Former Chicago police officer paralyzed in 1987 on-duty drunk-driver crash dies from injuries

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Former Chicago Police Officer Jim Crowley has died from his injuries from a 1987 on-duty crash.

Crowley died on Thursday, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation said. He was 59 years old.

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Officer Crowley was paralyzed when a drunk driver slammed into a squad car he was in, killing Officer William Malcom Morrison, Jr. and injuring three other officers. Crowley was just 22 at the time of the crash and new on the force.

Crowley was a Morgan Park native who went to Mt. Carmel High School, his family told ABC7.

"Jim led a very difficult life in the years following the accident but always managed to keep a positive outlook," said Phil Cline, executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. "We pass our sincerest condolences on to the Crowley family, especially his only sister, Beth, who did so much to care for him over the years."

"Jim was a man who lived everyday with the same effort an attitude regardless of the outcome," Crowley's sister, Beth Carter, said. "I would want Jim to be remembered for his dogged determination that Jim never let his circumstances define him... Jim was gritty. Jim was tough, and Jim was enduring."

Carter recalled the last day she spent with her older brother.

"We had a great day," Carter said. "We laughed. We smiled. I brought three dozen Krispy Kremes and an ice cream cake, because that was our routine."

She kissed her brother goodbye that night and promised to meet him the next morning. Hours before she showed up, she got a call he had passed away.

"I one hundred percent believe it was divinely orchestrated that Jim knew that I needed to be with him and to see that he was okay," Carter said.

Five years ago, Crowley, who had been living in at a group home in San Marcos, Texas, where he was getting specialized treatment, made the trip back to Chicago for the first time in decades, where he was met with a full salute from his brothers and sisters in blue.

"As many times as I reassured him that he hadn't been forgotten, he was able to live the experience of not being forgotten," Carter said.

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Since the crash, Carter said her brother never complained and only endured.

"Jim honestly inspires me to be a better person," Carter said. "People often say that Jim was so lucky to have me, but honestly, I was the lucky one."

A wake will be held on Tuesday from 3 to 9 p.m. at the McGann Funeral Home at 10727 S. Pulaski Road.

The funeral mass will be on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Saint Christina Catholic Church at 3342 W. 111th Street. September 4 is the date as when the crash happened 37 years ago.