The family of an Atlanta-area 12-year-old killed during a high-speed chase is calling for a special prosecutor and federal investigation into a Georgia State Patrol trooper’s actions.
During a Jan. 10 news conference, the parents of Le’Den Boykins stood on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol building. They expressed sorrow and frustration patrol officers didn’t do more to save the lives of the children inside the car the night of the incident.
“They decided to terminate somebody’s life for a speeding ticket,” Le’Den’s father, Anthony Boykins, said.
The incident occurred during the early morning hours of Sept. 10, 2021. Charlie Moore, 37, was driving his Kia Sorento with his son and Le’Den Boykins inside. Boykins, who his grandmother was watching at his Paulding County home while his parents were in Michigan at a funeral, had been given permission to go out with his 14-year-old neighbor and Moore, the teen’s father, to earn some money cleaning parking lots on the night of the crash, local station WXIA reported.
Georgia State Patrol told NBC Moore “was initially pulled over shortly after 1 a.m. by a trooper for speeding.”
Dashcam video shows the traffic stop where Georgia State Patrol Officer David Petersen approached the driver’s side window of Moore’s vehicle. Petersen claimed Moore tried to evade him. He asked Moore for his driver’s license, which Moore refused to provide, prompting Petersen to ask him to step out of the vehicle.
Several minutes into the traffic stop, two Paulding County Sheriff’s deputies arrived. Moore asked for a supervisor and questioned what crime he had committed. At this point, one deputy smashed the driver’s side window, and Moore reacted by speeding away.
A high-speed chase lasted roughly eight minutes until Petersen hit the back left bumper of Moore’s Kia Sorento performing the PIT maneuver. Moore and the children inside flipped over into a roadside ditch. Petersen is…
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