Boy, 12, Killed After Police Use PIT Maneuver

High-speed chase ended with child's death in Georgia
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2021 3:00 AM CDT
Boy, 12, Killed After Police Use PIT Maneuver
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / Evgen_Prozhyrko)

A high-speed chase in Georgia ended in tragedy Friday when the car police were chasing flipped, killing a 12-year-old passenger. The boy, Leden Boykins, was in a car with a neighbor and the neighbor's 14-year-old son when it was pulled over for speeding, 11 Alive reports. Police say Charlie Moore, the driver, refused to show his driver's license and then fled, with police in pursuit as he drove recklessly for three and a half miles. Ultimately a police car clipped the rear of the vehicle to cause it to spin out and stop, known as the PIT maneuver, NBC News reports. But the car overturned as a result, and Boykins was killed. Moore and his son survived. Moore is facing charges including murder during the commission of a felony, first-degree homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault against a peace officer, DUI, having an open container in a motor vehicle, and driving on a suspended license.

According to Boykins' family, Moore's wife told them that Moore was concerned, as a Black man, when he was pulled over, and had his son call 911. "He told the 911 operator, he said, ‘I need for y’all to get a supervisor out here, there’s too many police cars and I’m in fear of my life,'" Boykins' mother says. The family says that troopers started to break the windows when he refused to roll them down, and Moore drove away because he was scared. Boykins' devastated family is questioning why police didn't take a different course of action, knowing there were children in the car: "Couldn’t they put a roadblock up and protect those kids?" Boykins' father says. "They couldn’t figure out any other way than to flip that car over?" Boykins' parents say it was Moore's wife, not police, who informed them of their son's death. (More Georgia stories.)

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