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JUSTICE KAPALA delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Ronald Suwanski, individually and as the specialadministrator of the estate of Beverly L. Suwanski, appeals from anorder of the circuit court of Du Page County granting summaryjudgment to defendants, the Village of Lombard and Bruce Bradfordon the first two counts of plaintiff's third amended complaintbased on the willful and wanton conduct of Bradford. For thefollowing reasons, we reverse and remand.

FACTS

In this case, two people lost their lives in a high-speedvehicular police pursuit. While we must resolve the issuespresented by the circumstances of this appeal, the legal and socialconundrum created by such police pursuits will unfortunatelypersist beyond our disposition.

The following facts are taken from the various depositions inthis case. On October 10, 1999, at about 9:35 p.m., defendant,Officer Bruce Bradford of the Lombard police department, receiveda radio report of an automobile driving with an unsecured load onFinley Road in Lombard. Officer Bradford was proceeding southboundin his marked patrol car when he observed a vehicle drivingnorthbound on Finley Road. The vehicle appeared to be drivingbelow the speed limit and had debris on both its hood and roof. The material on the hood partially obstructed the windshield. According to Officer Bradford, the vehicle had so much junk piledon it that it looked "ridiculous." The junk was "teetering andtottering." Officer Bradford believed the vehicle was unsafe to bedriven in that condition.

Officer Bradford decided to stop the vehicle because it had anunsecured load and an obstructed windshield. To that end, heactivated his emergency lights and pulled behind the vehicle. After Officer Bradford activated his lights, the vehicle sloweddown as it approached a stop sign at Maple Avenue. Instead ofstopping, however, the vehicle drove through the stop sign. Atthat point, the vehicle also began to weave within its lane.

The vehicle then turned west onto Crescent Avenue into theVillage of Glen Ellyn. At that point, the vehicle was traveling 50miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour speed zone. Debris fell fromthe vehicle as it wove and crossed the center lane. OfficerBradford radioed the dispatcher and reported that the vehicle was"weaving and leaving stuff all over the road." While still onCrescent Avenue, the dispatcher advised Officer Bradford that thevehicle was reported stolen.

It was while on Crescent Avenue that Officer Bradford began tosuspect that the driver of the vehicle was driving while under theinfluence of alcohol. According to Officer Bradford, thecircumstances that led him to that suspicion were the debris on thevehicle, its driving below the speed limit, its driving over thespeed limit, and its crossing a double centerline.

The vehicle then turned north onto Forest Avenue and drovethrough downtown Glen Ellyn. The vehicle turned west ontoPennsylvania Avenue then north onto Western Avenue. The vehiclewas traveling at 60 miles per hour on Western Avenue. Up to thatpoint, the vehicle had not stopped at any stop signs along itsroute.

Officer Bradford followed the vehicle east onto Elm Street. A witness testified that there was no other traffic on Elm Street,and he estimated the speed of the two vehicles to be about 40 to 45miles per hour. According to the witness, Officer Bradford'svehicle was within two to three car lengths of the pursued vehicle.

According to this witness, the light at Elm Street and MainStreet was red and both vehicles went through it. In doing so,they caused two other vehicles to "panic stop" to avoid acollision. Officer Bradford testified he did not remember whatcolor the light was or seeing the two vehicles attempt to avoid acollision.

As Officer Bradford's vehicle and the other vehicle turnednorth onto Main Street from Elm, Officer Bradford activated hissiren. While Officer Bradford chased the vehicle on Main Street,the dispatcher confirmed that the other vehicle was stolen.

Officer Bradford testified that while on Main Street thepursuit reached a speed of 90 miles per hour. Officer MariaHernandez of the Glen Ellyn police department joined in the pursuitnorthbound on Main Street. According to Officer Bradford, as thevehicles approached the intersection with North Avenue, the pursuedvehicle slowed down as though the driver might exit the car. Thetranscript of Officer Bradford's radio transmission at that pointstates that the driver "is going to bail." Instead, the vehicleproceeded through the intersection, still northbound on MainStreet, then performed a U-turn, proceeded back southbound on MainStreet, then turned west onto North Avenue.

Another witness, Fatima Ali, was driving southbound on MainStreet approaching the intersection with North Avenue. As shedrove into the left turn lane to turn left onto North Avenue, thelight for southbound Main Street was red. At that point, sheobserved the pursuit proceeding north on Main Street approachingNorth Avenue. She described the vehicles as traveling at a speedlikely over the 40-mile-per-hour limit. There were two squad carschasing another vehicle and they were "going back and forth tryingto keep hold of [the vehicle] as [it] was trying to get away fromthem." According to Ms. Ali, the squad cars were a "couple offeet" behind the other vehicle.

Ms. Ali thought the chase would continue north but instead thecar being chased abruptly turned in front of her, coming withinthree feet of the front of her vehicle. She jerked her car to theleft to avoid a collision, crossed the oncoming lanes of traffic,and crashed into a road construction sign on the other side of thestreet. Officer Bradford testified that he did not recall the nearcollision with Ali's vehicle.

The chase then continued westbound on North Avenue. NorthAvenue at that point is a six-lane roadway with a speed limit of 45miles per hour. The traffic on North Avenue was very sparse thatevening according to Officer Bradford. While on North Avenue,Officer Hernandez terminated the pursuit because she was ordered todo so by her supervisor.

Another witness, August Marazzo, was stopped at theintersection of Bloomingdale Road and North Avenue when he observedthe pursuit go by on North Avenue. He estimated the speed ofOfficer Bradford's vehicle and the other vehicle to be 70 to 80miles per hour. According to Officer Bradford, his vehicleperiodically reached the speed of 100 miles per hour on NorthAvenue. He estimated the closest he got to the pursued vehicle onNorth Avenue was perhaps a block.

Timothy Troutman also witnessed the chase on North Avenue. Troutman was driving with his wife westbound in the center lane ofNorth Avenue. The two vehicles passed his vehicle, moving from theleft lane to the right lane. He estimated the police vehicle wasabout 15 to 20 feet behind the other vehicle. As the two vehiclesapproached the intersection with President Street, Troutmanobserved the light for westbound North Avenue was red, and he toldhis wife "somebody is going to get hit." A few seconds later, hesaw a red Chevrolet Beretta pull into the intersection on PresidentStreet and get hit by the chased vehicle. The police car had totake evasive maneuvers to avoid striking either of the two cars. An accident reconstructionist estimated the speed of the vehiclebeing pursued to be between 80 and 86 miles per hour at the time itfirst applied its brakes prior to the collision.

Beverly Suwanski was the driver and sole occupant of theBeretta. Her husband, Ronald Suwanski, was following behind her inanother vehicle. They were heading home after attending a socialevent at the home of an acquaintance. Beverly died of massiveinjuries suffered in the collision. The driver of the pursuedvehicle, Birute Eidukonis, also died of injuries inflicted as aresult of the collision.

The weather conditions during the pursuit were clear, and theroadway was dry. The area through which the chase occurred wassuburban with a mix of residential and commercial properties. Thepursuit lasted 8 minutes and 35 seconds and covered about 6.5miles.

Officer Bradford testified he first suspected Eidukonis wasdriving under the influence after she turned onto Crescent Avenuefrom Finley Road. Officer Bradford never advised his dispatcherduring the pursuit that he suspected the vehicle's driver of beingunder the influence. When two different officers at the accidentscene asked Officer Bradford what caused the collision, he did notmention to either of them his suspicion that the driver was drivingunder the influence. Officer Bradford did inform LieutenantWatkins of the Lombard police department at the scene thatEidukonis was driving erratically and that he believed it wasbecause she was driving under the influence.

When Detective Randy Logan of the Glendale Heights policedepartment spoke with Officer Bradford's supervisor, Jeff Jordan,the next day about the pursuit, Logan was not told that OfficerBradford suspected Eidukonis of driving under the influence. WhenLogan met with Officer Bradford three days later, Officer Bradfordstated that he believed Eidukonis was driving under the influencebased on her use of a left turn signal when she turned right duringthe pursuit. Later, when Detective Logan received OfficerBradford's written report, it indicated Eidukonis was weavingoutside her lane and suggested that this was an additional reasonfor his suspicion that Eidukonis was driving under the influence.

Further, Timothy Troutman stated in his deposition that a weekor two after the incident he overheard two people talking about thepursuit at church. When Troutman stopped to discuss the situation,one of the two identified himself as the Lombard police chief. According to Troutman, the chief asked Troutman if he knew thewoman being chased was intoxicated. When Troutman responded byasking if Officer Bradford knew the woman was drunk, the chiefanswered "no."

The Lombard police department had a written policy governingpolice pursuits in effect at the time of the chase. The policycalled for an officer to weigh the benefits of apprehending anoffender against the risk of death or injury to the officer oranother by pursuing. The policy also provided that a pursuit mustbe terminated whenever the risks to the safety of others outweighthe danger to the community if the suspect is not apprehended. Anofficer is also required to terminate a pursuit if ordered to do soby a supervisor.

Officer Bradford's supervisor, Jordan, monitored the entirepursuit via radio. Jordan was also aware of the weather and roadconditions, the day of the week, the time of day, and the generaltraffic conditions. He learned from Bradford via the radio thatthe vehicle was weaving, leaving debris on the road, exceedingspeed limits, going through stop signs, and was stolen. Accordingto Jordan, based on this information, he decided not to ordertermination of the pursuit because he believed the driver was underthe influence and a fleeing felon. Jordan conceded he would haveordered termination of the pursuit had he known of the nearcollision with the Ali vehicle at Main Street and North Avenue.

Plaintiff retained as an expert witness Professor GeoffreyAlpert. Professor Alpert has engaged in numerous studies andpublished several articles concerning police pursuits. Accordingto Professor Alpert, Officer Bradford should have terminated thepursuit after 1