck Mormann’s motorcycle. Wessels’ police vehicle came into contact twice — on opposite sides — with the motorcycle, according to the lawsuit. The suit asserted that led to the “inescapable conclusion” that Wessels caused the crash and “intentionally killed Mormann.”

“This is a chase that Lt. Wessels should never have started,” Dave O’Brien, lawyer for Dan and Sandy Mormann, told The Gazette on Thursday. “As the state trooper explained his reason for calling off the chase, ‘the juice was not worth the squeeze.’ The need to apprehend someone for a traffic violation is far outweighed by the danger to the public from engaging in a high speed pursuit.”

“Of course, the chase should not have ended with Lt. Wessels going over 100 mph and running into Gus Mormann who was only traveling slightly over the speed limit at 62 mph at the time,” O’Brien said. “The jury’s finding that Lt. Wessels intentionally, willfully, wantonly and recklessly caused Gus Mormann’s death was supported by substantial trial evidence.”

Mormann was seriously injured and died about a month later from his injuries on Jan. 15, 2021. An autopsy stated the cause of death of cervical trauma — spinal cord injuries.

O’Brien said Mormann’s parents filed the suit when they couldn’t get answers from the Manchester Police Department about the crash.

“I gave Gus my word on his deathbed that I would find out what happened,” Dan Mormann said in a statement. His son told him he was “pushed off the road.”

Sandy Mormann said, “We weren’t scared to be on that stand to tell our story. We just wanted to tell the truth and learn the truth.”

Both parents said they don’t excuse their son’s “wrongful and reckless” behavior in speeding and refusing to stop. They say he should have been convicted of his criminal conduct, but he did not deserve to be “executed.”

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