Families sue police officers over 2021 chase that killed 2 teens, injured 4 others

By Vic Ryckaert

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    INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — The families of two teens killed after a police chase ended in a deadly crash say three Lawrence Police Department officers recklessly continued the pursuit even after they were ordered to stop.

Nazire Parks, 14, and Kamyla Young, 13, died and four other teens were injured when the Kia Soul they were in crashed into a tree in rural Boone County on Sept. 3, 2021.

“I’m seeking justice because they (conducted) a pursuit that should have been called off,” said Eric Young, the father of Kamyla and her sister Janiya, who was injured in the crash. “I want those cops off the street.”

In the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, lawyers for the families say the officers were reckless and deliberately indifferent to the safety of the youths in the car.

“The actions of individual defendants shocked the conscience and exceed all realms of expectations for how law enforcement officers are expected to act,” lawyers said in the suit.

“We’re not talking about a mile pursuit. We’re not talking about a five-minute chase,” attorney Robert Fakhouri said. “We’re talking about over 30 miles, three different counties, commands to stop the pursuit.”

An officer tried to stop the Kia full of teens and pre-teens for driving with headlights off and expired plates about 4 a.m. near Mitthoeffer Road and Pendleton Pike in Lawrence.

Nazire, the driver, refused to stop. Three Lawrence officers chased the Kia onto I 65 and into Boone County, hitting speeds of 90 mph at times, according to the lawsuit.

Lawrence police supervisor called off the pursuit after it reached the highway. The officers, according to the lawsuit, turned off their lights and sirens but kept chasing the Kia.

Gregory Parks, Nazire’s father, is not trying to excuse his son’s actions that day. The boy doesn’t have a license and took a family car without permission and went for a joy ride, he said, but that’s not a death sentence.

“He was the freshest little dude and never took nobody’s kindness for weakness,” Parks said. “What it took to get to this point? it took a lot of pain and just knowing that determination that I can’t stop until I get justice for Nazire and the kids that was in the car.”

Janiya Young, 12 at the time, was in the back seat and called 911 during the chase. Dispatchers told the officers that the the girl told them the driver was afraid to stop because he thought the police were going to shoot him, according to an audio recording of the police radio traffic provided to WRTV by Fakhouri.

Janiya’s phone call with dispatch ended abruptly. A few minutes later Lawrence officers reported that the car had crashed.

Lawrence Police Chief Gary Woodruff said at the time that Lawrence officers weren’t in an “active pursuit” when the crash occurred.

On Tuesday, Woodruff declined to comment but said the crash was investigated by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Indiana State Police.

“No officers were disciplined in this matter,” Woodruff said. “They were found to be in compliance with legal and department policy.”

Woodruff said that Boone County sheriff’s investigators produced a “comprehensive, detailed report on this matter.”

Boone County Sheriff’s Office Detective Morganne T. Carpenter, the spokesperson for the office, said the crash investigation was reopened recently after family members provided new evidence. She declined to released the report to WRTV citing the ongoing investigation.

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