Biff_Poindexter
Diamond Member
âWhat threat did I pose?â: Heartbroken dad blames NY State Police trooper for ramming his SUV and causing crash that killed his 11-year-old Brooklyn daughter
Handcuffed in the back seat of a New York State Trooperâs car, Tristin Goods could only seethe quietly and watch helplessly as his 11-year-old Brooklyn daughter was taken away in a body bag aâŚ
www.nydailynews.com
"Handcuffed in the back seat of a New York State Trooperâs car, Tristin Goods could only seethe quietly and watch helplessly as his 11-year-old daughter was taken away in a body bag after the police confrontation he says led to her needless death. Attorney General Tish Jamesâ office is conducting a criminal investigation into the deadly encounter Dec. 22 between Goods, his family and Trooper Christopher Baldner on the highway in Ulster County.
A trooper on I-87 upstate pulled him and his family over, maced them, and then rammed their car twice at high speed before the crash that took his daughterâs life, Goods and his lawyer say. It began while Goods, 39, drove his wife, April, and his daughters, Monica, 11, and Tristina, 12 to visit relatives. The trooper stopped Goods for speeding at 11:40 p.m. âHe was screaming at me, âYou were going 100 miles per hour and you shook my car!â Goods recalled. The two argued â with the trooper demanding to know if there were âguns or drugsâ in the car, Goods recounted.
The trooper returned to his cruiser â and when he returned, he flooded Goodsâ SUV with pepper spray. âHe didnât warn us he was going to use pepper spray,â Goods said. âHe didnât say âGet out of the carâ or âYouâre under arrest." Goods said his daughters were crying, and he feared for his familyâs safety. Instinctively, he said, he drove off. Baldner, records show, gave chase â and used his state police car to ram the back of Goodâs SUV. About eight seconds later, Goods said, Baldner rammed his car a second time. After the second hit, Goodsâ SUV hit a guardrail, flipped and rolled. Monica was ejected from the car, and died at the scene.
Seems to me that the only person responsible for the little girl's death is her own father....he has to be smarter than to handle the situation like he did....never disobey an officer's instructions and never run away from an officer. The officer seemed to have had a reasonable suspicion that this man had guns and drugs in the car because even after the crash and even after the little girl was laying dead on the ground -- the officer was still asking the family if there any drugs or guns in the car..they even detained the other little girl for 4 hours and questioned her without her parents present -- so the officers must have seriously believed this man had heavy connections to drugs and guns and this 12 yr old girl was the key to cracking the case.
The attorneys claim that they are confident the scientific evidence would back up the family's account but I am sure the body camera footage and the footage from the police cruiser will actually back up the officer -- which is why this racist state attorney's office hasn't released the footage -- they are trying to rail road this guy for doing his job.