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Trevon Lanel Mitchell

Age : 22

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 07/26/2021

Location : West Broadway and Dr. W.J. Hodge Street

City : Louisville

County : Jefferson

State : Kentucky

Agency : Louisville Metro Police Department

Officer(s) :Benjamin Sullivan; Joseph Nett

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Bystander killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON FOR POLICE CHASE:
Failure to use a turn signal. LMPD Officers Benjamin Sullivan and Joseph Nett were working in an undercover police vehicle when they followed a black Ford Five Hundred driven by Larry Williams. Dash-camera evidence later showed Williams failed to signal before making a right turn from West Oak Street onto Dr. W.J. Hodge Street. The officers attempted to stop Williams for the traffic violation. Williams continued driving away and Sullivan pursued. The initiating offense was a minor traffic violation; Williams was not then known to police to have committed a violent felony, and the Ford was not reported stolen.
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EVENT NARRATIVE:
On 07/06/2021, 22-year-old Trevon Lanel Mitchell was killed while riding his moped near West Broadway and Dr. W.J. Hodge Street when a Ford driven by Larry Williams entered the intersection at approximately 90 mph during an LMPD pursuit and triggered a violent multi-vehicle collision. Mitchell had no connection to Williams, the traffic stop or the police pursuit.
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Sullivan and his partner, Joseph Nett, were traveling in an undercover LMPD vehicle when they began following Williams. Dash-camera evidence later showed Williams failed to signal before turning right, providing the traffic violation used for the attempted stop. Sullivan activated the police vehicle's emergency equipment, and Williams accelerated away.
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The pursuit accelerated dramatically through Louisville's West End. Court records later showed Sullivan's police vehicle reached approximately 95 mph while following Williams. LMPD subsequently maintained that the officers discontinued their attempt to stop Williams because of his speed, but the extent to which Sullivan actually disengaged became a central issue in subsequent litigation.
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Williams approached the intersection of Dr. W.J. Hodge Street and West Broadway at approximately 90 mph and entered against a red traffic signal. His Ford struck an SUV occupied by Walter Jackson and Brent Bernier, then became involved in a chain-reaction collision with additional vehicles and the moped Mitchell was riding. Several people suffered serious injuries.
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Mitchell suffered catastrophic injuries. He was transported to University of Louisville Hospital, where he died. He was three days short of his 23rd birthday.
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Williams left the wrecked Ford and fled on foot. Police recovered a firearm from his vehicle after the collision. He remained at large for approximately six weeks before being arrested on 08/18/2021 and charged with murder, assault and other offenses arising from the crash. The firearm was discovered after the pursuit began and therefore was not a justification for the original attempted traffic stop.
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No PIT/TVI maneuver, stop sticks or roadblock preceded the fatal collision. The major dispute instead concerned whether Sullivan should have initiated or continued a high-speed pursuit over the turn-signal violation and whether police actually terminated the pursuit when they claimed they did.
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LMPD initially said officers had discontinued their attempt to stop Williams before the crash. Surveillance video complicated that account because the undercover police vehicle arrived immediately after the collision. Subsequent litigation produced evidence that Sullivan reached approximately 95 mph during the encounter.
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The officer's identity was itself initially reported incorrectly. The original LMPD collision report identified Sgt. Timothy Nett as the pursuing officer. During the subsequent litigation, an amended report identified rookie Officer Benjamin Sullivan as the driver of the police vehicle and Officer Joseph Nett as his partner in the passenger seat.
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Trevon was born on 07/09/1998 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He attended Jeffersonville High School and was attending Ivy Tech Community College when he was killed. He loved animals and skateboarding. His grandmother Danita Mitchell remembered him as someone who smiled constantly and always had a joke to tell, and said he had been preparing to enter military service and was getting his life on track.
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Mitchell's family and other people injured in the collision subsequently sued over the police pursuit, alleging that Sullivan violated LMPD policy by engaging in a high-speed pursuit when Williams was wanted only for a traffic violation. At the time, LMPD policy restricted pursuits to circumstances involving specified serious dangers, including violent felony suspects or stolen vehicles. The plaintiffs argued that none of those conditions existed when Sullivan attempted to stop Williams.
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The case ultimately went to a 10-day civil trial in 2023. A jury awarded Mitchell's estate and other victims approximately $30.7 million and apportioned 97% of the fault to Williams and 3% to Sullivan. In 2024, the trial court ordered a partial new trial limited to apportionment. The Kentucky Court of Appeals subsequently documented that procedural history in a 2025 decision arising from the litigation.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Officer Benjamin Sullivan was driving the undercover LMPD vehicle and Joseph Nett was riding with him during the pursuit. Sullivan was a relatively new officer at the time. The fatal pursuit became the subject of LMPD Public Integrity and Professional Standards investigations as well as extensive civil litigation.
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The subsequent civil case challenged not only Sullivan's decision to pursue Williams but also LMPD's handling and characterization of the incident. Plaintiffs presented evidence disputing the department's contention that the encounter was merely an attempted stop that had been discontinued before the fatal collision.
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DISPOSITION:
Larry Williams was subsequently convicted of manslaughter, fleeing police and other offenses arising from the fatal crash. Mitchell's family and other victims also pursued civil claims against the involved officers.
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A 2023 civil jury found both Williams and Officer Benjamin Sullivan responsible, allocating 97% of the fault to Williams and 3% to Sullivan and awarding approximately $30.7 million in damages. The trial court subsequently granted a partial new trial limited to allocation of fault.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wave3.com/2021/07/27/lmpd-undercover-officer-involved-deadly-crash/
https://www.wdrb.com/news/lmpd-officer-involved-in-fatal-crash-during-pursuit/article_6f52f7d8-ee9b-11eb-9f2b-9758fbb3b541.html
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/lmpd-crash-broadway/417-cab5a320-c2c5-44b2-9a88-73ed908e8a63
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2021/07/27/louisville-police-crash-leaves-one-dead-four-injured/5387293001/
https://www.wave3.com/2021/07/07/suspect-deadly-broadway-crash-run-lmpd-investigating/
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.wlky.com/article/lawsuit-accuses-lmpd-officer-of-not-following-car-pursuit-policy-in-deadly-july-collision/37297132
https://www.wdrb.com/news/louisville-man-charged-with-murder-weeks-after-fatal-crash/article_b0da8fcc-005c-11ec-862e-8bb86293d003.html
https://www.wave3.com/2023/12/05/jury-awards-31-million-lmpd-police-chase-trial/
https://law.justia.com/cases/kentucky/court-of-appeals/2025/2023-ca-1202-mr.html
https://www.scottfuneralhome.com/obituary/Trevon-Mitchell