Search fatalities

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/15/2021, 39-year-old Katie S. Foshee of Montgomery was critically injured while riding as a passenger in a 1989 Chevrolet Blazer during a multi-jurisdictional police pursuit that began in Wetumpka and continued through Montgomery and back into Elmore County. Foshee subsequently died from her injuries. The driver, 32-year-old Donald C. Williamson of Wetumpka, also died.
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Wetumpka police initially attempted to stop the Blazer after receiving reports of reckless driving. Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin separately described police as having spotted a person of interest connected to an ongoing investigation, but authorities did not publicly identify the person of interest or disclose the nature of that investigation. The available accounts do not establish that Foshee was the person police were seeking.
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The Blazer continued away from Wetumpka, and Elmore County sheriff’s deputies joined the pursuit. Police pursued the vehicle into Montgomery along Northern Boulevard and then north on Interstate 65. Foshee remained in the passenger seat throughout the pursuit.
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The Blazer exited I-65 at the Millbrook/Coosada exit and continued toward Alabama Highway 143. Elmore County deputies deployed spike strips near Cobbs Ford Road in an attempt to stop the vehicle.
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As the Blazer approached the spike strips, Williamson maneuvered around them. The vehicle entered a ditch, then re-entered Alabama 143 and collided with a 2020 International MV607 commercial vehicle approximately two miles south of Millbrook.
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Foshee suffered severe injuries and was transported to Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery. ALEA subsequently confirmed that she died from those injuries. Williamson, who had to be extricated from the wreckage, also remained hospitalized and died afterward.
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The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Highway Patrol Division investigated the fatal collision.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Wetumpka Police Department officers who initiated the attempted stop and the Elmore County sheriff’s deputies who participated in the pursuit and deployed the spike strips have not been publicly identified.
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https://www.wtvm.com/2021/07/19/second-person-dies-following-thursday-police-pursuit/
https://www.wsfa.com/2021/07/19/second-person-dies-following-thursday-police-pursuit/
https://www.wsfa.com/2021/07/15/2-suspects-injured-after-multi-county-police-pursuit/
https://elmoreautauganews.com/2021/07/19/both-occupants-of-vehicle-involved-in-police-pursuit-crash-thursday-have-died-alea-reports/
https://www.waka.com/2021/07/18/montgomery-woman-dies-from-injuries-in-elmore-county-car-crash/

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Stolen vehicle. Shortly after 4:00 p.m. on 07/10/2021, Oakdale police received information that a Chevrolet Tahoe parked outside Cub Foods on 10th Street North had been reported stolen. Officers identified Scott David Hardy in the driver’s seat, approached the Tahoe and ordered him to turn off the engine and put his hands outside the window. Hardy instead drove away, and Oakdale officers pursued.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 07/10/2021, 80-year-old Shirley J. Bilden of Maplewood was critically injured when the stolen Chevrolet Tahoe Oakdale police had been pursuing crashed into her Chevrolet Malibu at Geneva Avenue and 10th Street. Bilden had no connection to Hardy, the stolen Tahoe or the police encounter. She remained hospitalized for four days and died at Regions Hospital on 07/14/2021.
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The police encounter began at the Cub Foods on 10th Street North. Officers had originally been dispatched to the store concerning an unrelated panhandler. After arriving, police were alerted to the stolen Tahoe in the parking lot and approached Hardy. Officers ordered him to shut off the vehicle and show his hands. Hardy drove out of the parking lot with a man and a woman riding with him.
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Hardy accelerated into nearby residential neighborhoods while Oakdale officers pursued. According to the criminal complaint, he reached speeds approaching 70 mph and drove through residential yards. Oakdale police terminated the pursuit because of the danger Hardy’s driving presented in the neighborhood.
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Shortly after officers discontinued the pursuit, they saw a large plume of smoke in the distance. Hardy had continued approximately 1¼ miles from the Cub Foods and entered the intersection of Geneva Avenue and 10th Street against a red traffic signal, crashing the Tahoe into Bilden’s Chevrolet Malibu. Both vehicles were severely damaged.
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Bilden suffered extensive traumatic injuries, including fractures involving her back, shoulder, vertebrae and ankle, and had difficulty breathing following the collision. Emergency personnel transported her to Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
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Hardy left the wrecked Tahoe and ran to nearby Union Cemetery. There, while a woman and her children were visiting a gravesite, he attempted to take her vehicle. People at the cemetery restrained Hardy until police arrived and arrested him. The two passengers who had been riding in the Tahoe were hospitalized with injuries from the collision.
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Shirley remained at Regions Hospital until 07/14/2021, when she died from the injuries caused by the crash.
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Shirley grew up on a farm in Rothsay, Minnesota. She later moved to St. Paul, where she raised her family, and worked for Burlington Northern Railroad. She lived for many years in Oakdale before settling in Maplewood.
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Her family remembered her especially for the attention she gave to the people she loved. Regular telephone calls and greeting cards for birthdays, holidays and other occasions were characteristic ways Shirley stayed connected with relatives and friends. She was survived by grandchildren, great-grandchildren, four siblings, nieces, nephews and close friends. Three of her children—Rodney, Daniel and Laurie—had died before her.
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Shirley was buried at Union Cemetery—the same cemetery where Hardy had run immediately after the crash and attempted to take another vehicle. Her son Daniel was also buried there.
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Hardy was charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle resulting in death, receiving stolen property and attempted motor-vehicle theft. Court records also showed that his driver’s license had been revoked when he drove the stolen Tahoe.
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In February 2024, Hardy pleaded guilty to fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle resulting in death. The receiving-stolen-property and attempted-motor-vehicle-theft charges were dismissed under the plea agreement.
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On 04/12/2024, a Washington County judge sentenced Hardy to 166 months—13 years and 10 months—in prison, with credit for two years and 273 days already served.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Oakdale Police Department officers who approached Hardy at Cub Foods and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/scott-hardy-sentenced-shirley-bilden-maplewood-police-chase-crash/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wadena-man-gets-14-years-223500574.html
https://www.startribune.com/man-charged-after-woman-dies-of-oakdale-crash-injuries/600078486
https://www.startribune.com/13-year-sentence-for-man-who-fatally-hit-other-driver-while-fleeing-police-in-oakdale/600359209
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/man-sentenced-to-over-13-years-in-prison-for-fatal-oakdale-crash/
https://www.fox9.com/news/driver-sentenced-fatal-oakdale-crash-following-pursuit
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/man-sentenced-to-over-13-years-for-oakdale-crash-that-killed-80-year-old-woman
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/woman-struck-by-fleeing-suspect-in-maplewood-dies-from-injuries
https://obituaries.startribune.com/obituary/shirley-bilden-1090158374/

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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/14/2021, 9-year-old Hershel Weinberger was killed when off-duty Chicago Police Department Officer Michael Leverett struck him with a Toyota Tundra pickup truck while Hershel was riding his bicycle through the crosswalk at North Sacramento and West Chase avenues in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood.
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At approximately 8:00 p.m., Hershel was riding east on the north sidewalk of Chase Avenue, returning home after playing at a friend’s house. Children younger than 12 were legally permitted to ride bicycles on Chicago sidewalks. Hershel entered the marked crosswalk across Sacramento Avenue at an intersection controlled by four-way stop signs. Leverett was driving north on Sacramento.
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Witnesses reported that Leverett appeared to run the stop sign before striking Hershel. Witnesses also reported that Hershel’s bicycle was dragged beneath Leverett’s pickup before the vehicle stopped. Neighbors immediately came to Hershel’s aid.
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Leverett gave police a different account. According to the crash report, he said he stopped at the stop sign, looked in both directions and proceeded north through the intersection. Leverett said he heard a loud noise, stopped just beyond the crosswalk and then found Hershel on the ground beside his truck.
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Hershel’s parents were nearby and heard the collision. His father, Shamai Weinberger, rushed to the intersection and held his son while they waited for emergency personnel. Hershel was transported to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 8:31 p.m.
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Leverett underwent alcohol and drug testing approximately three hours after the collision. Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara said Leverett’s Breathalyzer test was negative.
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Chicago police initially announced no citation or criminal charge against Leverett. On 07/16/2021, police disclosed that he had been cited for failure to exercise due care for a person in the roadway. Despite eyewitness accounts that Leverett appeared to have driven through the stop sign, the publicly reported citation was for failure to exercise due care rather than a stop-sign violation.
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Hershel lived with his family in the 2900 block of West Chase Avenue, only about a block from where he was killed. He was one of four boys and had a twin brother. He attended Seymour J. Abrams Cheder Lubavitch Hebrew Day School in Skokie. His father described him as a typical happy 9-year-old who enjoyed life, while family friend and teacher Ruth Lee remembered his kindness and vibrant personality.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Michael Leverett was 48 and an off-duty Chicago police officer when he killed Hershel. His disciplinary history included a serious incident more than two decades earlier for which the Chicago police superintendent sought his dismissal.
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On 02/25/2000, while off duty, Leverett drank alcohol at the My Mistake bar in Chicago while carrying an unregistered firearm. According to the subsequent Chicago Police Board case, Leverett later went to a woman’s apartment, physically grabbed or pushed her, threatened suicide, placed his gun in his mouth or relinquished it to the woman and told her to shoot him. Leverett also discharged the firearm during the incident.
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The Chicago police superintendent filed disciplinary charges and sought Leverett’s dismissal from the department. A majority of Police Board members found him guilty of misconduct but declined to fire him, instead imposing an 11-month suspension. Leverett subsequently returned to police duty.
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Leverett later became a substantial overtime earner within CPD. A Chicago Sun-Times investigation of police overtime found that he received $52,433 in overtime during a three-month period in 2018.
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More than 20 years after the disciplinary case, Leverett was still employed by CPD when he struck and killed Hershel while off duty. The fatal collision brought renewed public scrutiny to the earlier Police Board decision to suspend rather than terminate him.

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2021/07/15/off-duty-cop-who-reportedly-ran-stop-sign-killing-boy-on-bike-has-not-been-cited/
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2021/07/30/cop-who-killed-hershel-weinberger-9-was-previously-suspended-after-drunken-suicide-threat
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/7/14/22578113/hershel-weinberger-rogers-park-crash-chicago-police-officer-bicycle
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/7/16/22579975/hershel-weinberger-west-rogers-park-citation
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/west-rogers-park-boy-on-bike-killed/
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/hershel-weinberger-9-year-old-bicycle-accident-west-rogers-park/
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/rogers-park-chicago-police-officer-charged-hitting-boy-on-bicycle/
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/off-duty-chicago-police-officer-strikes-kills-9-year-old-boy-riding-bike-in-west-rogers-park
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/off-duty-officer-gets-citation-after-fatally-striking-9-year-old-boy-riding-bike-in-west-rogers-park

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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/08/2021, 24-year-old Borkot Ullah was killed while making food deliveries on an e-bike when a black Subaru Outback being pursued by New York City Police Department officers ran a red light and struck him at East Houston and Clinton streets on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Ullah had no connection to the driver, the attempted traffic stop or the police pursuit.
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The encounter began at approximately 10:00 p.m. when NYPD officers attempted to stop the Subaru as it traveled east on East Houston Street. Prosecutors later established that police initiated the stop because the driver was speeding and committing other traffic violations. The driver continued driving away at high speed, and NYPD officers pursued through traffic on East Houston Street.
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Surveillance video subsequently obtained from businesses along the route documented the pursuit. The Subaru weaved around traffic as it approached the red light at Clinton Street. Ullah was traveling north across East Houston Street on his e-bike with the traffic signal in his favor.
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The Subaru drove through the red light and struck Ullah with tremendous force, throwing him several feet through the air. Video showed an unmarked NYPD vehicle immediately behind the Subaru with its emergency lights activated. The police vehicle reached the intersection less than a second after the Subaru struck Ullah, providing direct visual evidence that the police pursuit was underway immediately before the fatal collision.
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The pursuing officers stopped at the crash scene while the Subaru continued east on Houston Street and escaped toward the FDR Drive. Ullah suffered severe traumatic injuries and was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he died.
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Initial NYPD public statements described the incident as a hit-and-run and did not disclose that officers had been pursuing the Subaru immediately before it struck Ullah. After surveillance footage emerged, an NYPD spokesperson said the circumstances preceding the collision were under review. Additional video subsequently obtained by Streetsblog provided a wider view of the Subaru and pursuing police vehicle immediately before and after the collision.
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The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation opened a review because of the NYPD’s involvement in the events preceding Ullah’s death. The Attorney General later closed its review after determining that the evidence did not establish that a police officer legally caused Ullah’s death.
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The NYPD subsequently included Ullah’s death in its official 2021 Use of Force Report. The department categorized the 07/08/2021 incident as “Fleeing Subject – 7th Precinct,” identified the deceased as a 24-year-old Asian man, and stated that officers attempted a vehicle stop for a traffic infraction before the vehicle fled.
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The driver was eventually identified and arrested months later. A Manhattan grand jury indictment confirmed the pursuit chronology that had initially been absent from the NYPD’s public account: officers attempted to stop the Subaru for speeding and other traffic violations, the driver fled at high speed and weaved through traffic, and the Subaru ran the red light at East Houston and Clinton streets and killed Ullah.
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The driver was indicted on charges including second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death without reporting, reckless endangerment, aggravated unlicensed operation and reckless driving. The criminal case ultimately resulted in a New York County Supreme Court judgment on 05/12/2023. An appeal from that judgment remained active in 2026, when the Appellate Division extended the time to perfect the appeal to its September 2026 term.
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Borkot was a Bangladeshi immigrant who worked as an app-based food delivery worker and sent money home to his family in Bangladesh. He was also a member of Desis Rising Up and Moving, a New York organization representing working-class South Asian and Indo-Caribbean immigrants. He had not originally planned to work that evening but began making deliveries at approximately 8:00 p.m.
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His death prompted delivery workers, immigrant-rights advocates and members of the Bangladeshi community to demand an investigation of both the hit-and-run driver and the NYPD pursuit. Delivery workers later gathered for a memorial vigil, where community members specifically demanded disclosure of why police pursued the vehicle and accountability for the decisions that preceded Ullah’s death.
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Ullah’s family and community organized assistance to return his body to Bangladesh for burial and support his family following his death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The NYPD officers who attempted the traffic stop and pursued the Subaru immediately before it struck Borkot Ullah have not been publicly identified.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/09/hit-and-run-driver-kills-cyclist-on-east-houston
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/12/exclusive-new-video-from-crash-shows-police-chase-led-to-death-of-delivery-cyclist-borkot-ullah/
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/12/cops-wont-comment-on-police-chase-that-may-have-led-to-death-of-delivery-cyclist
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/07/30/delivery-and-immigrant-communities-protest-death-of-working-cyclist-during-police-chase
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2021/12/16/driver-charged-for-killing-delivery-worker-borkot-ullah-as-he-fled-cops/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/lower-east-side-e-bike-hit-and-run/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/delivery-worker-borkot-ullah-killed-in-manhattan-hit-and-run-bangladesh/
https://abc7ny.com/east-village-hit-and-run-e-bike-borkot-ullah-subaru-outback/10873859/
https://www.amny.com/news/two-people-dead-in-separate-hit-and-runs-in-manhattan-and-queens-nypd/
https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2024/police-pursuits/
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/use-of-force/use-of-force-2021.pdf
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/reports/osi-2022-annual-report.pdf
GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/2fq28dw2u0

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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/08/2021, 44-year-old Christopher Lawrence Seay of Henrico died from injuries sustained the previous afternoon when his Jeep Grand Cherokee crashed and overturned during a Henrico County Police pursuit near Richmond International Airport. Seay was ejected from the Jeep and hospitalized with life-threatening injuries before his death was announced the following day.
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The encounter began shortly before 3:00 p.m. on 07/07/2021 at Eubank and Lewis roads. A Henrico police officer stopped Seay after observing a traffic violation. Police did not publicly specify the traffic violation in the available contemporary accounts. Seay initially stopped and interacted with the officer.
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According to Henrico police, Seay did not have identification and provided the officer with a false name, Social Security number and date of birth. After checking the information, the officer determined that Seay was not the person he claimed to be. The officer instructed Seay to put the Jeep in park and turn off the engine. Seay then drove away.
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The Henrico officer pursued Seay east on Williamsburg Road. The pursuit continued for approximately one mile toward the Richmond International Airport area.
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At Williamsburg Road and Airport Drive, police said Seay entered the intersection against a red traffic signal and collided with a sedan. The impact caused Seay's Jeep to overturn multiple times, ejecting him from the vehicle.
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Seay was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The driver of the sedan suffered injuries that police described as non-life-threatening. Seay subsequently died from his injuries, and Henrico police announced his death on 07/08/2021.
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Police subsequently determined that Seay had active warrants in Chesterfield County for a probation violation stemming from a previous felony-eluding offense. Those warrants were discovered after the traffic stop and pursuit began; the initiating reason for the stop was the traffic violation observed by the Henrico officer.
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The Henrico Police Crash Team investigated the fatal collision. The department also included vehicular pursuits in its formal 2021 reporting and analysis of pursuit incidents.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Henrico County police officer who stopped and pursued Christopher Lawrence Seay has not been publicly identified.

https://www.12onyourside.com/2021/07/08/police-driver-dies-injuries-following-chase-crash-henrico/
https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/christopher-lawrence-seay-dead-police-chase-crash-near-ric
https://wtop.com/virginia/2021/07/police-man-dies-in-crash-after-fleeing-traffic-stop/
https://henrico.gov/police/crimestatistics/public-data/

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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/07/2021, 22-year-old Vernell F. Muhammad was killed after an Indiana State Police traffic stop developed into an approximately 20-mile pursuit on Interstate 94 across northwest Indiana. Muhammad’s Ford Focus ultimately crashed into the rear of a semi-truck near Mile Marker 18.5 in Porter County. Muhammad was ejected and died from his injuries.
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At approximately 8:57 a.m., an Indiana State Police trooper stopped Muhammad’s silver 2012 Ford Focus on eastbound Interstate 94 near Mile Marker 40 in La Porte County. Police alleged that Muhammad had committed several traffic violations, specifically following another vehicle too closely and speeding through an active construction zone where workers were present.
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During the stop, the trooper checked Muhammad’s information and discovered active felony warrants from La Porte County. Contemporary reporting described the warrants as involving domestic battery and strangulation allegations. The warrants therefore were discovered during the stop and were not the original reason the trooper stopped Muhammad.
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The trooper attempted to take Muhammad into custody. Police reported that Muhammad remained inside the Ford, drove away and entered Interstate 94 westbound. Indiana State Police pursued him west toward Porter County.
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The pursuit continued for nearly 20 miles. During the chase, police positioned stop sticks along the interstate in an attempt to stop Muhammad. He maneuvered around the stop sticks and continued westbound on I-94.
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Near Mile Marker 18.5 in the Burns Harbor area, Muhammad’s Ford crashed into the rear of a semi-truck traveling west on Interstate 94. The collision ejected Muhammad from the Ford.
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Muhammad suffered severe injuries and was transported by helicopter for emergency medical treatment. He was subsequently pronounced dead. Local reporting stated that Muhammad died at a Chicago hospital. The semi-truck driver survived the collision.
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The fatal crash shut down westbound Interstate 94 for approximately two hours while investigators reconstructed the collision. Burns Harbor police, Portage police, the Lake County Aviation Section, Portage Fire Department and the Indiana Department of Transportation assisted Indiana State Police following the crash.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Indiana State Police trooper who stopped Vernell F. Muhammad and initiated the pursuit has not been publicly identified.

https://www.abc57.com/news/driver-with-la-porte-county-warrants-dies-after-chase-crash
https://hometownnewsnow.com/local-news/580260

On 07/07/2021, 41-year-old Victor Alexander Demarest was killed when a Dodge Charger being followed by Killeen Police Department officers crashed into the Chevrolet Equinox he was driving on Elms Road. The impact pushed Demarest’s Equinox into a Chevrolet Silverado traveling in the opposite direction.
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At approximately 9:00 a.m., a Killeen patrol officer observed a blue Dodge Charger traveling at a high rate of speed. The officer turned around to conduct a traffic stop but lost sight of the Charger around W.S. Young Drive and Stan Schlueter Loop.
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A second Killeen patrol officer subsequently saw the Charger traveling north on Trimmier Road. The Charger stopped at the red light at Trimmier and Elms roads, but its driver then drove through the red light, cut through traffic and accelerated west on Elms Road. The second officer continued west on Elms behind the Charger.
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The second officer lost sight of the Charger as it continued west. According to Killeen police, the officer then saw a cloud of dust and debris from the collision ahead.
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Demarest was driving a silver Chevrolet Equinox and was exiting a private drive onto Elms Road when the Charger struck the driver’s side of his vehicle. The force of the collision propelled the Equinox into a black Chevrolet Silverado traveling east on Elms Road.
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A witness, Timothy Hogan, said Demarest had just completed a grocery delivery. Hogan reported seeing Demarest thrown from the vehicle by the force of the collision while still restrained by his seat belt. Hogan helped police free Demarest from the belt and perform CPR.
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Demarest was transported to Seton Medical Center Harker Heights in critical condition. He died from his injuries and was pronounced dead at 11:05 a.m. by Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke, approximately two hours after the collision.
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The two people traveling in the Charger and the driver of the Silverado were also transported to hospitals. Demarest was the only person killed.
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Killeen police initially withheld Demarest’s identity while notifying his family and publicly identified him as Victor Alexander Demarest on 07/09/2021.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The two Killeen Police Department patrol officers involved in the attempted stop and pursuit have not been publicly identified.
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https://www.fox44news.com/news/latest-news/killeen-police-chase-leads-to-three-vehicle-crash-one-thrown-from-vehicle/
https://killeenpdnews.com/2021/07/07/killeen-police-investigate-a-crash-fatality-on-elms/
https://killeenpdnews.com/2021/07/09/killeen-police-identify-victim-from-crash-fatality/
https://www.kwtx.com/2021/07/09/police-identify-man-killed-crash-involving-dodge-whose-driver-was-fleeing-local-officers/
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/killeen-police-identify-victim-in-fatal-multi-vehicle-crash
https://www.kxxv.com/hometown/bell-county/major-vehicle-collision-shuts-down-part-of-elms-road-in-killeen

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Stolen vehicle suspected in several nonviolent business thefts. Minneapolis Police Officer Brian Cummings saw a Kia Sportage matching the description of a stolen vehicle police believed had been used in several business thefts. Cummings attempted a traffic stop, but the driver continued driving away and Cummings pursued through North Minneapolis.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 07/06/2021, 40-year-old Leneal Lamont Frazier of St. Paul was killed when Minneapolis Police Officer Brian Cummings ran a red light at high speed during a police pursuit and crashed his marked squad car into the driver’s side of Frazier’s Jeep at North Lyndale Avenue and 41st Avenue North. Frazier was an uninvolved motorist and had no connection to the stolen Kia or the theft investigation.
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The pursuit began shortly after midnight when Cummings saw the Kia Sportage and attempted to stop it. The Kia continued north and Cummings pursued with his emergency lights and siren activated. The chase continued for more than 20 blocks through North Minneapolis, including residential streets with a posted speed limit of 25 mph.
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Cummings pursued at speeds approaching 100 mph through numerous stop signs, red lights and intersections where buildings and other obstructions restricted visibility. Immediately before reaching 41st Avenue North, Cummings was traveling approximately 90 mph. Investigators calculated that at that speed his squad car required approximately 337 feet to stop.
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Frazier was traveling west on 41st Avenue North and entered the intersection on a green traffic signal. The pursued Kia entered against a red light at nearly 100 mph and narrowly passed in front of Frazier’s Jeep. Cummings entered the same intersection against the red light immediately afterward.
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Cummings struck the driver’s side of Frazier’s Jeep at approximately 78 mph. Crash reconstruction based on data from the squad car and surveillance video estimated that Frazier was traveling approximately 25 mph. Investigators concluded that Cummings failed to operate his police vehicle with due regard for the safety of other motorists.
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The collision forced Frazier’s Jeep from the intersection. Cummings’ squad vehicle also struck another uninvolved vehicle. Frazier suffered multiple blunt-force injuries and died from the crash. Cummings and another motorist were injured.
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Frazier was a father of six and a grandfather. He was also the uncle of Darnella Frazier, whose cellphone recording of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd in 2020 became central evidence in Chauvin’s murder prosecution. Frazier’s family described another fatal encounter with Minneapolis police only a little more than a year after Darnella witnessed and recorded Floyd’s death as another profound trauma for the family.
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Frazier’s family immediately questioned why police had conducted a pursuit approaching 100 mph through residential streets. His relatives and attorneys called for both a criminal investigation of Cummings and civil accountability from the City of Minneapolis.
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The Minnesota State Patrol investigated the fatal collision. On 10/22/2021, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Cummings with second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide. Prosecutors alleged that Cummings drove with gross negligence by continuing a near-100-mph pursuit through residential neighborhoods and entering the intersection against a red light.
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Cummings pleaded guilty on 04/27/2023 to criminal vehicular homicide. The second-degree manslaughter charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. On 07/12/2023, Cummings was sentenced to 270 days in the Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility and three years of probation.
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The man prosecutors later accused of driving the pursued Kia, James Jeremiah Jones-Drain, was charged with fleeing police resulting in death and vehicle theft. On 08/25/2023, prosecutors dismissed those charges, stating that they could not prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
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Frazier’s family filed a federal wrongful-death and civil-rights lawsuit against Minneapolis in 2024. The lawsuit alleged that dangerous MPD pursuits were disproportionately conducted in Black neighborhoods and that the city had failed to control a pattern of hazardous pursuits, including Cummings’ repeated high-speed chases. In November 2025, the Minneapolis City Council approved a $475,000 settlement with Frazier’s family.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Brian Cummings had an extensive history of high-speed police pursuits before killing Frazier. The Frazier family’s federal lawsuit alleged that Cummings participated in at least 12 high-speed pursuits during 2021 alone, including the fatal July pursuit, accounting for approximately 10% of all Minneapolis police chases that year. The lawsuit alleged that he had not been disciplined for those pursuits.
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One month before Frazier’s death, Cummings conducted another pursuit on North Second Street in which he reached approximately 102 mph. Court filings later showed that Cummings received no negative supervisory feedback or discipline for that chase. His defense later cited the lack of prior discipline to argue that he believed his pursuit practices complied with department policy.
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The Frazier lawsuit also alleged that during another approximately three-mile pursuit Cummings ran eight stop signs, exceeded 100 mph and reported a substantially lower speed to his supervisor. The lawsuit argued that Minneapolis police supervisors knew of Cummings’ repeated high-speed pursuits but failed to intervene before Frazier was killed. These allegations were raised in civil litigation and were not separate criminal convictions against Cummings.
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Cummings’ employment with the Minneapolis Police Department ended after he was criminally charged in connection with Frazier’s death. He subsequently pleaded guilty to felony criminal vehicular homicide.
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DISPOSITION:
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Brian Cummings pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 270 days in the Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility followed by three years of probation. The manslaughter charge was dismissed under the plea agreement. Charges accusing James Jeremiah Jones-Drain of fleeing police resulting in Frazier’s death and vehicle theft were later dismissed because prosecutors said they could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Minneapolis subsequently agreed to pay Frazier’s family $475,000 to settle the federal civil lawsuit arising from his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Leneal_Frazier
https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-george-floyd-minneapolis-homicide-darnella-frazier-32799b3d2569acef76372d812ac1b573
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-fleeing-police-in-a-high-speed-chase-that-killed-leneal-frazier/
https://www.startribune.com/charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-being-driver-in-police-chase-that-killed-bystander/600299794/
https://patch.com/minnesota/southwestminneapolis/minneapolis-cop-charged-vehicular-homicide-fatal-crash
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/family-of-leneal-frazier-sues-minneapolis-for-his-death-in-2021-police-chase/

.

REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Armed-robbery investigation and erratic driving. Wichita police were investigating an armed robbery at a hotel in the 7500 block of West Taft and had taken one person connected to the investigation into custody near Maple and Ridge. Police were looking for a pickup truck that had left the area and was associated with the robbery investigation. At 4:59:16 p.m., a Wichita police officer saw the pickup driven by Javan Jermaine Ervin traveling erratically on Ridge Road. Thirteen seconds later, at 4:59:29 p.m., the officer pulled onto Ridge Road and began pursuing the truck. A police supervisor ordered the pursuit terminated 35 seconds later because of Ervin's speed and traffic conditions. The officer complied and turned around 13 seconds after the termination order.
.
OFFICIAL NARRATIVE:
On 07/06/2021, 22-year-old Samantha Lee Russell of Derby was killed when a pickup truck that Wichita police had been pursuing crashed into her Mazda CX-3 at Central Avenue and Ridge Road. Russell, who was 33 weeks pregnant, was waiting to make a left turn when the truck struck her vehicle. Doctors delivered her son, Mac, approximately 35 minutes after the collision. He survived.
.
The police encounter originated with an armed-robbery investigation at a hotel in the 7500 block of West Taft. Police located one man connected to the investigation near Maple and Ridge and took him into custody. Javan Jermaine Ervin drove away in a pickup truck. At 4:59:16 p.m., a Wichita officer saw Ervin driving erratically on Ridge Road. At 4:59:29 p.m., the officer pulled onto Ridge and began pursuing the truck.
.
Ervin accelerated and began creating distance between his truck and the pursuing officer. At 5:00:04 p.m., only 35 seconds after the pursuit began, a police supervisor ordered the officer to terminate the chase because of Ervin's speed and traffic conditions. At 5:00:17 p.m., the officer made a U-turn and headed back toward the robbery investigation.
.
Ervin continued north on Ridge Road after police terminated the pursuit. At Central Avenue, he approached a red traffic signal at high speed. Samantha was southbound on Ridge in her Mazda, waiting at the intersection to turn east onto Central.
.
Ervin drove through the red light and struck multiple vehicles. The collision sent his pickup over the median and airborne into Samantha's Mazda with enough force to shear away the upper portion of her vehicle. Ervin's truck rolled for more than 300 feet, and its rear axle and wheels were torn from the vehicle and thrown into another car. A responding officer later described the crash scene as “total destruction.”
.
The first 911 call reporting the collision reached emergency dispatch at 5:01:01 p.m., 44 seconds after the pursuing officer had turned around and 57 seconds after the supervisor ordered the pursuit terminated. The entire sequence from the officer beginning the pursuit to the first crash call lasted one minute and 32 seconds.
.
Samantha suffered catastrophic injuries and was transported to Wesley Medical Center. She was 33 weeks pregnant with her first child. Her son Mac was delivered by emergency Cesarean section approximately 35 minutes after the collision. Court records later established that Mac was delivered one minute after Samantha arrived in the trauma bay and that Samantha was pronounced dead three minutes later.
.
Mac survived but suffered oxygen deprivation associated with the crash and emergency delivery. Samantha's husband, Brandon Russell, later said that Mac experienced developmental delays as a result. At Ervin's 2023 trial, Mac—then approaching his second birthday—attended court with his father and maternal grandmother.
.
Samantha was born on Christmas Day 1998 in Sacile, Italy, to Rogelio and Lischen Castorena. She graduated from high school in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in 2017 and married Brandon Russell on 11/08/2019. Brandon served in the U.S. Air Force. The couple had recently purchased a house and were preparing for Mac's expected birth on 08/13/2021.
.
Samantha worked as a Realtor with JPAR in Derby and also created and sold hand-stamped jewelry. Her family described her as highly creative; she enjoyed cooking, baking, jewelry-making and other crafts and was constantly working on new projects. Her husband said she was extraordinarily excited about becoming a mother.
.
Ervin escaped from the wrecked pickup through its windshield and ran from the crash scene. Police later found him hiding in the clubhouse of a nearby apartment complex and arrested him. Investigators recovered two 9 mm handguns from the pickup. Video evidence presented at his later trial included police body-camera footage, cameras along the pursuit route and cameras at the intersection that recorded the fatal collision.
.
Wichita police asked the Kansas Highway Patrol to investigate the fatal collision because Wichita officers had participated in the events preceding the crash. KHP determined that Ervin had been traveling north on Ridge at high speed and entered the Central Avenue intersection against the red light.
.
Ervin's first trial ended in a mistrial in April 2023 after a juror improperly shared information obtained from news reports with other jurors. A second jury convicted Ervin in June 2023 of first-degree felony murder, alternative second-degree murder, reckless aggravated battery, fleeing or attempting to elude police, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving with a suspended license.
.
Ervin was sentenced to life imprisonment. He appealed his convictions to the Kansas Supreme Court. On 04/11/2025, the court affirmed his convictions, finding no reversible error. The court's published decision provides a detailed reconstruction of the pursuit, collision, physical evidence and video evidence presented at trial.
.
Five years after Samantha's death, her father, Roger Castorena, continued maintaining a memorial he built for her. He described his daughter as creative, hardworking and entrepreneurial and said that becoming a mother and wife had been central to what she wanted from her life. The memorial was also intended to give Mac a tangible connection to the mother he never had the opportunity to know.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Wichita Police Department officer who pursued Ervin on Ridge Road has not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting, subsequent trial coverage or Kansas Supreme Court decision. The documented pursuit timeline establishes that a Wichita police supervisor ordered the officer to terminate the pursuit 35 seconds after it began and that the officer complied, making a U-turn 13 seconds later.
.
DISPOSITION:
Javan Jermaine Ervin was convicted of first-degree felony murder and multiple related offenses arising from the pursuit and crash that killed Samantha Russell. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed his convictions on 04/11/2025.

1. https://www.ksn.com/news/local/one-critically-injured-in-west-wichita-vehicle-crash/
2. https://www.ksn.com/news/crime/man-convicted-in-crash-that-killed-pregnant-woman-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/
3. https://www.ksn.com/news/local/wichita-father-celebrates-birth-of-his-son-while-mourning-his-22-year-old-wife-killed-in-crash-following-chase/
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/229303430/samantha_lee-russell

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Failure to use a turn signal. LMPD Officer Benjamin Sullivan, with Officer Joseph Nett riding in the passenger seat of an unmarked police vehicle, began following a black Ford sedan driven by Larry Williams. Sullivan later testified that he initially noticed the vehicle and its Black driver based on a “gut feeling” while working a violent-crime detail. After Williams made a right turn from West Oak Street onto Dr. W.J. Hodge Street without signaling, Sullivan activated his emergency equipment to conduct a traffic stop. Williams accelerated away and Sullivan pursued him, although LMPD policy restricted pursuits for minor traffic violations.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/06/2021, 22-year-old Trevon Lanel Mitchell of Jeffersonville, Indiana, was killed while riding his moped when a Ford sedan being pursued by Louisville Metro Police Officer Benjamin Sullivan entered the intersection of West Broadway and Dr. W.J. Hodge Street at approximately 90 mph, crashed into other vehicles and struck Mitchell. Mitchell was an uninvolved road user and had no connection to Williams or the police encounter.
.
Shortly before 9:00 p.m., Sullivan was driving an unmarked LMPD vehicle on Dixie Highway with Nett as his partner. Sullivan noticed Williams' black Ford sedan, which had a tinted windshield. Sullivan later testified that seeing the Black driver's elbow extending from the window contributed to his interest in the vehicle and that he had a “gut feeling” the driver was the type of person police were looking for while working the violent-crime detail.
.
Sullivan and Nett followed the Ford. Dash-camera footage later showed Williams make a right turn without using a turn signal. Sullivan activated his emergency lights and siren. Williams accelerated away and Sullivan followed. The pursuit traveled along the residential corridor toward West Broadway, with the Ford reaching approximately 80 to 90 mph.
.
The pursuit was initiated over the turn-signal violation even though LMPD's pursuit policy prohibited officers from initiating pursuits solely for minor traffic offenses. Sullivan later said that after Williams accelerated away, he believed the Ford might be stolen, but the vehicle had not been established as stolen when Sullivan initiated the encounter.
.
LMPD terminated the pursuit shortly before Williams reached Broadway, but Williams was already approaching the intersection at extreme speed. Williams entered West Broadway against a red traffic signal and crashed into multiple vehicles.
.
Williams first crashed into a vehicle carrying Walter Jackson and Brent Bernier. The Ford then struck Mitchell's moped. Mitchell's friend Aidan Colmore was following him on another moped and witnessed the collision. Another vehicle carrying John Robinson was also struck during the crash sequence.
.
Mitchell suffered catastrophic injuries and was transported to University of Louisville Hospital, where he died. He was three days short of his 23rd birthday.
.
Williams left the crashed Ford and ran from the scene. Investigators subsequently identified him through surveillance video. Police arrested him approximately six weeks later and charged him with murder, assault and other offenses arising from the pursuit and fatal collision.
.
Mitchell was born on 07/09/1998 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He attended Jeffersonville High School and was attending Ivy Tech Community College. His family said he loved animals and skateboarding. His grandmother Danita Mitchell later said he had been preparing to enter military service.
.
The circumstances of the police pursuit became the subject of extensive civil litigation. Mitchell's estate and people injured in the collision alleged that Sullivan violated LMPD policy by pursuing Williams for a minor traffic violation and that the police pursuit contributed to the fatal crash.
.
The litigation also exposed an initial error concerning the pursuing officer's identity. The original LMPD traffic collision report incorrectly identified Officer Timothy Nett as the officer driving the police vehicle. An amended report subsequently identified Benjamin Sullivan as the driver and Joseph Nett as the officer riding with him.
.
For approximately a year after Mitchell's death, Sullivan disputed that his actions constituted a pursuit. The original police report had described the encounter as a pursuit, but Sullivan told an LMPD investigator that he had not pursued Williams. In a 2022 civil deposition, after reviewing video and LMPD's pursuit policy, Sullivan acknowledged that it had been a pursuit and said he wished he had never attempted the stop.
.
LMPD's Professional Standards Unit subsequently investigated Sullivan's actions. The investigation determined that Sullivan violated department pursuit policy and body-camera procedures. On 04/19/2023, LMPD imposed a two-day, 16-hour unpaid suspension for the violations. Louisville Police Merit Board records confirm the discipline.
.
In November 2023, Mitchell's estate and other people affected by the collision took their civil claims against Sullivan and Williams to trial. Evidence included security-camera and police video documenting the pursuit and crash. The plaintiffs argued that Sullivan never should have initiated the pursuit because Williams' failure to signal did not satisfy LMPD's requirements for a police chase.
.
The jury awarded approximately $30.7 million in damages and apportioned 97% of the responsibility to Williams and 3% to Sullivan. The Jefferson Circuit Court subsequently granted a partial new trial limited to the allocation of responsibility. The continuing litigation later reached the Kentucky Court of Appeals in a dispute involving former LMPD Chief Erika Shields' deposition; in May 2025, the appellate court affirmed the orders requiring Shields to testify.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Benjamin Sullivan was a rookie LMPD officer when he initiated the pursuit that killed Mitchell. Sullivan was working a special violent-crime detail with Officer Joseph Nett when he noticed Williams' vehicle. Sullivan testified that before observing the turn-signal violation, his interest in the Black driver arose from a “gut feeling” that the driver was the type of person police were trying to apprehend.
.
Sullivan's documented disciplinary outcome from the Mitchell pursuit was a two-day unpaid suspension imposed in April 2023. LMPD found violations of SOP 12.1 governing pursuits and SOP 4.31.6 governing body-camera procedures.
.
The later civil trial also examined LMPD's handling of Sullivan after the crash. Sullivan initially maintained that the encounter was not a pursuit despite the original police report describing it as one. The Professional Standards investigation eventually concluded that he had violated pursuit policy.
.
Sullivan remained employed by LMPD after the suspension. Subsequent reporting found that he continued working as a police officer and received department commendations after the fatal pursuit.
.
DISPOSITION:
Larry Williams was arrested approximately six weeks after Mitchell's death and prosecuted for the fatal collision. The subsequent civil case produced a jury award of approximately $30.7 million, with the jury initially assigning 97% of responsibility to Williams and 3% to Officer Benjamin Sullivan. The trial court later ordered a partial new trial limited to apportionment of responsibility. LMPD separately suspended Sullivan for two days without pay for violating pursuit and body-camera policies.

https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/louisville-lmpd-crash-trevon-mitchell-chase-broadway-hodge/417-0c0c1f3b-6a7a-460d-bef1-d3aa3950ea2e
https://louisville-accident-lawyer.com/blog/one-killed-in-louisville-ky-moped-crash/
https://www.wave3.com/2021/08/12/victims-deadly-broadway-crash-sue-lmpd-officer/
https://www.wave3.com/2021/08/18/man-arrested-after-traffic-stop-leads-deadly-crash/
https://www.wdrb.com/news/louisville-man-charged-with-murder-weeks-after-fatal-crash/article_b0da8fcc-005c-11ec-862e-8bb86293d003.html
https://www.wlky.com/article/lawsuit-accuses-lmpd-officer-of-not-following-car-pursuit-policy-in-deadly-july-collision/37297132
https://www.wave3.com/2023/12/05/jury-awards-31-million-lmpd-police-chase-trial/
https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2024/police-pursuits-race-deaths/
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/court-of-appeals/2025/2023-ca-1202-mr.html
https://louisvilleky.gov/sites/default/files/2023-07/PMB%204-21-23.docx_.pdf
https://www.scottfuneralhome.com/obituary/Trevon-Mitchell

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Police response to a reported physical domestic altercation. Glasgow Police Department officers were dispatched to Grandview Avenue in Glasgow shortly after midnight. According to Kentucky State Police, Hartigan drove away on a motorcycle as Glasgow officers arrived, and the officers pursued him toward Scottsville Road. The available official account does not identify Hartigan as the person accused of committing the reported domestic violence or describe what officers knew about his role when they began pursuing him.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/04/2021, 34-year-old Joshua Shane Hartigan was killed when his motorcycle left Scottsville Road and crashed during a Glasgow Police Department pursuit in Barren County. Hartigan was living in Glasgow and was formerly from Westmoreland, Tennessee.
.
At approximately 12:45 a.m., Glasgow police responded to Grandview Avenue following a report of a physical domestic altercation. Kentucky State Police reported that Hartigan left the scene on his motorcycle as Glasgow officers arrived. Glasgow officers pursued him as he traveled toward Scottsville Road.
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The pursuit continued to the 6600 block of Scottsville Road. According to the Kentucky State Police reconstruction, Hartigan failed to negotiate a curve and the motorcycle left the roadway. Hartigan was pronounced dead at the scene by the Barren County coroner.
.
Kentucky State Police Post 3 in Bowling Green investigated the fatal crash at the request of Glasgow police. KSP Trooper Bo Hubbard led the investigation. The Barren County Sheriff’s Office, Barren-Metcalfe EMS and Barren County Coroner also responded.
.
Hartigan was born on 03/25/1987 in Hendersonville, Tennessee. At the time of his death, he was engaged to Shelby O'Neal and was the father of two children, Aryan Hartigan Sutton and J.C. Hartigan. He was also survived by his parents, four sisters, three brothers and several nieces. His funeral was held three days after his death, followed by burial at Pleasant Grove Cemetery.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Glasgow Police Department officers who pursued Hartigan have not been publicly identified in the Kentucky State Police release or the contemporary and follow-up reporting located for this case.
.

https://www.wnky.com/man-dies-in-motorcycle-crash-during-police-pursuit/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tennessean/name/joshua-hartigan-obituary?id=12551380
https://www.kentuckystatepolice.ky.gov/news/p3-7-4-2021
https://www.wbko.com/2021/07/04/tennessee-man-flees-police-dies-motorcycle-crash-barren-county/
https://www.wcluradio.com/2021/07/04/kentucky-state-police-investigates-fatal-collision-in-barren-county/
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/kentucky-state-police-investigating-a-fatal-motorcycle-crash
https://www.wvlt.tv/2021/07/06/police-man-fleeing-officers-motorcycle-dies-crash/
https://www.rwoodardfuneralhome.com/obituaries/joshua-shane-hartigan

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Suspected intoxicated driving after a man was reported unconscious behind the wheel of a vehicle blocking a driveway. At approximately 8:23 a.m., Joplin police received a report of a man passed out in a vehicle in the 800 block of South Rex Avenue. Officers awakened the driver and reported observing signs that he was intoxicated. While police were investigating, the driver drove north on Rex Avenue. Joplin officers attempted to catch up with the vehicle. A nearby Duquesne Police Department officer saw the vehicle driving away and initiated the pursuit eastbound on 7th Street.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/03/2021, 66-year-old Robert D. McDermid of Joplin was killed when a vehicle being pursued by police crashed into his Toyota Prius at East 7th Street and Duquesne Road in Duquesne. McDermid was an uninvolved driver and had no connection to the police encounter.
.
The encounter began at approximately 8:23 a.m. when Joplin police received a report that a man was unconscious inside a vehicle blocking a driveway in the 800 block of South Rex Avenue. Responding officers awakened the driver and reported that he showed signs of intoxication. During the investigation, the driver drove north on Rex Avenue.
.
Joplin officers attempted to catch up to the vehicle. A Duquesne police officer who was nearby saw the vehicle driving away and initiated a pursuit that continued east on 7th Street. Shortly afterward, Joplin officers were notified that the pursued vehicle had crashed into two other vehicles at 7th Street and Duquesne Road.
.
McDermid was driving a Toyota Prius when the pursued vehicle crashed into it at the intersection. McDermid suffered fatal injuries and was transported to Mercy Hospital, where Dr. Jennifer Kolodchak pronounced him dead. Missouri State Highway Patrol reporting recorded McDermid as wearing his seat belt.
.
Police identified the pursued driver as 36-year-old Kenton C. Cowgill of Carthage. After the collision, Cowgill briefly ran from the crash scene before officers apprehended him.
.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the fatal collision while the Joplin Police Department conducted the criminal investigation.
.
McDermid was a retired professor at Missouri Southern State University. His death eventually resulted in a murder prosecution rather than remaining solely a DWI vehicular-death case.
.
Cowgill was convicted after a two-day trial in June 2023 of second-degree murder, DWI resulting in death, felony resisting arrest by fleeing, and drug trafficking. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
.
McDermid's widow, Teresa McDermid, later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Cowgill in Jasper County Circuit Court arising from her husband's death.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Duquesne Police Department officer who initiated the pursuit and the Joplin Police Department officers involved immediately before it have not been publicly identified in the sources located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
Kenton C. Cowgill was convicted of second-degree murder, DWI resulting in death, felony resisting arrest by fleeing, and drug trafficking and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The involved Joplin and Duquesne police officers were not criminally charged for their roles in initiating or participating in the pursuit.

https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2021/07/dwi-arrest-for-carthage-man-in-fatality.html
https://www.facebook.com/JoplinPD/posts/on-july-3rd-2021-at-823-am-the-joplin-police-department-received-a-report-of-a-m/1970608436428179/
https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2021/10/carthage-man-to-stand-trial-for-murder.html
https://kggfradio.com/local-news/692864
https://www.newstalkkzrg.com/2023/06/06/jury-selection-begins-in-fatality-drunken-driving-crash-trial/
https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2024/06/mssu-professors-widow-sues-drunk-driver.html

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Equipment violations during a traffic stop. Sauk County Sheriff's Deputy Matthew Tate stopped a vehicle driven by Devan Michael Potter after observing a loud exhaust and a taillight violation. Potter initially stopped, but as Tate approached the vehicle, Potter drove away. Tate activated his emergency equipment and attempted to follow but discontinued the pursuit. Potter subsequently crashed on County Road T.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/03/2021, 23-year-old Ashley Marie Slama of Portage was killed while riding as a passenger in a vehicle driven by Devan Michael Potter after a traffic stop by Sauk County Sheriff's Deputy Matthew Tate. Ashley had no role in the equipment violations that prompted Tate to stop the vehicle and was not the driver.
.
Ashley had spent the evening with Potter and fellow passenger Ryen Swiatly. The three left Bobbers Island Grill at approximately 2:00 a.m. and traveled in Potter's vehicle.
.
Deputy Matthew Tate stopped the vehicle for a loud exhaust and a taillight violation. Potter initially pulled over. As Tate approached the vehicle on foot, Potter drove away.
.
Tate returned to his squad vehicle and attempted to follow Potter. The police pursuit was discontinued, and Potter continued driving after Tate stopped pursuing.
.
Approximately 10 minutes later, Tate notified other law-enforcement personnel that he had located the vehicle overturned in a ditch near 12470 County Road T, approximately one mile east of Gillem Road.
.
Ashley suffered fatal injuries in the crash. Swiatly survived. Potter also survived and was subsequently prosecuted in connection with Ashley's death.
.
Ashley was born on 07/13/1997 and grew up in Portage. She graduated from the Portage Academy of Achievement in 2015. Her family remembered her as fearless, intensely loving, free-spirited and unmistakably herself. She was especially devoted to animals and, according to her family, would have filled an entire house with them if she could.
.
Ashley had struggled with alcohol addiction and had fought to obtain treatment, ultimately completing both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. She continued working on her sobriety and had talked about eventually helping other people facing addiction. After her death, her family planned to use memorial contributions remaining after funeral expenses to help others struggling with addiction, turning Ashley's own experience into part of her legacy.
.
Her family described Ashley as creative, curious and fiercely affectionate. She was particularly recognizable for her long Bohemian-style hair and had been an animal lover since childhood. Her mother remembered Ashley not simply as her daughter but as her best friend.
.
Ashley was also deeply attached to a boy named Cayden whom she loved as though he were her own son. Her family said Ashley was unable to have children herself but loved Cayden intensely and considered him an important part of her life.
.
Ashley died only 10 days before what would have been her 24th birthday. Her family held her celebration of life on 07/13/2021—Ashley’s birthday—at Devil's Lake State Park.
.
Potter was charged in Sauk County with fleeing an officer resulting in death, homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, operating without a valid driver's license, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Matthew J. Tate was the Sauk County Sheriff's Office deputy who stopped Potter and became involved in the pursuit preceding Ashley's fatal crash.
.
Tate had previously worked for the Minocqua Police Department. He joined that department in 2013 and eventually became a detective sergeant and K-9 handler. In July 2020, Tate left Minocqua to become a patrol deputy with the Sauk County Sheriff's Office, bringing his K-9 partner Jennings with him. Minocqua Police Chief David Jaeger publicly described Tate as a strong supervisor when announcing his departure.
.
Tate subsequently advanced within the Sauk County Sheriff's Office and became a patrol sergeant. His law-enforcement roles have included detective sergeant, field training officer, emergency-vehicle-operation instructor, vehicle-contacts instructor and K-9 handler.
.
Tate remained employed by Sauk County years after Ashley's death. County payroll records identify Matthew J. Tate as a patrol sergeant in both 2024 and 2025.
.
In 2026, Tate became a Republican candidate for Sauk County sheriff. Official Sauk County election paperwork lists Matthew Tate as a candidate for the office, and his campaign identifies him as a current Sauk County patrol sergeant.
.
DISPOSITION:
Devan Michael Potter was criminally charged in connection with Ashley Slama's death, including fleeing an officer resulting in death and homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle. Deputy Matthew Tate was not criminally charged for his role in initiating the traffic stop and pursuit.

https://kenoshanews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/pardeeville-man-charged-in-crash-while-fleeing-police-that-killed-passenger/article_d450d2d5-748f-5cb5-9816-597790fd0497.html
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/wiscnews/name/ashley-slama-obituary?id=12691044
https://www.pmmfh.com/obits2021/aa-obit-SlamaAshley.html
https://www.wxpr.org/government/2020-07-08/minocqua-pd-is-losing-veteran-officer-k9-unit
https://tateforsheriff.com/get-to-know-matthew-tate
https://www.co.sauk.wi.us/sites/default/files/fileattachments/county_clerk/page/119667/2027-2031electedofficialscandidatepaperwork.pdf

EASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
At approximately 9:15 p.m., a Pantego Police officer attempted to stop a maroon 2011 Buick LaCrosse on Arkansas Lane near Bowen Road. Dash-camera footage later showed the officer approaching the Buick during the attempted traffic stop before the driver suddenly accelerated away. Public reporting does not establish what violation or other specific reason prompted the officer to make the original traffic stop.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/02/2021, a Pantego Police officer attempted the traffic stop less than two miles west of the intersection where 39-year-old Douglas Osiemo would be killed. When the Buick accelerated away, the officer initially followed it. Pantego Police subsequently said the officer discontinued the attempt after the Buick passed South Fielder Road at high speed. The department cited the dangerous conditions and its
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
No vehicle insurance. A Pantego Police Department officer was running license plates when the officer determined that the registered owner of a maroon Buick LaCrosse did not have insurance. The officer attempted a traffic stop near Arkansas Lane and Bowen Street. The driver accelerated away, and the Pantego officer activated emergency lights and siren and pursued for approximately 32 seconds before terminating the chase because of the Buick's extreme speed.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/02/2021, 39-year-old Douglas Onsare Osiemo of Arlington was killed while working as a food-delivery driver when a Buick LaCrosse that had just fled a Pantego police traffic stop crashed into his Toyota Camry at West Arkansas Lane and South Cooper Street. Osiemo had no connection to the Buick, its driver or the police encounter.
.
Shortly before the crash, a Pantego officer attempted to stop the Buick after a license-plate check indicated that its registered owner lacked vehicle insurance. What began as a minor traffic enforcement encounter turned into a pursuit when the driver accelerated away.
.
The Pantego officer pursued with emergency lights and siren for approximately 32 seconds. As the Buick accelerated to extremely high speed, the officer lost sight of it and terminated the pursuit near South Fielder Road. The fatal collision occurred approximately 1 to 1½ miles farther east.
.
After the officer terminated the pursuit, witnesses reported seeing the Buick continue east on Arkansas Lane at speeds exceeding 100 mph and run several red lights.
.
At approximately 9:15 p.m., the Buick entered the intersection of Arkansas Lane and Cooper Street at high speed and struck Osiemo's Toyota Camry. The impact forced Osiemo's vehicle into a nearby parking area, where it collided with parked vehicles, including a box truck. Osiemo was pronounced dead at the scene.
.
Investigators later recovered data from the Buick's airbag control system showing that it was traveling 88 mph approximately 2.5 seconds before impact.
.
The Buick's driver left the wreckage and ran from the scene. Early witness accounts suggested two people had been inside, but investigators later determined that 42-year-old Charlton Harris was the Buick's sole occupant. Police recovered identification and work documents bearing Harris's name from the vehicle, along with a 9mm handgun and a partially consumed bottle of cognac.
.
Osiemo was working for a food-delivery service when he was killed. He and his wife, Jackline Meraba, had immigrated from Kenya to Arlington approximately eight years earlier. They were raising three children, ages 9, 5 and 1. Osiemo worked two jobs and was the family's sole financial provider.
.
His relatives remembered him as exceptionally hardworking, kind, helpful, gentle and soft-spoken. After his death, members of the local Kenyan community organized support for his wife and children and worked to return his body to Kenya for burial.
.
After Arlington police released surveillance images, an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip helped investigators identify Harris. Arlington officers assigned to the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force located him at a motel in Grand Prairie on 07/16/2021 and arrested him.
.
Harris was charged with murder and leaving the scene of a collision involving death. Pantego authorities also pursued an evading-arrest charge arising from the original traffic stop and pursuit.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Pantego Police Department officer who attempted to stop Harris and pursued the Buick for approximately 32 seconds has not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting, arrest-warrant coverage or other publicly indexed material located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
Charlton Harris was criminally charged in connection with the crash that killed Douglas Osiemo. The Pantego officer was not criminally charged for the officer's role in initiating the pursuit.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/arlington-police-continue-search-for-driver-who-killed-father-of-three
https://www.fox4news.com/news/search-continues-for-driver-who-fled-following-fatal-crash-in-arlington
https://www.fox4news.com/news/video-shows-person-of-interest-connected-to-fatal-arlington-hit-and-run
https://www.fox4news.com/news/arlington-police-arrest-hit-and-run-driver-who-killed-father-of-three
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/arlington-police-person-interest-deadly-hit-run/
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/charlton-harris-faces-murder-charge-and-more-in-fatal-high-speed-hit-and-run/
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2021/07/16/man-arrested-on-murder-charge-in-high-speed-arlington-hit-and-run-that-killed-motorist/
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2021/07/06/arlington-police-seek-publics-help-identifying-person-of-interest-in-fatal-hit-and-run/
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crime/article252609878.html
https://www.wbap.com/2021/07/07/arlington-police-release-video-of-person-of-interest-in-fatal-hit-run-crash/
GoFundMe:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/douglas-onsare-osiemo-go-fund-me-sendoff

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Traffic stop. Fort Wayne police attempted to stop the vehicle shortly before the fatal crash. The driver initially stopped but then drove away, and police pursued. The specific traffic violation or other reason officers initiated the original stop has not been established in the surviving publicly indexed material.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/01/2021, 25-year-old Sor No Bit was killed along with two other men when the vehicle he was driving crashed during a Fort Wayne Police Department pursuit on East Paulding Road near South Lafayette Street in Fort Wayne.
.
The encounter began when Fort Wayne police attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle initially stopped, but the driver subsequently drove away and police pursued.
.
The pursuit continued onto East Paulding Road. During the chase, the driver lost control of the vehicle near Lafayette Street. The vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility/light pole, a gas line and a tree. WANE personnel at the scene reported all three people in the vehicle were killed.
.
The collision damaged a natural-gas line, creating an additional emergency at the crash scene. Residents in the immediate area were evacuated while emergency personnel addressed the gas leak.
.
The Allen County Coroner's Office subsequently identified all three people killed as adult men. Fatal Encounters independently records Sor No Bit, age 25, as one of the three people killed and links his record directly to the WANE report of this pursuit.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Three men were killed in the crash.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Fort Wayne Police Department officer or officers who initiated and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified in the sources located.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Fort Wayne police officer(s) were not criminally charged for their role in initiating the pursuit.
.

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/three-dead-following-chase-and-crash-on-east-paulding-road-residents-evacuated/
https://fatalencounters.org/view/person-csv/csv/?pagenum=62

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Traffic stop. Fort Wayne police attempted to stop the vehicle shortly before the fatal crash. The driver initially stopped but then drove away, and police pursued. The specific traffic violation or other reason officers initiated the original stop has not been established in the surviving publicly indexed material.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/01/2021, 25-year-old Sor No Bit was killed along with two other men when the vehicle he was driving crashed during a Fort Wayne Police Department pursuit on East Paulding Road near South Lafayette Street in Fort Wayne.
.
The encounter began when Fort Wayne police attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle initially stopped, but the driver subsequently drove away and police pursued.
.
The pursuit continued onto East Paulding Road. During the chase, the driver lost control of the vehicle near Lafayette Street. The vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility/light pole, a gas line and a tree. WANE personnel at the scene reported all three people in the vehicle were killed.
.
The collision damaged a natural-gas line, creating an additional emergency at the crash scene. Residents in the immediate area were evacuated while emergency personnel addressed the gas leak.
.
The Allen County Coroner's Office subsequently identified all three people killed as adult men. Fatal Encounters independently records Sor No Bit, age 25, as one of the three people killed and links his record directly to the WANE report of this pursuit.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Three men were killed in the crash.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Fort Wayne Police Department officer or officers who initiated and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified in the sources located.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Fort Wayne police officer(s) were not criminally charged for their role in initiating the pursuit.

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/three-dead-following-chase-and-crash-on-east-paulding-road-residents-evacuated/

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Traffic stop. Fort Wayne police attempted to stop the vehicle shortly before the fatal crash. The driver initially stopped but then drove away, and police pursued. The specific traffic violation or other reason officers initiated the original stop has not been established in the surviving publicly indexed material.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 07/01/2021, 25-year-old Sor No Bit was killed along with two other men when the vehicle he was driving crashed during a Fort Wayne Police Department pursuit on East Paulding Road near South Lafayette Street in Fort Wayne.
.
The encounter began when Fort Wayne police attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle initially stopped, but the driver subsequently drove away and police pursued.
.
The pursuit continued onto East Paulding Road. During the chase, the driver lost control of the vehicle near Lafayette Street. The vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility/light pole, a gas line and a tree. WANE personnel at the scene reported all three people in the vehicle were killed.
.
The collision damaged a natural-gas line, creating an additional emergency at the crash scene. Residents in the immediate area were evacuated while emergency personnel addressed the gas leak.
.
The Allen County Coroner's Office subsequently identified all three people killed as adult men. Fatal Encounters independently records Sor No Bit, age 25, as one of the three people killed and links his record directly to the WANE report of this pursuit.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Three men were killed in the crash.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Fort Wayne Police Department officer or officers who initiated and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified in the sources located.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Fort Wayne police officer(s) were not criminally charged for their role in initiating the pursuit.

https://www.wane.com/top-stories/three-dead-following-chase-and-crash-on-east-paulding-road-residents-evacuated/

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Alleged reckless driving. At approximately 7:30 p.m., a Fauquier County sheriff’s deputy saw Delgado Alva riding a Suzuki GSX-R motorcycle north on U.S. Route 29/Marsh Road in the 10600 block of Marsh Road in Bealeton. The Sheriff’s Office alleged that the motorcycle was being operated recklessly. The deputy activated emergency lights and attempted a traffic stop; Delgado Alva continued north and the deputy initiated a pursuit.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/28/2021, 22-year-old Jose Manuel Delgado Alva of Manassas was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle and crashed during a Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office pursuit on U.S. Route 29 in Fauquier County.
.
At approximately 7:30 p.m., a Fauquier County deputy observed Delgado Alva traveling north on a 2007 Suzuki GSX-R motorcycle in the 10600 block of Marsh Road. The Sheriff’s Office alleged that he was driving recklessly. The deputy activated emergency equipment and attempted to stop him, then pursued when Delgado Alva continued north.
.
The pursuit continued north onto James Madison Highway/U.S. Route 29, with additional law-enforcement officers assisting as it progressed toward Warrenton.
.
Near the 7600 block of the Eastern Bypass, Delgado Alva attempted to enter a crossover near Comfort Inn Drive. Virginia State Police said he was traveling too fast to negotiate the maneuver and lost control of the motorcycle.
.
The motorcycle traveled through the median and entered the southbound lanes of Route 29, where it struck a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze and a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country. Delgado Alva was wearing a helmet and died at the scene. The drivers of the two other vehicles suffered minor injuries.
.
Virginia State Police investigated the fatal crash at the request of the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office also announced that it would conduct an internal review of the pursuit under department policy.
.
Delgado Alva appears to have attended Patriot High School in Nokesville, Virginia, where an athletic record lists Jose Delgado-Alva as a member of the Class of 2017 who competed in track and field, including the 800-meter run, discus and shot put. Because the athletic record does not itself reference his death, this biographical identification should be treated cautiously rather than as conclusively established.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Jose Manuel Delgado Alva was killed. The drivers of the Chevrolet Cruze and Chrysler Town & Country suffered minor injuries.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Fauquier County sheriff’s deputy who initiated the traffic stop and pursuit has not been publicly identified in the contemporary Sheriff’s Office account, Virginia State Police reporting, or additional indexed reporting located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office deputy or deputies were not criminally charged for their roles in initiating or participating in the pursuit.

https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/motorcyclist-killed-in-fauquier-crash-after-police-chase/article_788f72f2-d903-11eb-a485-ebf2373c1f4c.html
https://patch.com/virginia/manassas/manassas-motorcyclist-dies-police-pursuit-cops
https://va.milesplit.com/athletes/4146155-jose-delgado-alva

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Theft investigation. At approximately noon, Avon Police Department officers responded to a reported theft. Witnesses told officers that the people involved had already left but provided a detailed description of their vehicle and its direction of travel. Officers located the vehicle parked in the driveway of a nearby residence. While officers were attempting to confirm the identities of the people in the vehicle, Justin D. Murray drove through the front yard and away from police.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/28/2021, 32-year-old Justin D. Murray was killed when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a tree shortly after he drove away from Avon Police Department officers investigating a reported theft in Avon. A woman riding with Murray was injured.
.
Police had responded to the theft report around noon. Witnesses provided officers with a description of the people involved, their vehicle and the direction in which they had traveled. Officers searching the surrounding area located the vehicle parked in the driveway of a residence.
.
While officers were working to establish the identities of Murray and the woman with him, Murray drove the vehicle through the residence's front yard and continued away from police.
.
The vehicle traveled approximately 800 feet before Murray lost control and crashed into a large tree on Beechwood Centre Road. Murray suffered fatal injuries. The female passenger survived with minor injuries.
.
Murray was born on 03/01/1989 and was 32 when he died. Publicly indexed obituary records associate Justin D. Murray, who died on 06/28/2021, with Shelbyville, Indiana.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Justin D. Murray was killed. His female passenger suffered minor injuries.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Avon Police Department officers involved in the theft investigation and attempted apprehension of Murray have not been publicly identified in the sources located.
.

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/police-said-man-killed-in-crash-attempting-to-flee-officers-during-theft-investigation/531-d4c5e0ef-e3a8-4676-b721-5726421350b8
https://fatalencounters.org/view/person/victim/478c4184/

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Erratic driving and repeatedly failing to remain within the traffic lane. At approximately 9:30 p.m., Vandenberg Space Force Base 30th Security Forces Squadron patrolmen observed Jose Mario Velez driving a GMC Denali on Highway 1. Base officials alleged that Velez was driving erratically and repeatedly leaving his lane. Security Forces patrolmen attempted a traffic stop, and Velez continued driving away at high speed while they pursued.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/28/2021, 47-year-old Jose Mario Velez of Lompoc was killed when his GMC Denali left Highway 1 and rolled down an embankment during a pursuit by Vandenberg Space Force Base Security Forces near the Highway 135 interchange in Santa Barbara County. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office subsequently publicly identified Velez.
.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., 30th Security Forces Squadron patrolmen reported seeing Velez driving erratically and repeatedly failing to stay within his lane on Highway 1. They initiated a traffic stop. According to Vandenberg officials, Velez continued driving away at high speed and Security Forces pursued him.
.
At approximately 9:45 p.m., while traveling north on Highway 1 near its interchange with Highway 135, Velez failed to negotiate a curve. His GMC struck a mile-marker post, continued onto the dirt shoulder, became airborne and went down an embankment.
.
The GMC landed upside down on the right shoulder of Highway 135 and slid into a metal guardrail. The wreckage was severely damaged, trapping Velez inside and requiring a major extrication operation by firefighters.
.
Emergency personnel reached the crash scene at approximately 9:47 p.m. Firefighters were initially unable to open the vehicle and reach Velez because of the extensive damage. Crews removed him from the wreckage at approximately 10:40 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
.
The California Highway Patrol investigated the fatal collision. Vandenberg Space Force Base also opened an investigation into the pursuit and crash.
.
There is an important date error in the existing database record for Velez: the incident occurred on 06/28/2021, not 12/06/2021. Contemporary reporting published June 28–30 documents the crash, and the Sheriff's Office identified Velez on June 30.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The 30th Security Forces Squadron patrolmen who attempted the traffic stop and pursued Velez have not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting or other publicly indexed material located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Vandenberg Space Force Base Security Forces patrolmen were not criminally charged for their roles in initiating or participating in the pursuit.

https://keyt.com/news/traffic/2021/06/28/driver-being-pursued-by-space-force-base-security-killed-in-rollover-crash/
https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/fatal-vehicle-rollover-closes-part-of-highway-1/
https://keyt.com/news/santa-maria-north-county/2021/06/30/sheriffs-office-identifies-man-killed-in-crash-during-law-enforcement-pursuit/
https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/lompoc-man-killed-after-crashing-during-pursuit-identified
https://www.edhat.com/news/fatal-traffic-collision-on-hwy-1-near-vandenberg/

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Stolen vehicle. At approximately 7:20 p.m., Wilmington Police Department officers attempted to stop a vehicle that police said had been reported stolen at South 16th and Castle streets. Jahon Bemboom continued driving away and officers pursued. Police later alleged that Bemboom was also suspected in several vehicle break-ins, but the documented reason for the traffic stop and pursuit was the stolen-vehicle report.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/28/2021, 16-year-old Jahon Bemboom was killed when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a flatbed tow truck and then a utility pole during a Wilmington Police Department pursuit at South 13th and Dawson streets. Another teenager riding with Bemboom was injured.
.
At approximately 7:20 p.m., Wilmington police attempted to stop the vehicle at South 16th and Castle streets because police said it had been reported stolen. Bemboom continued driving away and police pursued.
.
According to Wilmington police, Bemboom drove through a red light at South 13th and Wooster streets. The pursuing officers stopped at that red light and waited for traffic to clear before continuing the pursuit.
.
Police said their vehicles were approximately one block behind Bemboom when he reached South 13th and Dawson streets and drove through another red light. His vehicle crashed into the driver's side of a flatbed tow truck, causing the truck to spin around, and the pursued vehicle then crashed at the intersection.
.
Wilmington officers reached the wreckage, pulled Bemboom from the vehicle and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. Bemboom was transported to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where he died from his injuries. His teenage passenger was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and the tow-truck driver was treated at the scene.
.
Police subsequently alleged that Bemboom had been involved in multiple vehicle break-ins and reported recovering a stolen firearm from him after the crash. The North Carolina State Highway Patrol investigated the fatal collision. Wilmington police declined to release additional information concerning the pursuit.
.
Jahon's life had already included an extraordinary ordeal long before his death. He was just 11 months old when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. A widely published photograph showed his mother, Lee Ann Bemboom, carrying a dehydrated and overheated Jahon through the desperate crowds outside the New Orleans Convention Center while searching for medical help. Mother and baby survived Katrina and eventually relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina.
.
At 16, Jahon was trying to move forward with his life. Shortly before his death, he had gotten a new job at the Bojangles on Market Street. His mother said he loved the job, was proud of it and was happy that things were beginning to go well for him. His family acknowledged that he had gotten into trouble at times but strongly rejected allowing those mistakes to define his life.
.
His mother and Nick Hobbs, her longtime partner who helped raise Jahon, remembered him as kindhearted and willing to help other people. A roadside memorial filled with photographs was established near the crash site on Dawson Street. His family said Jahon had a big heart and loved everybody.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Jahon Bemboom was killed. His teenage passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The tow-truck driver was treated at the scene.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Wilmington Police Department officers who initiated and participated in the pursuit have not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting located for this case. Wilmington police declined to release additional information about the pursuit following Bemboom's death.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Wilmington Police Department officer(s) were not criminally charged for their roles in initiating or participating in the pursuit.
.

https://ground.news/article/he-loved-everybody-family-mourns-teen-who-died-in-fatal-crash
https://www.wect.com/2021/07/01/he-loved-everybody-family-mourns-teen-who-died-fatal-crash/
https://www.wect.com/2021/06/29/car-crash-closes-area-12th-street-wilmington/
https://www.chron.com/news/hurricanes/article/We-found-the-survivors-most-readers-wanted-to-1927659.php
https://www.chron.com/life/holidays/article/Evacuees-give-thanks-despite-loss-1916741.php
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/2025/katrina-neworleans-photos/

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Reckless driving after the SUV rear-ended an LAPD patrol vehicle. At approximately 1:20 a.m., Southeast Division officers were driving near Hobart Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard when Eliseo Ixchopcalel's SUV rear-ended their marked police vehicle. The officers got out and approached the SUV, but Ixchopcalel drove north on Western Avenue. LAPD officers initiated a pursuit for reckless driving.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/26/2021, 86-year-old Aida Villavicencio was killed inside her own home when an SUV being pursued by Los Angeles police crashed through the bedroom where she and her husband were sleeping in the 3900 block of South Buckingham Road. Villavicencio had no connection to the driver or the police encounter.
.
The encounter began around 1:20 a.m. when the SUV rear-ended an LAPD patrol vehicle at Hobart and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. When the officers got out and approached, Ixchopcalel drove away northbound on Western Avenue and police pursued him.
.
The pursuit continued westbound on 39th Street. As Ixchopcalel reached Buckingham Road, he attempted a southbound turn, lost control and drove off the roadway. The SUV crashed through the northeast corner of Villavicencio's house and into the bedroom.
.
The impact trapped Villavicencio and her husband beneath the SUV. It also severed a natural-gas line. Los Angeles firefighters were dispatched at approximately 1:23 a.m. and conducted the rescue operation.
.
Villavicencio died at the scene. Her husband, who was in his 90s, suffered head trauma and was transported to a hospital. Two LAPD officers suffered minor injuries while attempting to rescue the couple.
.
Villavicencio and her husband had celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary shortly before the crash. Their daughter, Paulina Zamudio, lived in the house with them. Zamudio said she heard the SUV crash into her parents' bedroom, found her father trapped and initially could not find her mother beneath the wreckage.
.
Zamudio remembered her mother as a deeply loving woman who taught her family to care about other people regardless of who they were. She said her mother's death was a loss not only to the family but to everyone who knew her.
.
Ixchopcalel survived the crash and was taken into custody. LAPD booked him on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter. Contemporary court information reported that his bail was set at $100,000 and that he was subsequently released on bond.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Aida Villavicencio was killed. Her husband suffered head trauma and was hospitalized. Two LAPD officers suffered minor injuries during the rescue operation.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The LAPD Southeast Division officers who initiated the pursuit have not been publicly identified in the contemporary LAPD release or additional reporting located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
Eliseo Ixchopcalel was arrested and booked on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter following the crash. The involved LAPD officer(s) were not criminally charged for their role in initiating the pursuit.
.

https://abc7.com/crenshaw-crash-suv-crashes-into-home-elderly-woman-killed-police-chase/10833912/
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/suv-driver-crashes-into-house-crenshaw-baldwin-hills-house/2625775/
https://www.californiainjuryblog.com/elderly-woman-killed-after-driver-crashes-into-crenshaw-home/
https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/woman-killed-after-driver-crashes-into-residence-nr21166rc/
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-26/woman-in-her-80s-killed-after-suv-crashes-into-home-during-police-pursuit
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/suv-involved-in-police-pursuit-plows-into-baldwin-hills-home-kills-woman/
https://www.foxla.com/news/suv-plows-into-baldwin-hills-home-killing-woman-critically-injuring-man
https://www.ktvu.com/news/police-pursuit-ends-with-deadly-crash-into-los-angeles-home
https://westsidetoday.com/2021/06/28/suv-plows-into-baldwin-hills-home-and-kills-86-year-old-woman/
https://patch.com/california/culvercity/pursuit-driver-crashes-home-kills-86-year-old-woman

On 06/25/2021, 42-year-old Wallace Morris was killed with his 19-year-old nephew, Travis Parham Jr., when off-duty Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall crashed his Dodge Charger into their Pontiac Bonneville at Walnut Grove Road and Timber Creek Drive in Memphis.
.
Morris and his nephew were pulling from a private drive onto Walnut Grove Road when Marshall approached eastbound at extreme speed. Data recovered from Marshall's Dodge Charger showed that he was traveling 114 mph five seconds before impact on a roadway with a 45-mph speed limit. He was still traveling approximately 99 mph when he struck Morris and Parham's Pontiac.
.
The collision split the Pontiac into two pieces. Marshall's Charger dragged the front portion of the Pontiac approximately 200 yards, while another portion of the wrecked vehicle struck a Ford F-250 stopped in the westbound center turn lane. Morris and Parham died at the scene. Marshall survived with non-critical injuries.
.
MPD's crash report documented racing and aggressive driving/road rage in connection with Marshall's driving. Marshall was off duty and driving his privately owned Dodge Charger rather than a police vehicle. He was not responding to an emergency or conducting police business.
.
Morris was Parham's uncle, and their deaths simultaneously took two members of the same extended family. Relatives gathered for a vigil at the Walnut Grove crash site and described a family struggling to absorb the loss of both men at once. Morris's relatives repeatedly called for accountability after learning the extraordinary speed at which Marshall had been driving.
.
Memphis police relieved Marshall of duty following the crash. He surrendered four days later and was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, one for Morris and one for Parham. Marshall was subsequently released on his own recognizance without bond.
.
Marshall resigned from the Memphis Police Department in July 2021 while the criminal prosecution remained pending.
.
In August 2023, Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The court sentenced him to five years but suspended four years of the sentence, requiring him to serve one year in custody followed by four years of probation. Morris and Parham's relatives publicly condemned the sentence as insufficient punishment for two deaths.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Antonio Marshall was a Memphis Police Department officer and was 27 at the time of the collision. Although off duty, his employment with MPD became the subject of immediate departmental action after he killed Morris and Parham. MPD relieved him of duty, and Marshall resigned the following month while facing vehicular-homicide charges.
.
The crash investigation documented Marshall traveling as fast as 114 mph on a 45-mph roadway and approximately 99 mph at impact. MPD's crash report documented racing and aggressive driving/road rage in connection with his conduct.
.
DISPOSITION:
Former Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide for killing Wallace Morris and Travis Parham Jr. He received a five-year sentence with four years suspended, requiring one year in custody followed by four years of probation.
.

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/off-duty-mpd-officer-involved-in-deadly-crash-on-walnut-grove-police-say/article_ddb59984-686c-587e-8134-1d13c184b453.html
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/25/traffic-alert-lane-closures-walnut-grove-road-timber-creek-drive/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/30/family-grieves-two-deaths-crash-off-duty-memphis-officer-charged/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/22748/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-released-own-recognizance
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/23111/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-fatal-crash
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/08/03/former-memphis-police-officer-charged-deadly-crash-undergoing-mental-evaluation/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/07/11/former-mpd-officer-charged-deadly-2021-crash-expected-plead-guilty/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/08/08/ex-mpd-officer-serve-1-year-prison-over-fatal-crash/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/37951/memphis-police-travis-parham-wallace-morris-crash-antonio-marshall-sentence

On 06/25/2021, 19-year-old Travis Parham Jr. was killed when off-duty Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall crashed his Dodge Charger into the Pontiac Bonneville carrying Parham and his uncle, 42-year-old Wallace Morris, at Walnut Grove Road and Timber Creek Drive in Memphis. Morris was also killed.
.
At approximately 5:00 p.m., Parham and Morris were pulling from a private drive onto Walnut Grove Road when Marshall approached eastbound in his personal Dodge Charger at extreme speed. The posted speed limit was 45 mph. Data recovered from Marshall's Charger showed that he was traveling 114 mph five seconds before the collision and approximately 99 mph when he struck their Pontiac.
.
The impact was catastrophic. Marshall struck the Pontiac with enough force to split it into two pieces. The front portion of the Pontiac was carried approximately 200 yards by Marshall's Charger, while another portion struck a Ford F-250 that had been stopped in the westbound center turn lane. Parham and Morris died at the scene. Marshall survived and was transported to Regional One Hospital with non-critical injuries.
.
MPD's crash investigation documented Marshall's driving as involving racing and aggressive driving/road rage. Marshall was off duty, was driving his privately owned vehicle and was not responding to a police call or otherwise performing a law-enforcement function when he killed Parham and Morris.
.
Parham was the son of Travis Parham Sr. and was his father's first-born child. He had survived a serious medical struggle at the very beginning of his life, spending his first six months in a neonatal intensive-care unit. His father later described the devastating contrast between watching his infant son fight to live and then losing him at only 19 because of Marshall's driving.
.
Parham and Morris were nephew and uncle. Their extended family lost both men in the same collision and held a vigil at the location where they were killed. Relatives said the double death devastated the family and repeatedly called for Marshall to be held criminally accountable.
.
Memphis police relieved Marshall of duty after the crash. Four days later, he turned himself in and was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide. At his first court appearance, Marshall was released on his own recognizance without having to post bond.
.
Marshall subsequently resigned from the Memphis Police Department in July 2021 while the vehicular-homicide prosecution was pending.
.
In 2023, Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The court imposed a five-year sentence but suspended four years, leaving Marshall to serve one year in custody followed by four years of probation. Parham's family publicly objected to the sentence as inadequate for killing two people.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Antonio Marshall was a Memphis Police Department officer and was 27 when he killed Parham and Morris. He was off duty and driving his personal Dodge Charger. MPD relieved him of duty immediately after the fatal collision, and Marshall resigned from the department the following month while facing two counts of vehicular homicide.
.
The documented crash investigation found that Marshall reached 114 mph on Walnut Grove Road, where the speed limit was 45 mph, and was traveling approximately 99 mph at impact. The MPD crash report described racing and aggressive driving/road rage in connection with his driving.
.
DISPOSITION:
Former Memphis Police Officer Antonio Marshall pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide for killing Travis Parham Jr. and Wallace Morris. He received a five-year sentence with four years suspended, requiring him to serve one year in custody followed by four years of probation.
.
SOURCE LINKS:

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/off-duty-mpd-officer-involved-in-deadly-crash-on-walnut-grove-police-say/article_ddb59984-686c-587e-8134-1d13c184b453.html
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/25/traffic-alert-lane-closures-walnut-grove-road-timber-creek-drive/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/06/30/family-grieves-two-deaths-crash-off-duty-memphis-officer-charged/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/22748/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-released-own-recognizance
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/23111/mpd-officer-antonio-marshall-fatal-crash
https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/08/03/former-memphis-police-officer-charged-deadly-crash-undergoing-mental-evaluation/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/07/11/former-mpd-officer-charged-deadly-2021-crash-expected-plead-guilty/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/07/14/former-police-officer-wants-no-jail-time-crash-that-killed-2-people-families-outraged/
https://www.actionnews5.com/2023/08/08/ex-mpd-officer-serve-1-year-prison-over-fatal-crash/
https://dailymemphian.com/section/metropublic-safety/article/37951/memphis-police-travis-parham-wallace-morris-crash-antonio-marshall-sentence

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Speeding. At approximately 8:00 p.m., a Pennsylvania State Police trooper attempted to stop Daryl J. Gakin’s 2004 Nissan Titan near mile marker 178 on Interstate 80 westbound in Lamar Township, Clinton County. Gakin continued driving away at high speed and state police pursued him west on I-80.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/23/2021, 34-year-old Daryl J. Gakin of South Dakota was killed when his pickup crashed during a Pennsylvania State Police pursuit that began in Clinton County and continued approximately 12 miles into Centre County.
.
A state trooper attempted to stop Gakin for speeding near mile marker 178 in Lamar Township. Gakin continued west at high speed while state police pursued. The chase crossed the Clinton-Centre county line and continued into Marion Township.
.
Near mile marker 165.7, Gakin’s Nissan left the roadway and struck the end of a guardrail. The pickup rolled multiple times before coming to rest off the roadway. Gakin was ejected from the truck and was pronounced dead at the scene.
.
The crash occurred roughly 12 miles from where state police had attempted the traffic stop. Interstate 80 westbound was closed around the crash scene until approximately 3:00 a.m. the following morning while police investigated and cleared the roadway.
.
Gakin was born on 06/01/1987 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and graduated from Redfield High School in 2006. He later attended Black Hills State College in Spearfish. After college, he worked as a bartender in Deadwood and later for Knecht in Spearfish.
.
Gakin was the father of a son, Bryer, born in 2010. He enjoyed hiking, playing softball and spending time outdoors. Friends and family knew him for his big smile and larger-than-life personality and nicknamed him “Double Barrel Daryl.” He was survived by his son, his mother Gloria Gakin, his brother Tate Stroup and his sister Sophia Allen.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Pennsylvania State Police trooper who initiated the traffic stop and pursuit has not been publicly identified in the contemporary reports or additional publicly indexed records located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Pennsylvania State Police trooper(s) were not criminally charged for their role in initiating or participating in the pursuit.
.

e.com/site/archives/70725
https://kelo.com/2021/06/24/south-dakota-man-dies-after-police-chase-in-pennsylvania/
https://www.lockhaven.com/news/police-court-and-fires/2021/06/police-news-june-25-2/
https://www.statecollege.com/articles/local-news/1-dead-after-crash-on-i-80-in-centre-county-following-police-pursuit/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/daryl-gakin-obituary?id=5849487
https://cdn4.creativecirclemedia.com/nmcsd/files/20240110-184902-dddf22496386696ef679b130847c83cc.zip~6%3A30%3A2021%20PRESS%20%E2%80%94%20CORRECTO.pdf

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
The specific reason Texas Tech Police Department officers initially attempted to stop Isaiah Green has not been publicly disclosed in the contemporary reporting located. The pursuit began shortly before 2:00 a.m. as Green drove west on 4th Street. Texas Tech police discontinued their pursuit because of the speed involved. A short time later, Green passed a Lubbock Police Department officer at high speed while that officer was completing an unrelated traffic stop. The Lubbock officer then attempted to catch up to Green.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/23/2021, 20-year-old Isaiah Green of the Lubbock/Levelland area died after crashing a Saturn Ion during a sequence involving pursuits by Texas Tech Police Department and Lubbock Police Department officers on 4th Street in Lubbock.
.
Shortly before 2:00 a.m., Texas Tech police pursued Green westbound on 4th Street. The department terminated its pursuit because Green was traveling at an unsafe speed.
.
Green continued west on 4th Street after Texas Tech police discontinued the pursuit. A short time later, his Saturn passed a Lubbock police officer who had just completed an unrelated traffic stop. The Lubbock officer attempted to catch up to Green.
.
By the time the Lubbock officer reached the 4800 block of 4th Street, Green had crashed. Investigators determined that Green apparently lost control near 4th Street and Toledo Avenue, left the roadway, struck multiple trees and crashed into a brick wall.
.
The Lubbock officer found Green critically injured in the wreckage. Emergency personnel transported him by ambulance to University Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.
.
Green was only 20 years old. His funeral was held on 07/02/2021 at Levelland Cemetery, following a public viewing the previous day at Ossie Curry Funeral Home in Lubbock.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Isaiah Green was killed.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Texas Tech Police Department officers who initiated the first pursuit and the Lubbock Police Department officer who subsequently attempted to catch Green have not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Texas Tech Police Department and Lubbock Police Department officers were not criminally charged for their roles in the pursuits.
.

https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/2021/06/23/man-dies-following-crash-after-pursuit-texas-tech-lubbock-police/5325723001/
https://www.kcbd.com/2021/06/23/life-threatening-injury-reported-after-4th-street-crash/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lubbockonline/name/isaiah-green-obituary?id=33145265
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lubbockonline/name/isaiah-green-obituary?id=12022893
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ttpd/daily/archive.php

.
REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Temporary license-plate violation. At approximately 9:30 p.m., a Bonner Springs police officer began following Vincent's 1996 Geo sedan because of a temporary license-plate violation. Dash-camera video showed Vincent signal a right turn before the officer activated emergency lights. Vincent pulled into a QuikTrip, drove around a gas pump and left the parking lot as the officer activated the siren. Police pursued Vincent onto K-7 Highway and then eastbound Interstate 70.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/19/2021, 57-year-old Darrell Vincent of Kansas City, Kansas, was killed when a Bonner Springs police officer intentionally struck his car with a tactical vehicle intervention during a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 70, causing Vincent's car to lose control and overturn. Vincent was ejected and died at the scene.
.
The pursuit began over the temporary license-plate violation and continued for several minutes from Bonner Springs onto eastbound Interstate 70. A passenger was riding with Vincent. During the pursuit, dash-camera video showed the passenger extend his hands outside the car window.
.
Approximately four minutes and 15 seconds into the pursuit, a police supervisor authorized the pursuing officer to perform a tactical vehicle intervention, or TVI, in which a police vehicle intentionally strikes a fleeing vehicle to force it to rotate and stop.
.
At the time authorization was given, the officer reported traveling approximately 90 mph with traffic ahead. The officer indicated that after clearing the other vehicles, he would attempt the maneuver. The pursuit subsequently reached approximately 100 mph.
.
Vincent's Geo was traveling in the left lane of Interstate 70 when the police vehicle moved alongside it from the middle lane and struck the Geo's right rear quarter. The impact immediately sent Vincent's car veering across the highway. The Geo overturned and came to rest upside down.
.
Vincent was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. His passenger survived and crawled through the rear window of the crushed vehicle.
.
The Bonner Springs Police Department later acknowledged that the pursuit violated department policy. Significantly, the department had revised its pursuit policy only five days before Vincent was killed. The policy warned that performing a TVI above 45 mph made the maneuver more unpredictable. The officer nevertheless performed the maneuver while the pursuit was traveling approximately 100 mph.
.
The police action that directly caused Vincent's fatal crash also created an unusual statistical loophole. Kansas transportation officials did not count Vincent's death as a police-pursuit crash because the officer intentionally struck his vehicle. KDOT classified such deliberate police maneuvers as “legal intervention,” excluding the resulting death from its pursuit-crash statistics. NHTSA's reporting system similarly excluded the death from its police-pursuit totals.
.
Vincent grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and was the youngest of six children. He lived in Germany for a period before eventually returning to the Kansas City area. His family remembered him as a jokester who loved music and cooking.
.
Vincent was also a father. Earlier in 2021, his son Darrius Vincent had been hospitalized, and Darrell visited him. Darrius remembered that his father, who normally did not show much emotion, cried because he was worried about his son's health. It was the last time Darrius saw his father alive. Vincent was killed over Father's Day weekend.
.
After learning the circumstances of the pursuit, Darrius questioned why a license-plate violation had been allowed to escalate into a 100-mph chase and a deliberate police collision. He also objected to the government excluding his father's death from pursuit statistics simply because the officer intentionally caused the crash.
.
The Kansas City Star later conducted an extensive investigation of police pursuits throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area, using more than 140 public-records requests to over 60 law-enforcement agencies and reviewing more than 4,500 pages of records. Vincent's death became a central example of how fatal police interventions can disappear from official pursuit statistics.
.
The same investigation found that the Bonner Springs Police Department engaged in an unusually large number of pursuits for a community of its size. In 2022, the department recorded 47 pursuits in a city of approximately 7,700 residents, compared with 98 pursuits by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department in a city with more than half a million residents.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Darrell Vincent was killed. His passenger survived the rollover.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Bonner Springs Police Department officer who initiated the pursuit and performed the fatal TVI has not been publicly identified in the reporting or publicly indexed records located for this case. A police supervisor authorized the TVI approximately four minutes and 15 seconds into the pursuit.
.
Bonner Springs Police Department subsequently acknowledged that the pursuit violated its policy. Department policy also specifically warned that TVIs performed above 45 mph become more unpredictable; the maneuver that killed Vincent was performed during a pursuit reaching approximately 100 mph.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Bonner Springs police officer(s) were not criminally charged for their roles in initiating the pursuit or performing the tactical vehicle intervention that caused Vincent's fatal crash.

https://www.aol.com/fatal-crash-police-chase-doesn-110000534.html
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article281861083.html
https://zeta.creativecirclecdn.com/mopress/files/20250919-095311-841-Reckless_Pursuit_part_two.pdf

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Running a stop sign. At approximately 1:20 a.m., a Hobart Police Department officer saw Gregory Jajuane Hoskins driving a gray SUV and alleged that Hoskins failed to stop at a stop sign. The officer attempted a traffic stop with emergency lights and siren, and Hoskins continued west on 39th Avenue while the officer pursued.
.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/19/2021, 47-year-old Gregory Jajuane Hoskins of Gary was killed when his SUV was struck by another vehicle at 39th Avenue and Broadway during a Hobart Police Department pursuit.
.
The pursuit began after a Hobart police officer alleged that Hoskins ran a stop sign. The officer activated emergency lights and siren and pursued Hoskins westbound on 39th Avenue toward Gary.
.
During the pursuit, police reported that Hoskins continued through additional stop signs as the vehicles traveled west on 39th Avenue. The pursuit reached the intersection of 39th Avenue and Broadway, where police alleged that Hoskins entered against a red traffic signal.
.
As Hoskins entered the intersection, a vehicle traveling north on Broadway struck the driver's side of his SUV. The collision killed Hoskins.
.
Hoskins' full name was Gregory Jajuane Hoskins. He was born on 12/22/1973 in Gary to Gregory Joseph Hoskins and Denise Louise Stingley and spent his life connected to the Gary community. His family called him Jajuane.
.
Hoskins was a father of four — three daughters, Shaiann Hoskins, Shannon Hoskins and Deja Phillips, and a son, Anias Edwards — and a grandfather of six. He was also survived by his parents, three sisters, a stepsister and stepbrother, nieces, nephews and a large extended family. His obituary said he would be deeply missed by those who knew him.
.
Hoskins was raised in a Christian family and baptized when he was young; later in life he joined the Hebrew Israelite religion. His funeral was held on 06/29/2021 at Smith, Bizzell & Warner Funeral Home in Gary.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Gregory Jajuane Hoskins was killed.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Hobart Police Department officer who initiated the traffic stop and pursued Hoskins has not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting or additional publicly indexed records located for this case.
.
DISPOSITION:
The involved Hobart Police Department officer was not criminally charged for the officer's role in initiating the pursuit.

https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-courts/man-killed-in-crash-during-police-pursuit/article_4ca8fba4-b992-5c20-9865-13e1376817a1.html
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/post-tribune/name/gregory-hoskins-obituary?id=18282229

.
OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 06/18/2021, 63-year-old Everett Stern of Atlantic City was critically injured in a collision involving a marked Atlantic City Police Department patrol vehicle driven by Officer Ahmed Waqar at North Arkansas Avenue and Arctic Avenue. Stern died from his injuries at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center on 06/25/2021.
.
At approximately 8:30 p.m., Waqar was driving north on Arkansas Avenue while responding to a routine call for service. He was in uniform and driving a marked police vehicle but was not using emergency lights or siren. Stern was riding his bicycle east on Arctic Avenue.
.
The New Jersey Attorney General's investigation determined that Waqar had a green traffic signal as he traveled through the intersection. Stern entered the intersection on his bicycle and collided with the driver's side of Waqar's patrol vehicle. Private surveillance video captured the collision.
.
Waqar stopped, called for emergency medical personnel and rendered aid to Stern. Stern was transported by ambulance to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center with critical injuries. He remained hospitalized for one week before dying on 06/25/2021.
.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigated Stern's death under the state's mandatory independent-investigation law for deaths occurring during encounters with law-enforcement officers. Investigators reviewed witness interviews, forensic evidence, surveillance video and Stern's autopsy.
.
The Attorney General publicly released the surveillance recording in August 2021 after investigators met with Stern's family and their attorney to review it. The footage showed Stern riding into the intersection and colliding with the driver's side of Waqar's patrol vehicle.
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Stern's family later challenged the official characterization of the collision in a civil lawsuit. Family member Andria Stern alleged that Waqar negligently, carelessly and recklessly operated the patrol vehicle by failing to observe Everett Stern crossing the street and that Waqar's driving caused the collision and Stern's fatal injuries. The lawsuit named Waqar, Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Police Department.
.
The criminal investigation was presented to a New Jersey state grand jury in December 2022. After reviewing the evidence and testimony, the grand jury returned a no bill, declining to indict Waqar.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
Everett Stern was critically injured in the 06/18/2021 collision and died on 06/25/2021.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Officer Ahmed Waqar was the Atlantic City Police Department officer driving the marked patrol vehicle involved in Stern's fatal collision. The Attorney General's investigation established that Waqar was responding to a routine service call without emergency lights or siren activated.
.
Stern's family subsequently sued Waqar and Atlantic City, alleging negligent and reckless operation of the patrol vehicle. The city contested those allegations.
.
DISPOSITION:
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office presented the investigation of Officer Ahmed Waqar to a state grand jury. On 12/19/2022, the grand jury voted not to criminally charge Waqar in Everett Stern's death. Stern's family separately pursued a civil lawsuit alleging that Waqar's negligent driving caused the fatal collision.
.

https://www.nj.com/atlantic/2021/06/bicyclist-struck-and-killed-by-atlantic-city-police-vehicle-officials-say.html
https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-on-bicycle-struck-and-killed-by-atlantic-city-police-car/article_b71f3a50-98c1-11eb-95aa-bf10cc4770a6.html
https://6abc.com/atlantic-city-bicyclist-killed-police-car-collision/10795122/
https://www.fox29.com/news/fatal-accident-involving-bicyclist-and-police-vehicle-under-investigation-in-atlantic-city
https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/ags-office-releases-video-related-fatal-collision-involving-police-vehicle-bicyclist-atlantic-city-june-18-2021/
https://breakingac.com/news/2022/nov/01/atlantic-city-officer-negligent-in-crash-that-kill/
https://breakingac.com/news/2022/dec/27/atlantic-city-officer-will-not-face-charges-in-fat/
https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/officer-not-charged-fatal-atlantic-city-crash
https://nj1015.com/video-shows-deadly-bicycle-vs-police-car-crash-in-atlantic-city-nj/

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REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED: Multiple 911 callers reported a Ford F-350 being driven recklessly at high speed, leaving the roadway, striking mailboxes, entering oncoming traffic, nearly hitting motorists, and pursuing another motorist after the driver allegedly threw a tire iron toward that vehicle.
.
NARRATIVE:
On 06/17/2021, at approximately 7:59 p.m., Chippewa County Central Dispatch began receiving multiple 911 calls concerning a dual-wheel Ford F-350 pickup truck being driven recklessly northbound on M-129 from the Pickford area toward Sault Ste. Marie. Callers reported that the truck was traveling at high speed, leaving the roadway, striking mailboxes, entering the oncoming lane and nearly hitting other motorists. Another caller reported that near M-129 and M-80 the truck cut off a motorist, stopped abruptly, and its driver threw a tire iron toward the other vehicle before chasing that motorist at high speed. Dispatch issued a be-on-the-lookout alert to law enforcement.
.
A Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office deputy located the Ford F-350 traveling northbound on M-129 near 8 Mile Road. The deputy activated emergency lights and siren and attempted to stop the truck. The driver continued northbound and the deputy initiated a pursuit. According to evidence later presented at trial, the deputy saw the truck repeatedly enter the southbound lane, force additional vehicles from the roadway and nearly crash several times. The pursuing deputy reported speeds exceeding 90 mph. As the pursuit approached Sault Ste. Marie, the deputy radioed that the vehicles were approaching 3 Mile Road northbound at approximately 90 mph.
.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Department officers moved toward Ashmun Street as the pursuit approached the city. At least one Sault Ste. Marie officer positioned a police vehicle at Ashmun Street and West 19th Avenue with emergency lights and siren activated. Public records reviewed do not identify the Chippewa County deputy conducting the pursuit or the Sault Ste. Marie officer positioned ahead of it.
.
Katelyn Jo “Katie” Robinson, 20, had finished work and was traveling northbound on Ashmun Street in a Volkswagen Beetle. Robinson pulled onto the shoulder near Guido’s Pizza as the pursuit approached. The Ford F-350 struck the rear of Robinson’s Volkswagen at extremely high speed. Evidence subsequently presented during the criminal prosecution established an impact speed of approximately 88 mph. Prosecutors argued that the collision was a deliberate act rather than an accidental loss of control.
.
The impact propelled Robinson’s Volkswagen into a utility pole and ejected her from the vehicle. The Ford continued northbound after striking her car, crossed the intersection, struck roadside infrastructure and parked vehicles, and ultimately crashed into the Great Lakes Recovery Center. Contemporary accounts reported damage to a stop sign, utility equipment and three parked vehicles during the final crash sequence. Police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel attempted emergency aid to Robinson, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The fleeing driver sustained life-threatening injuries and was transported to War Memorial Hospital.
.
The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office investigated the fatal crash with assistance from the Sault Ste. Marie Police Department, Sault Tribe Police Department, Sault Ste. Marie Fire Department and Chippewa County Central Dispatch. Detective Sgt. Douglas Mitchell of the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office was subsequently identified as the lead investigator. Sault Ste. Marie Police Detective Phillip Donnay also assisted with the later criminal investigation and prosecution. The prosecution presented testimony from 31 witnesses and 33 exhibits during the five-day murder trial.
.
DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Tanner Dunbar Harrison. Harrison's severe crash injuries initially resulted in findings that he was incompetent to stand trial, delaying prosecution for nearly two years. Harrison subsequently relocated to Virginia. Authorities located him there and conducted further investigation concerning whether he had regained competency. Harrison was extradited to Michigan and underwent additional court-ordered competency proceedings.
.
Harrison was formally charged in September 2023 with second-degree murder in Robinson’s death and received a fourth-habitual-offender notice. Bond was denied. On 01/16/2026, following a five-day jury trial in Chippewa County Circuit Court, Harrison was convicted of second-degree murder. On 03/24/2026, Circuit Judge James P. Lambros sentenced Harrison to 60 to 90 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office deputy who initiated and conducted the high-speed pursuit has not been publicly identified in the available records reviewed. The Sault Ste. Marie officer positioned at Ashmun Street and West 19th Avenue also has not been publicly identified. Complete.

https://www.miningjournal.net/news/front-page-news/2021/06/20-year-old-killed-in-chippewa-co-traffic-crash/
https://www.sooleader.com/local-news/driver-in-collision-killing-saultite-katie-robinson-charged-7620318
https://www.sooleader.com/local-sports/phenomenal-person-sault-remembers-katie-robinsons-legacy-6511604
https://www.sooleader.com/local-news/third-annual-katie-robinson-memorial-showcase-this-weekend-8218545
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/sooeveningnews/name/katelyn-robinson-obituary?id=17003537
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/228742507/katelyn_jo-robinson
https://www.echovita.com/us/obituaries/mi/sault-sainte-marie/katelyn-robinson-12911083
https://www.facebook.com/saultanimalhospital/posts/as-many-of-you-know-there-was-a-tragic-car-accident-late-last-week-that-led-to-t/4747221338630592/
https://www.facebook.com/downtownsault/posts/katie-and-her-teammates-recently-volunteered-with-us-at-downtown-sault-were-sad-/3762781917160701/
 

.
REASON FOR CHASE: Bern Township police attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Jashwa Marquis Colon on County Welfare Road after officers observed what the Berks County District Attorney's Office described as a motor-vehicle violation. Available public records do not specify the exact violation.
.
NARRATIVE:
On 06/17/2021, Bern Township Police Department officers encountered a vehicle driven by Jashwa Marquis Colon on County Welfare Road in Berks County. Contemporary accounts described officers on patrol turning around to get behind the vehicle. A later account from the Berks County District Attorney's Office established that officers were attempting to conduct a traffic stop after observing a motor-vehicle violation. Colon accelerated away and police attempted to catch up with the vehicle.
.
Colon drove at high speed while fleeing police. Two passengers were inside the vehicle: 20-year-old Michael Brooks Jr. and a 15-year-old girl from Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The girl's identity was withheld publicly at her family's request and subsequent prosecution records identified her only by the initials J.M.
.
The pursuit ended when Colon crashed the vehicle. Both passengers sustained fatal injuries. Michael Brooks Jr. and J.M. were pronounced dead at approximately 3:30 a.m. The Berks County coroner publicly identified Brooks but did not release J.M.'s name because of the family's request.
.
The later criminal prosecution established that Colon's high-speed flight from Bern Township police and resulting crash caused the deaths of both passengers. The available public accounts reviewed do not identify the pursuing Bern Township officer or officers by name and do not provide sufficient information to establish the exact traffic violation that prompted the attempted stop.
.
DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Jashwa Marquis Colon. Colon later pleaded guilty to two counts of homicide by vehicle arising from the deaths of J.M. and Michael Brooks. He was sentenced to 5½ to 14 years in Pennsylvania state prison.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Bern Township Police Department officer or officers who attempted the traffic stop and pursued Colon have not been publicly identified in the contemporary reporting, Fatal Encounters record, or later Berks County District Attorney account reviewed for this case. No officer background is included because attributing the pursuit to a particular Bern Township officer without documentary identification would be speculative.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 2 fatalities

https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/coroner-ids-2-killed-in-crash-after-police-chase-in-bern/article_891d6b30-d02d-11eb-b3fa-affd8fbef1af.html
https://fatalencounters.org/
https://www.facebook.com/BerksDA/posts/jashwa-marquis-colon-was-sentenced-yesterday-to-5%C2%BD-14-years-in-state-prison-afte/675090711322014/

.
REASON FOR CHASE: Bern Township police attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Jashwa Marquis Colon after officers observed what the Berks County District Attorney’s Office described as a motor-vehicle violation. Available public records do not specify the exact violation.
.
NARRATIVE:
On 06/17/2021, Bern Township Police Department officers attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Jashwa Marquis Colon on County Welfare Road after observing a motor-vehicle violation. Colon accelerated away and police pursued the vehicle. Michael J. Brooks Jr., 20, and a 15-year-old girl from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, were passengers in the vehicle.
.
Colon drove at high speed while fleeing police on County Welfare Road. The pursuit ended in the 1000 block of County Welfare Road when Colon lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a tree. Brooks and the 15-year-old passenger sustained fatal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. Colon survived the crash.
.
The Berks County Coroner’s Office identified Brooks following the crash. The 15-year-old girl's identity was withheld at her family's request and she was subsequently identified in criminal court records only by the initials J.M.
.
DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Jashwa Marquis Colon. Colon was subsequently prosecuted for causing the deaths of Brooks and J.M. He pleaded guilty to two counts of homicide by vehicle and was sentenced to 5½ to 14 years in Pennsylvania state prison.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Bern Township Police Department officer or officers who attempted the traffic stop and pursued Colon have not been publicly identified in available records.
.
TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 2 fatalities
.

https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/coroner-ids-2-killed-in-crash-after-police-chase-in-bern/article_891d6b30-d02d-11eb-b3fa-affd8fbef1af.html
https://www.facebook.com/BerksDA/posts/jashwa-marquis-colon-was-sentenced-yesterday-to-5%C2%BD-14-years-in-state-prison-afte/675090711322014/

.
REASON FOR CHASE: Vero Beach police attempted to stop a 2019 BMW i8 driven by 18-year-old Derrick Tyrone Lamb. Available public reporting does not disclose the specific violation or other reason that prompted the initial attempted stop. Lamb later told investigators he fled because he was on probation and had never possessed a driver's license.
.
NARRATIVE:
On 06/17/2021, Vero Beach Police Department officers attempted to stop a 2019 BMW i8 driven by Derrick Tyrone Lamb in Indian River County. Lamb fled, and Vero Beach police and Indian River County Sheriff's Office personnel attempted to apprehend him. During the flight, investigators said Lamb drove the wrong way on a one-way street, ran a red light, weaved through traffic and reached speeds as high as 117 mph in a 35-mph zone.
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An Indian River County Sheriff's Office sergeant followed the BMW but eventually lost sight of it after Lamb turned onto Highland Drive Southeast and traveled west toward Old Dixie Highway Southeast. The fatal collision occurred after law enforcement had lost visual contact with the BMW. Assistant State Attorney Jonathon Libby later stated that there was no active police pursuit at the moment of the fatal crash. Indian River County deputies subsequently encountered the crash while searching for Lamb.
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At approximately 11:05 a.m., Lamb drove south on Old Dixie Highway into northern St. Lucie County. Patsy Joyce Terry, 76, was returning home after taking her great-grandson to soccer camp in Vero Beach. Terry was driving a 1998 Toyota Camry and was making a right turn from eastbound Julian Drive when Lamb's BMW struck her vehicle.
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Florida Highway Patrol investigators reconstructed the collision and calculated that Lamb was traveling between approximately 86 mph and 108 mph at impact, while Terry's Camry was moving at approximately 1 mph. Terry was ejected from her vehicle and sustained fatal injuries. Her daughter witnessed the collision from the front porch of Terry's home.
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Lamb had a passenger in the BMW. He survived the collision. A witness who called 911 reported that Lamb asked her not to call police. Lamb's passenger later told investigators that after the crash Lamb attempted to claim that she had been driving. Lamb subsequently acknowledged that he had never possessed a driver's license in any state and said he had fled from police because he was on probation and did not have a license.
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The Florida Highway Patrol conducted the fatal-crash investigation. The later investigation established that the pursuit and search originated in Indian River County with Vero Beach police and Indian River County Sheriff's Office personnel; FHP was the crash-investigating agency rather than the agency that initiated the pursuit.
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DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Derrick Tyrone Lamb, who was 18 at the time of the crash. FHP arrested Lamb in June 2022 on a vehicular-homicide charge arising from Terry's death.
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In May 2025, Lamb entered a no-contest plea to vehicular homicide and driving while license suspended or without a license resulting in death or serious injury. On 08/21/2025, Circuit Judge Michael J. Linn sentenced Lamb to 10 years in the Florida Department of Corrections, with credit for 1,178 days already served. Prosecutors had requested a 15-year prison sentence followed by probation, but Terry's family asked the court not to impose the maximum sentence.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Vero Beach Police Department officer or officers who initially attempted to stop Lamb and the Indian River County Sheriff's Office sergeant who subsequently followed the BMW have not been identified by name in the available public reporting. No officer background is included without a verified identification of the personnel involved in the pursuit.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/st-lucie-county/2021/06/18/woman-killed-st-lucie-county-crash-during-fhp-pursuit/7746314002/
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/st-lucie-county/2025/09/11/23-year-old-man-sentenced-after-deadly-2021-crash-in-st-lucie-county/86098135007/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/tcpalm/name/patsy-terry-obituary?id=10655301
https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-jailed-traffic-death-woman-182322391.html

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REASON FOR CHASE: A U.S. Border Patrol agent observed two people suspected of being undocumented migrants enter a vehicle along State Route 85 approximately 1½ miles north of the Lukeville Port of Entry. Approximately 20 miles farther north, another Border Patrol agent activated emergency lights and siren and attempted to stop the vehicle on suspicion that it was transporting undocumented migrants. The driver continued for approximately one mile.
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NARRATIVE:
On 06/17/2021, a U.S. Border Patrol agent observed two people enter a vehicle along Arizona State Route 85 approximately 1½ miles north of the Lukeville Port of Entry. CBP described the two occupants as suspected undocumented migrants. The first agent did not immediately stop the vehicle. Approximately 20 miles north of that location, another Border Patrol agent waiting along SR 85 activated emergency lights and siren and attempted a vehicle stop.
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The driver continued northbound for approximately one mile. A third Border Patrol agent positioned ahead of the vehicle deployed a vehicle immobilization device across SR 85. According to CBP, the driver attempted to avoid the device, lost control of the vehicle and crashed. The deployment of the Border Patrol vehicle immobilization device was therefore directly associated with the maneuver immediately preceding the fatal crash.
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A male citizen of Mexico who was one of the two suspected undocumented migrants riding in the vehicle sustained critical injuries. He was transported to Abrazo West Medical Center in Goodyear, Arizona, where he died from his injuries on 06/19/2021, two days after the crash. The available CBP and Border Oversight records do not publicly identify him by name.
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The earlier database description identifying the deceased as the driver is incorrect. CBP specifically described the deceased as F. Rojas-Garcia, one of the two undocumented migrants who had been observed entering the vehicle before the attempted stop; the available record does not establish that he was driving. The Event classification is therefore corrected from Driver killed by police chase crash to Passenger killed by police chase crash.
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Homeland Security Investigations and the Arizona Department of Public Safety investigated the incident. CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility opened a review, and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General was notified. WOLA Border Oversight continues to classify the incident as a Border Patrol vehicle pursuit with its last known accountability status listed as shared with DHS OIG and under OPR investigation.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
At least three Border Patrol agents had distinct operational roles immediately preceding the crash: the agent who first observed the two migrants enter the vehicle, the agent approximately 20 miles north who activated emergency lights and siren and attempted the stop, and the agent who deployed the vehicle immobilization device approximately one mile later. None of these agents is identified by name in the publicly available CBP account or the Border Oversight record. Because the agents remain unidentified, no individual prior shooting, pursuit, disciplinary, complaint or civil-litigation history can be reliably attributed to the personnel involved in this incident.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality; additional occupant injury information not disclosed in the available public account.

https://www.aclutx.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/cbp_fatal_encounters_details_-_10282021.pdf
https://borderoversight.org/event_type/vehicle-pursuit/?accountability=under-opr-investigation
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/speeches-and-statements/failure-yield-results-death-0

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REASON FOR CHASE: A Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped Kenneth Ray Wright after observing him traveling approximately 60 mph in a 40-mph zone on West Bay Street near Lathrop Avenue. The trooper reported smelling marijuana, and Wright acknowledged recently smoking marijuana. After field sobriety testing, the trooper determined Wright was impaired and attempted to arrest him. Wright ran, the trooper deployed a Taser, and a struggle followed during which police said Wright grabbed the Taser with both hands. The trooper drew his firearm, Wright released the Taser, returned to his vehicle and drove away. GSP's internal review stated that the trooper initiated the pursuit because Wright was believed to be driving while impaired and because of his flight and attempt to take the trooper's Taser.
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NARRATIVE:
On 06/16/2021, at approximately 10 p.m., a Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped Kenneth Ray Wright near West Bay Street and Lathrop Avenue in Savannah after observing him traveling approximately 60 mph in a 40-mph zone. The encounter escalated after the trooper determined Wright was under the influence of marijuana and attempted to arrest him. Wright ran, was subjected to a Taser deployment, struggled with the trooper and grabbed the Taser before releasing it when the trooper drew his firearm. Wright returned to his vehicle and drove away, and the trooper initiated a pursuit.
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The pursuit continued for approximately six miles in six minutes through Savannah, including residential neighborhoods and areas with substantial pedestrian traffic. Witnesses reported seeing Wright's vehicle and two GSP patrol vehicles traveling through residential streets at speeds they estimated at 90 to 100 mph. Prosecutors later presented evidence that Wright drove at more than 100 mph and ran red lights and stop signs during portions of the pursuit.
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Stephen Emory Milton, 56, was returning home on his bicycle because he was scheduled to work the following morning. As Milton crossed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near 38th Street, Wright's vehicle struck him at high speed. Milton sustained fatal injuries. Dash-camera video subsequently introduced in the criminal case captured the pursuit, collision and crash scene. Wright later claimed that he did not believe his vehicle had struck Milton and suggested the pursuing trooper had struck him, but prosecutors maintained that Wright's vehicle hit Milton. Milton's sister later stated that she believed Wright, rather than the trooper, struck her brother.
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The trooper did not stop after Milton was struck because, according to GSP's internal pursuit review, the pedestrian was not visible to the pursuing trooper. The pursuit continued for approximately another 1½ miles through the Baldwin Park neighborhood. Radio traffic subsequently alerted GSP that a pedestrian had been struck as Savannah police closed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around the crash scene.
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The pursuit ultimately ended at 40th Street and Paulsen Street after the pursuing trooper's patrol vehicle overheated and caught fire and had to be towed. Wright escaped. Witness Brendan Pappas later told WTOC that Wright's vehicle and two GSP vehicles passed through his neighborhood at an estimated 90 to 100 mph and nearly struck him and another person.
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GSP conducted an internal pursuit review. The review determined that the trooper complied with GSP pursuit policy. The review specifically considered whether Wright could have been arrested later because police had already positively identified him and answered yes. GSP nevertheless concluded that the pursuit decision was justified because the trooper believed Wright posed a danger by driving while impaired and because Wright had fled and attempted to take the trooper's Taser. GSP policy at the time allowed the individual trooper substantial discretion to initiate and continue a pursuit without obtaining supervisory authorization.
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Milton's family publicly challenged the decision to continue a high-speed pursuit after GSP already possessed Wright's identity, address, insurance information and vehicle information. His family requested the GSP dash-camera and audio recordings and questioned why the pursuit continued through residential neighborhoods and areas with pedestrian traffic.
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DISPOSITION:
The fleeing driver was Kenneth Ray Wright. GSP obtained warrants charging Wright with 18 offenses, including murder, first-degree homicide by vehicle, DUI, felony fleeing, leaving the scene of a crash causing serious injury or death and attempting to remove a weapon from a public official. Wright remained a fugitive until U.S. Marshals arrested him in Albany, Georgia, on 09/03/2021.
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A Chatham County grand jury subsequently indicted Wright for felony murder and other offenses. During his 2023 trial, Wright's defense argued that the GSP trooper had used excessive force during the original arrest attempt and that Wright fled because he feared for his life. Prosecutors argued that Wright had attempted to take the trooper's Taser and fled without justification. Much of the trial centered on the trooper's conduct and whether the pursuit complied with GSP policy.
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On 06/02/2023, a jury convicted Wright on nine counts, including felony murder and homicide by vehicle. Wright was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Georgia State Patrol trooper who stopped Wright, deployed the Taser, struggled with him and initiated the fatal pursuit is not named in the publicly accessible WTOC reports reviewed for this reconstruction. The officer's identity is nevertheless particularly significant in this case because Wright's defense disclosed during the 2023 murder trial that the same trooper had been the subject of a separate Georgia Bureau of Investigation inquiry concerning an allegation of excessive force. The defense sought the GBI investigative report concerning that separate incident for use in Wright's trial. Available public reporting does not identify the trooper or disclose the ultimate finding of that separate GBI investigation.
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The trial record therefore establishes that the pursuit trooper had at least one prior or separate excessive-force allegation serious enough to generate a GBI investigation, but the available reporting does not support attaching a name or a disciplinary outcome to that officer without the underlying GSP or GBI records.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality

https://www.wtoc.com/2021/08/02/family-pedestrian-killed-during-police-chase-downtown-savannah-question-troopers-actions/
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/06/17/savannah-police-scene-crash-involving-pedestrian-mlk-blvd-closed-both-directions/
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/08/26/going-easily-100-miles-an-hour-90-miles-an-hour-neighbor-calls-911-outraged-over-police-chase/
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/09/03/suspect-arrested-after-pedestrian-killed-hit-and-run-martin-luther-king-jr-blvd/
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/09/09/suspect-denied-bond-hitting-killing-pedestrian-during-high-speed-chase/
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/09/30/driver-indicted-murder-charge-after-hitting-killing-pedestrian-during-high-speed-chase/
https://www.wtoc.com/2023/01/05/crime-scene-photo-evidence-debated-during-deadly-2021-hit-and-run-hearing/
https://www.wtoc.com/2023/06/01/opening-statements-begin-2021-hit-and-run-murder-trial/
https://www.wtoc.com/2023/06/02/man-that-hit-pedestrian-during-high-speed-chase-found-guilty-murder/
https://www.wtoc.com/2023/06/05/family-man-hit-killed-during-high-speed-chase-says-guilty-verdict-is-helping-them-heal/

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REASON FOR CHASE: At approximately 1:15 p.m., a Lexington Police Department officer observed Michael D. Mason apparently passed out behind the wheel of a gray Toyota Camry stopped in a travel lane on the outer loop of New Circle Road at Liberty Road. The officer circled back to investigate. At approximately 1:19 p.m., after the Camry began moving with traffic, the officer activated emergency lights near Eastland Parkway to conduct a traffic stop and check on the driver. Mason accelerated away. Police later determined that the Camry had been stolen.
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NARRATIVE:
On 06/16/2021, at approximately 1:15 p.m., a Lexington Police Department officer traveling on New Circle Road observed 46-year-old Michael D. Mason apparently passed out behind the wheel of a gray Toyota Camry in a lane of travel near Liberty Road. Traffic prevented the officer from immediately reaching the vehicle. The officer circled back to investigate, by which time the Camry had begun moving with traffic.
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At approximately 1:19 p.m., the officer activated emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop near Eastland Parkway. Mason slowly turned right onto Eastland Parkway and then accelerated away. Contrary to the original descriptions of this incident as a police pursuit, Lexington Police Department records state that the officer immediately radioed that he was not pursuing Mason and deliberately turned in the opposite direction onto Martha Court. Sgt. Donnell Gordon subsequently confirmed that the officer did not chase the Camry.
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Approximately two minutes later, at about 1:21 p.m., police and firefighters were dispatched to a three-vehicle collision at Gayle Drive and Eastland Parkway. Investigators determined that Mason was driving on Gayle Drive when he disregarded the stop sign at Eastland Parkway and entered the intersection. A pickup truck and an SUV traveling in opposite directions on Eastland Parkway struck the Camry. The Camry and SUV came to rest in the yard at 1801 Gayle Drive. Firefighters had to extricate Mason from the wreckage.
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Mason sustained multiple blunt-force injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 1:59 p.m. The SUV driver sustained serious injuries and was transported to a hospital. The pickup-truck driver sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene. Mason was the sole occupant of the Camry.
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The Lexington Police Department Collision Reconstruction Unit investigated the fatal crash. Investigators subsequently determined that the Toyota Camry Mason was driving had been stolen. Public reporting did not establish why Mason accelerated away from the attempted traffic stop.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Lexington Police Department officer who observed Mason, activated emergency lights and attempted the traffic stop has not been publicly identified in the department's release or the available contemporaneous reporting. Sgt. Donnell Gordon was the department spokesperson who provided information to reporters and was not identified as the officer who attempted the stop. Because the involved officer remains unidentified, no individual prior shooting, pursuit, complaint, discipline or civil-litigation history can be reliably attributed to that officer.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality, 2 injuries

https://www.lex18.com/news/man-flees-police-ends-up-dead-after-three-car-crash
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article251991342.html
https://www.lexingtonpoliceky.gov/news/police-chase-ends-fatal-crash
https://www.wkyt.com/2021/06/16/driver-killed-crash-after-speeding-away-lexington-officer-two-others-hurt/
https://www.wtvq.com/man-flees-from-attempted-traffic-stop-killed-in-crash-police/

On 06/15/2021, Pennsylvania State Police attempted to stop Jimmy Nguyen near Route 248 and Jandy Boulevard in Nazareth. Nguyen did not stop and continued driving. Pennsylvania State Police escalated a chase that lasted until he struck a vehicle exiting Wegmans Drive and continued at high speeds through several municipalities. Near the intersection of Route 248 and Jandy Boulevard, Nguyen lost control, traveled into the opposite lane, clipped a Toyota RAV4, collided with a Mercedes SUV, and then crashed into a concrete barrier. He died in the crash. A bystander driver in the Mercedes was moderately injured. The officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality, 1 injury
.
Last Update: 01/15/2025
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https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/police-pursuit-ends-with-man-killed-after-crashing-into-concrete-barrier-in-northampton-county-officials-say/
https://sauconsource.com/2021/06/15/pursuit-that-began-rt-248-ends-with-drivers-death-police/
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/driver-dies-after-fleeing-traffic-stop-and-crashing-in-northampton-county-police-say/2849200/

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REASON FOR CHASE: Milwaukee Police Department officers attempted to stop a Kia Sportage near the 9900 block of West Good Hope Road after determining that the vehicle had been reported stolen. Hambright continued driving and police initiated a pursuit.
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NARRATIVE:
On 06/15/2021, shortly before 9 p.m., Milwaukee Police Department officers encountered a stolen Kia Sportage near North 99th Street and West Good Hope Road. Police attempted to stop the vehicle, which was being driven by 16-year-old Demonta Lamar Hambright Jr. Hambright continued driving and officers pursued the Kia eastbound on Good Hope Road.
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During the pursuit, Hambright drove into the lanes of opposing traffic. Milwaukee police terminated the pursuit when he began traveling against traffic. Dash-camera video subsequently released by police documented the pursuit and showed the fatal collision occurring moments after officers canceled the chase.
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Hambright continued traveling the wrong way after police terminated the pursuit. Near North 76th Street and West Good Hope Road, the Kia collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle carrying three teenagers. Investigators estimated that Hambright was traveling approximately 50 to 60 mph at the time of impact.
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Hambright sustained critical injuries and was transported to Children's Wisconsin, where he died. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office identified him following the crash. The medical examiner's investigation determined that Hambright was not wearing a seat belt. He did not have a driver's license.
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Two 12-year-old passengers were riding in the stolen Kia. One sustained life-threatening injuries and was hospitalized in critical condition. The other sustained two broken legs and was hospitalized in stable condition. Neither was wearing a seat belt. Early reporting described both passengers as girls, while later reporting concerning the released dash-camera footage described one passenger as a 12-year-old girl and the rear passenger as a 12-year-old boy.
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The oncoming vehicle contained three teenagers who were returning from watching a Milwaukee Bucks game. Its 18-year-old driver sustained life-threatening injuries. An 18-year-old passenger sustained serious injuries, and a 19-year-old passenger sustained life-threatening injuries. All three were transported to Froedtert Hospital.
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Hambright's mother disputed characterizations of her son as a car thief and said someone had given him the Kia. In October 2021, after Milwaukee police released dash-camera video of the pursuit, her attorney confirmed that he had been retained and that a notice of injury had been filed in anticipation of litigation against the Milwaukee Police Department over the decision to pursue Hambright. Available reporting at that time said a lawsuit had not yet been filed.
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The fatal crash later became one of the Milwaukee stolen-Kia incidents cited in litigation brought by municipalities against Kia and Hyundai concerning vehicle thefts. Court filings specifically referenced both the June 2021 crash and the subsequently released police dash-camera footage.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Milwaukee Police Department officers who attempted the stop and participated in the pursuit have not been identified by name in the contemporary news reports, later dash-camera coverage, or publicly searchable litigation reviewed for this reconstruction. Because the involved officers remain unidentified, no individual prior shooting, pursuit, complaint, discipline or civil-litigation history can be reliably attributed to them.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality, 5 injuries

https://www.wisn.com/article/teen-car-theft-suspect-killed-in-head-on-crash-5-others-injured/36741640
https://www.wisn.com/article/dashcam-video-shows-fatal-crash-moments-after-police-cancel-pursuit/37955614
https://www.fox6now.com/news/police-pursuit-crash-in-milwaukee-leaves-1-dead-5-hurt
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2021/06/16/milwaukee-reckless-driving-boy-16-dies-after-stolen-car-crash/5295939001/

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NARRATIVE:
On 06/13/2021, Eric Eugene Cole, 42, called 911 after he had been shot in the left arm and shoulder during an earlier altercation. At approximately 11:21 p.m., Springfield Police Division officers were dispatched to South Center Boulevard on the report of a man who had been shot. Cole was lying wounded in the roadway while officers responded.
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Officer Amanda Rosales responded in a marked 2019 Ford Explorer, Springfield police cruiser No. 70, with the vehicle's emergency lights activated. Rosales drove south on South Center Boulevard while looking toward houses for the reported address and did not see Cole lying in the roadway. Her cruiser drove over Cole. A second police cruiser's dash camera also recorded the collision.
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Rosales stopped and went to Cole. Dash-camera footage showed Cole lying in the roadway before Rosales reached him and captured the cruiser striking him. Rosales told Sgt. Brian Taylor at the scene that she felt her patrol vehicle bump something and believed she might have run over Cole's legs. Taylor reviewed in-car video at the scene and confirmed that the collision had been recorded.
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Springfield Fire and Rescue transported Cole to Springfield Regional Medical Center, and he was subsequently flown by CareFlight to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. Cole died at approximately 2:20 a.m. on 06/14/2021.
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The Montgomery County Coroner's Office determined that Cole died from blunt-force trauma to the torso and ruled his death an accident. The autopsy documented a fractured sternum, multiple rib fractures, abrasions and lacerations to his shoulders, back and chest, additional blunt-force injuries to his extremities, and the preexisting gunshot wound to his left arm. The gunshot wound was not determined to be his cause of death.
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The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision. Its crash investigation documented Rosales as being in emergency response with her overhead lights activated and identified outside distraction as a factor, with Rosales looking for the address while approaching the scene.
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The Clark County Prosecutor's Office requested appointment of the Ohio Attorney General's Office as special prosecutor to avoid a conflict of interest. The case was presented to a Clark County grand jury on 06/07/2022. The grand jury declined to indict Rosales, issuing a no-bill. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost subsequently released the investigative case file.
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Cole's family disputed the characterization of the collision as an unavoidable accident and questioned how Rosales failed to see him. Family members pointed to the cruiser video, which showed Cole lying in the roadway as Rosales approached.
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CIVIL LITIGATION:
In December 2022, Cole's estate and family filed a federal civil-rights and wrongful-death lawsuit against Rosales and others. The lawsuit alleged that Rosales acted recklessly by failing to see and avoid Cole as he lay wounded in the roadway and also challenged the handling of the incident after he was struck. The family additionally sought federal review of Cole's death.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Amanda Rosales had been employed by the Springfield Police Division for approximately one year when she ran over Cole. She was placed on administrative leave following the fatal collision. A Clark County grand jury subsequently declined to indict her in Cole's death.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality

https://dayton247now.com/news/local/man-dies-after-being-shot-run-over-by-responding-springfield-police-cruiser
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/final-autopsy-man-run-over-by-springfield-cruiser-died-from-blunt-force-trauma-to-torso-ruled-an-accident/FDYIWCWN7RHZPHALC6R3GPIPMA/
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/eric-coles-family-sues-springfield-police-for-his-death-seeks-federal-review-of-case/ZXWMQM2HORAQ5PIYF6HXXRQ2RA/
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/attorney-general-talking-today-about-deadly-springfield-case-of-man-shot-then-hit-by-police-cruiser/73I5L4A4UZDTLNTVMTGJLAF2D4/
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/June-2022/Attorney-General-Dave-Yost-Releases-Investigative
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/InvestigativeDocuments

NARRATIVE:
On 06/09/2021, at approximately 10:55 p.m., Camden County Police Department Officer Kevin Randolph Gilbert Jr. was on duty and in uniform, driving a marked patrol vehicle southbound on Mount Ephraim Avenue near Woodlynne Avenue. Gilbert was not responding to a call or police alert and was not operating the vehicle with emergency lights or siren.
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Zandra Baez, 66, was crossing Mount Ephraim Avenue when Gilbert's patrol vehicle struck her. Investigators determined Gilbert was traveling approximately 36 mph in a 35-mph zone and had a steady green traffic signal in his direction of travel. Early police statements reported no indication that Gilbert was speeding or distracted.
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Gilbert immediately stopped and radioed for emergency assistance. Baez sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 11:09 p.m.
.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability investigated the collision. Investigators obtained witness statements, video evidence and autopsy findings. The Attorney General subsequently released Gilbert's body-worn-camera recording and footage from two private security cameras near the crash scene. The security footage captured the immediate aftermath of the impact, including Baez being thrown from the patrol vehicle as Gilbert stopped.
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Baez's daughter, Juana Baez, publicly challenged the lack of criminal accountability and said her mother was a working woman who had routinely walked in the area for years. She subsequently organized a public petition calling for accountability in her mother's death.
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DISPOSITION:
The Attorney General's Office presented the fatal collision to a state grand jury after completing its investigation. On 11/07/2022, the grand jury voted no bill, determining that no criminal charges should be filed against Officer Kevin Randolph Gilbert Jr.
.
CIVIL LITIGATION:
Baez's estate subsequently pursued a civil claim against the Camden County Police Department. The Estate of Zandra Baez v. Camden County Metro Police Department resulted in a reported $1.275 million recovery in 2025.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES: 1 fatality

https://www.nj.com/camden/2021/06/woman-struck-and-killed-by-camden-county-police-car.html
https://www.phillyvoice.com/woman-dies-after-being-hit-by-camden-county-police-vehicle/
https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2021/06/10/pedestrian-struck-and-killed-by-camden-police-vehicle/7647895002/
https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey/camden-county-police-vehicle-fatally-strikes-woman-woodlynne-20210610.html
https://6abc.com/metro-camden-county-police-officer-zandra-baez-kevin-randolph-gilbert-jr-pedestrian-struck-and-killed/10802097/
https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/footage-released-accident-where-police-vehicle-fatally-struck-pedestrian-camden
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/camden-county-officer-cleared-patrol-144420433.html