Two Georgia police officers have been placed on leave following a Saturday morning incident in which they crashed into a minor car while stopping at a car.
Waycross, Ga., Police attempted to obtain license plate information for a car at 8 a.m. after a traffic jam, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Five minors, aged 9, 12, 14, 15 and 16, were in the car.
After three of the children left the car as it passed to the officers, they crashed ‘multiple times’ on the car with the 15- and 16-year-olds still inside, according to the GBI. Police went on to arrest both the 16-year-old and the 15-year-old for possession of a handgun by a person under 18.
The 16-year-old was also charged with reckless driving, a stop sign violation, aggravated assault on a police officer and driving without a license. Police accused the 15-year-old of obstructing an officer and removing her while attempting to remove an officer’s firearm.
The three younger children said they were on their way back from Walmart when the officer started chasing them, only turning on its lights once they were in their neighborhood, said Dominique Goodman Sr., the minor’s father , to CNN affiliate WJXT.
The 12-year-old said the two older teenagers told the others to leave the car and run home to warn their father, at which point the officers began firing.
“They shot at a car full of unarmed minors. A car full of unarmed children. Like, who in the world can not see that this is a 9-year-old? Who can not see that this is a child? They look like children,” they say. Goodman told WJXT. “They are babies. What was the purpose of the shooting?”
He told the branch they were on their way to pick him up before going to a football tournament in Jacksonville, where two of them were scheduled to play.
“This is a good neighborhood. All the neighbors are basically family. To hear gunshots in this neighborhood and to see our children being shot at, everyone in the neighborhood knows our kids. They know they are not bad kids,” “Goodman told WJXT. “Our kids almost lost their lives to go to a football game? Man, that’s crazy. That’s crazy. You almost lost their lives after a football game.”
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