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ALTON/WOOD RIVER – The family of George and Donna Julian, a beloved Alton couple killed during a high-speed Wood River Police pursuit of another vehicle, has spoken out after filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Wood River.
The couple’s estate is suing the city for “initiating and continuing a deadly pursuit along commercial or residential roadways when it was unsafe to do so,” according to a press release from Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, one of the law firms representing the family.
“Just before 11 a.m. on July 3, 2025, a Wood River police officer attempted to pull over driver Miko D. Martin for a minor traffic violation near the intersection of 6th Street and Edwardsville Road,” the release states. “Martin refused to stop and immediately fled the intersection through a parking lot before heading southbound on 6th Street.
“The officer pursued the vehicle Mr. Martin was driving for several minutes as he attempted to flee the scene, reaching speeds at or above 70 miles per hour through residential and commercial areas. The pursuit ended when Martin hit a vehicle occupied by George Julian, 66, and his wife Donna Julian, 68, near the intersection of northbound Illinois Route 3 and Illinois Route 143.
“The impact of the collision catapulted Julian’s vehicle into a ravine where it became engulfed in flames, trapping them inside. The couple was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The couple is survived by their adult children and grandchildren, who on July 23, 2025 filed a lawsuit against the city “for its role in the dangerous pursuit that culminated in deaths of George and Donna.”
“The lawsuit claims the city of Wood River showed an utter indifference to the safety of others by engaging in a pursuit of the vehicle when the risk of injury or death to the general public exceeded the benefit of apprehending the suspect, among other claims,” the release states.
The investigation into the fatal crash is now being handled by the Illinois State Police.
Attorney And Family Speak Out At Press Conference
On Thursday, July 24, 2025, the family and their attorneys held a press conference at the Law Offices of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. in Chicago to share further details about the recently filed lawsuit.
“The most sacred obligation of law enforcement is the protection of human life,” Plaintiff’s Attorney Lance Northcutt said at the press conference. “Police officers are trained that in the specific context of vehicle pursuits, there has to be a balancing between the need to apprehend a fleeing offender and the danger to human life.
“For reasons this family is still trying to understand … police officers from the Wood River Police Department abandoned that duty and decided that they were going to go on a high-speed pursuit in the middle of a day, the day before a holiday, through a busy residential and commercial area in Wood River to chase a traffic offender. They made the conscious decision that a traffic violation or equipment violation was worth putting innocent people at risk of great bodily harm or death.”
While Northcutt hopes the fleeing offender will be held criminally accountable, his firm’s focus is now on holding the Wood River Police Department and all other parties involved accountable. Given decades worth of studies and police training on the subject of high-speed pursuits, Northcutt said the couple’s death was a predictable and preventable tragedy.
Family member Mark Briggs gave a statement on behalf of the family at the press conference. A local high school teacher and lifelong member of the Wood River community, he acknowledged the difficulty of making his statement as the family “just lost some very important people to us in our life.”
“On the morning of July 3, my mom, Donna, and her husband, George, left their home together on what should’ve been a normal day for them,” Briggs said. “Their lives were cut down in an instant, which I can only describe as a 4,000 pound bullet that was unleashed in the middle of our community.
“Upon impact, their car was violently pushed 40 yards or more into a ravine, where they burned for several minutes, with over 90% of their body burnt beyond recognition. Because of the severity of the fire, our family was not able to ever say goodbye in any meaningful way. We were not able to identify their bodies.
“This is the reality that we live with, and this is also an image that our family is going to have seared in their minds forever moving forward. We lost so much more than two people that morning … we lost pillars of our family.”
Briggs noted the couple were always by each other’s sides and “anchored” family events, serving as role models for the rest of their family. He noted they “never got the chance to hold their great-grandchild,” who was born just five days before the fatal crash.
“Donna and George had so much life ahead of them,” he added. “So many more chances to make memories and opportunities to impact people around them. They were still making a difference in the lives [of those] who knew them, and that was all stolen from us.”
While the loss of Donna and George has had an irreversible impact on the family, Briggs said it is “an absolute miracle on that day that more lives were not lost,” noting several more families in the area were at risk.
“For our family, that miracle never came. Our family will never be the same,” Briggs said. “Our family is not seeking empathy. We’re speaking out because we never want this to happen to another family again. Nobody should have to endure this type of heartbreak.”
In conclusion, Northcutt said this tragedy marks the latest in a growing pattern of unsafe police pursuits.
“The carnage that we are seeing is the result as these senseless police pursuit continue to accumulate. This is the latest chapter in a growing continuum of misconduct that we have seen,” he said. “On behalf of this family, we are seeking the full measure of justice that the justice system will allow.”
The family is also represented by attorneys Patrick A. Salvi II, Lance D. Northcutt and Emily T. Art of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. and Roy C. Dripps and Michael T. Blotevogel of Dripps & Blotevogel LLC.
