A group of local and state officials Wednesday called on Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia State Patrol to restrict its police chase policy in the wake of a 19-year-old bystander’s death on a busy Atlanta street this week.
Elected officials, lawmakers and advocates for police accountability gathered near the Little Five Points intersection where Cooper Schoenke was killed Monday evening by a driver who had been fleeing the state patrol at high speeds. The driver T-boned Schoenke’s Honda, killing the teen at the intersection of Moreland and McLendon avenues.
Rep. Sandra Scott, D-Rex, said something has to change to cut down on the dangerous pursuits. Scott, other lawmakers and advocates called on Kemp to issue an executive order that would change the state patrol’s pursuit policy.
“We know that these chases are not beneficial,” Scott said.
The governor’s office issued a statement earlier Wednesday that defended the state patrol and said those calling for changes have their facts wrong. His office’s statement said Monday’s death is “heartbreaking,” but the governor’s spokesman placed the blame on the driver who fled.
They were the first public s the governor’s office has made regarding the patrol’s pursuit practices since an investigation of the agency’s practices by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution over the past year.
“Those who break the law and act recklessly are to blame for the tragic and needless loss of these lives, and it’s shameful that anyone would seek to diminish the actions of those who caused these deaths and shift blame onto those who put their lives on the line every day to safeguard our communities,” said Garrison Douglas, Kemp’s spokesperson. “It is thanks to the brave and dedicated work of law enforcement and the full rejection of these short-sighted arguments that we have seen a historic drop in crime in our Capital city.”
The statement drew criticism from advocates, including National Police Accountability Project communications director Devin Barrington-Ward, who said it implied that “those of us who are calling for restraint are somehow opposed to law enforcement.”
“Let me be clear. The driver absolutely bears responsibility,” Barrington-Ward said. “But here’s the most important point: of the three people that were involved in this chase, only one of them was sworn to an oath to protect and serve.”
Organizers are pushing for an end to high-speed pursuits and for changes to the State Patrol’s pursuit policy, restricting trooper chases to cases that involve violent felonies. Advocates also want GSP to require a supervisor’s approval for chases and to bar high-speed pursuits in highly populated areas, during peak traffic times and in residential areas.
Many of the group’s recommendations stem from findings of the AJC’s investigation that highlighted the GSP’s aggressive pursuit tactics and its loose chase policy that has contributed to 1,900 people injured and 66 deaths over a recent five-year period.
Monday’s incident is the latest fatality during a pursuit by Georgia state troopers.
A driver fleeing troopers veered off I-20 and onto busy streets in Atlanta, eventually ending up in Little Five Points, where authorities said the motorist ran a red light and struck a passing vehicle, killing Schoenke.
The GSP said troopers saw a Chevrolet Equinox speeding and “making erratic lane changes” on the interstate near the Boulevard exit just before 8 p.m. They tried to stop the car, but the driver sped away, triggering the pursuit, according to a GSP statement.
The fleeing motorist, identified as 23-year-old Faduma Mohamed, exited onto Moreland Avenue, where she continued to weave through traffic at high speeds, “making reckless lane changes and passing other vehicles in the center turn lane,” the GSP said.
She then ran the red light at the intersection with McLendon Avenue and hit Schoenke’s car on the driver’s side, the GSP said. Schoenke’s Honda Accord crashed near the side of the Little 5 Corner Tavern.
Schoenke was declared dead at the scene.
His family is struggling to understand why a GSP trooper would conduct a dangerous chase during a high-traffic area.
“I’m mad as hell,” his grandmother, Barbara Vogel, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday from Schoenke’s mother’s house. “There’s no way to excuse that.”
Schoenke’s death, and the high-speed chase that led to it, has left the Little Five Points community, known for its heavy pedestrian and bike traffic, shaken.
Atlanta City Council member Liliana Bakhtiari said conducting a high-speed chase through a busy intersection through the area is treating human beings as if they are “disposable.”
“Moreland may be a state highway, but it goes through a community in a neighborhood,” she said. “We have the technology and the ability to apprehend people who are committing illegal acts and speeding in these communities without exacerbating the situation.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Some policymakers in Georgia have tried to curb police pursuits. State Sen. Gail Davenport, D-Jonesboro, has introduced legislation in the past — and again this year — to try to restrict police pursuits statewide, except for in certain violent offenses. She has been unable to gain traction for the proposal.
On Wednesday morning, Davenport said she was “heartbroken” to hear another bystander was killed as the result of a police pursuit.
“I think that the law needs to be changed,” she said. “I think there needs to be some conformity to this and that procedures need to be put in place where innocent people will not be killed.”
Mohamed was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, the GSP said. She is facing several charges, including murder, first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, possession of a schedule 1 narcotic, felony fleeing and other traffic offenses.
Atlanta Municipal Court records show Mohamed was driving a Black Equinox in October when she was stopped by police and charged with having a suspended/revoked license and no tags or decals. The incident occurred in the 3400 block of Peachtree Road, and she later pleaded guilty and was given probation, according to online records.
In an emailed statement Thursday, GSP extended their condolences to Schoenke’s family and said Mohamed’s driving was responsible for the incident that took the 19-year-old’s life.
“Let us be clear: Faduma Mohamed’s erratic and reckless driving posed a grave danger to the public before she was pursued by a Georgia State Trooper, and the pursuit was initiated by the suspect the moment she chose not to comply with a lawful order to stop,” the statement read. “The importance of a driver’s responsibility to stop cannot be overlooked or overstated.”
The agency has declined multiple requests from the AJC over the past year to discuss its record on pursuits, its policy, and the harm caused to bystanders and passengers. An agency spokesperson said last year that troopers initiate traffic stops, not pursuits. It’s the fleeing driver who initiates pursuits by their failure to comply with an officer’s lawful demand to stop, the spokesperson said.
“Every life is precious, and any life lost during the course of ensuring public safety is tragic and heartbreaking,” a GSP spokesperson said previously. “The Department of Public Safety protects Georgians by ensuring our members use good judgment and act within the bounds of policy and law.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The AJC investigation found the GSP’s pursuit policy is one of the most permissive in the country. It does not clearly outline a supervisor’s role during a pursuit and leaves many decisions up to individual troopers, including when to initiate or terminate a chase.
The agency was involved in more than 6,700 pursuits over a five-year period ending in 2023, according to the AJC’s analysis. About 3,400 of those chases ended in crashes, with bystanders or passengers often the ones who suffer injuries or death.
On Wednesday, trauma surgeons said they see the devastating injuries that stem from police pursuits.
“We do everything we can to pick up the pieces and try to save their life,” said Emory School of Medicine Surgery Associate Mihir Chaudhary. “Many do not survive. Patients who we are able to save have prolonged disabilities and may require rehabilitation for the rest of their life.”
Doctor Mark Spencer, an internal medicine physician at Grady Hospital, said flawed policy is harming people.
“It must be made clear that Georgia’s policies around police pursuits are what took Cooper’s life,” Spencer said.
Experts on police pursuits across the country have been critical of policies like the GSP’s that allow officers to engage in high-speed chases for almost any traffic violation. A study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a policy think tank, released in late 2023 with the U.S. Department of Justice urged law enforcement agencies to limit pursuits or revise their policies to make them less risky.
The 144-page study listed more than 60 recommendations, such as requiring a supervisor’s participation during a pursuit and evaluating training standards. It determined that discontinuing chases, especially those that began over traffic violations, is the most effective way to minimize harm to the public.
“You can get a suspect another day, but you can’t get a life back,” Chuck Wexler, PERF’s executive director, wrote in the report’s introduction.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday’s GSP chase came exactly one week after a pursuit initiated by Atlanta police ended in a crash that killed a bystander at another intersection. Although the investigation into that case has not been completed, the known details are different from Monday’s pursuit.
The night of April 7, Atlanta officers were hot on the trail of a suspect in a violent felony: a robbery at a Chick-fil-A.
It is unclear what information the officers had when they gave chase, aside from knowing the car had just been used by a suspect accused of pepper-spraying employees at the DeKalb County restaurant while taking a drawer of cash from the drive-thru window.
When Atlanta officers spotted the vehicle, it was less than an hour after the alleged crime. They tried to pull the driver over, but like the suspect in the GSP pursuit, he refused to stop.
He eventually blew through a red light at Peachtree and Piedmont roads in Buckhead, crashing into another vehicle and killing its driver, 26-year-old Richard Wells Jr., according to officials. Wells worked as an athletic trainer for the University of Kentucky for four years, including during the Wildcats’ run to the College World Series in 2024.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Devin Barrington-Ward’s name and a clarification of his title with the National Police Accountability Project. It also was updated with the correct title of Doctor Mark Spencer, an internal medicine physician at Grady Hospital.
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