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Stanley Davis Jr.

Age : 13

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 12/26/2021

Location : : 800 block North Federal Highway near Northeast 8th Avenue

City : Boynton Beach

County : Palm Beach

State : Florida

Agency : Boynton Beach Police Department

Officer(s) :Mark Sohn

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Driver killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
Officer Mark Sohn attempted to stop Davis for allegedly riding a dirt bike recklessly on public streets. Davis was not alleged to have committed a forcible felony, although Boynton Beach Police Department policy permitted vehicle pursuits only when police reasonably believed a person fleeing had committed a forcible felony.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 12/26/2021, shortly before 1:00 p.m., 13-year-old Stanley “SJ” Davis III was riding a new Honda CRF450R-S dirt bike in Boynton Beach. Davis stopped at a Chevron station at 217 North Federal Highway, where surveillance video showed him fueling the motorcycle and paying for the gas. Officer Mark Sohn located Davis there and attempted to stop him after police alleged Davis had been riding recklessly on public streets. Davis drove away and Sohn escalated a high-speed chase north on Federal Highway.
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The subsequent Boynton Beach Police Department Internal Affairs investigation determined that Sohn accelerated to approximately 79–85 mph in a 35-mph zone while following Davis, who was traveling at approximately 85 mph. Investigators found that both Davis and Sohn traveled at times on the wrong side of the roadway and into oncoming traffic. Sohn later maintained that he was not conducting a pursuit and was merely monitoring Davis’s direction of travel, but Internal Affairs rejected that explanation as unsupported by the evidence and determined that Sohn had violated the department’s pursuit policy.
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Less than a mile from the gas station, near North Federal Highway and Northeast 8th Avenue, Davis lost control of the dirt bike, struck a median curb, was ejected and struck a sign in the median. He died at the scene. The Florida Highway Patrol concluded that there was no physical contact between Sohn’s police vehicle and Davis’s motorcycle.
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Davis was a seventh-grade student at Congress Middle School and the only son of Shannon Thompson and Stanley Davis Jr. His family said the dirt bike was a Christmas present and that he had gone out to get gas when the encounter with Sohn occurred.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
1 Fatality, 0 reported injuries.
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EYEWITNESS OR FAMILY STATEMENTS:
Davis’s mother, Shannon Thompson, disputed the characterization of the encounter as an ordinary attempted traffic stop and said her son had gone out only to get gas and was afraid of Sohn. Davis’s parents maintained that Sohn’s pursuit caused their son’s death and argued that Sohn should already have been removed from policing because of his history of improper pursuits. Civil-rights attorneys Benjamin Crump, Jasmine Rand and Sue-Ann Robinson argued that pursuing a 13-year-old for riding a dirt bike fell outside the department’s forcible-felony pursuit policy and asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the department.
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DISPOSITION:
The Florida Highway Patrol completed its traffic-homicide investigation in March 2022 and concluded that Davis was traveling approximately 85 mph, that Sohn’s vehicle did not physically contact the motorcycle, and that no criminal charges would be filed. A separate Boynton Beach Police Department Internal Affairs investigation reached a materially different conclusion regarding Sohn’s conduct: investigators found that Sohn violated the department’s vehicle-pursuit policy and other departmental rules, demonstrated poor judgment, and attempted to conceal the existence of the pursuit. The city fired Sohn in August 2022.
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In May 2024, an arbitrator agreed that the city had established that Sohn violated the pursuit policy but ruled that termination was too severe and ordered him reinstated without back pay, benefits or seniority for the period he was terminated. The city subsequently challenged the reinstatement.
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LITIGATION:
On 11/15/2022, Stanley Davis Jr., Shannon Thompson and the Estate of Stanley Davis III filed a federal civil-rights and wrongful-death lawsuit against Mark Sohn and the City of Boynton Beach in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Case No. 9:22-cv-81773. The lawsuit alleged that Sohn’s reckless and unlawful pursuit caused Davis’s death and that the city knew of Sohn’s history of improper pursuits and failed to prevent further harm.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Mark Sohn had an extensive documented disciplinary history involving vehicle pursuits before Davis’s death. Boynton Beach Internal Affairs reported that he had previously been disciplined three times for violating pursuit policy, including suspensions. The investigation into Davis’s death concluded that Sohn again violated pursuit policy and stated that his repeated violations unnecessarily endangered the public and other officers.
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Sohn had also been involved in at least two earlier fatal pursuits. In 2012, Sohn pursued Cyrus Deal at speeds exceeding 100 mph before Deal crashed and died; the pursuit was found to violate department policy and Sohn received a one-day unpaid suspension. In 2016, Sohn pursued a vehicle over an expired license plate; the driver crashed and killed 5-year-old pedestrian Jayden Readon. The city later agreed to pay Readon’s family $300,000 to settle litigation arising from that unauthorized pursuit.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/04/01/fhp-officer-wont-be-charged-after-13-year-old-boy-died-during-chase/
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/boynton-beach/13-year-old-boynton-beach-dirt-bike-rider-was-driving-recklessly-at-85-mph-fhp-report-concludes
https://www.wflx.com/2022/08/25/internal-affairs-report-shows-why-boynton-beach-police-officer-was-terminated/
https://www.wpbf.com/article/mark-sohn-internal-affairs-report-stanley-davis-boynton-beach-police/40984507
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/boynton-beach/officer-mark-sohn-fired
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/boynton-beach/attorney-benjamin-crump-files-complaint-with-department-of-justice-concerning-death-of-boynton-beach-teen
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/boynton-beach-family-officer-termination-police-chase/
https://wsvn.com/news/local/florida/family-calls-for-boynton-beach-officer-with-alleged-list-of-prior-bad-behavior-to-be-fired/
https://www.wpbf.com/article/florida-boynton-beach-dirt-bike-crash-stanley-davis-family-lawsuit/42026878
https://www.wptv.com/news/region-s-palm-beach-county/boynton-beach/mark-sohn-wrongful-death-lawsuit
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/florida/flsdce/9%3A2022cv81773/623672
https://www.wflx.com/2024/05/29/fired-boynton-beach-police-officer-should-get-job-back-arbitrator-rules/
https://www.wpbf.com/article/florida-boynton-beach-police-settlement-mark-sohn-reinstatement-appeal/65194946