Murder charge reinstated against trooper

Bigfoot · Sep 20, 2024

Some info on the incident itself -

According to the Albany-based appeals court’s ruling, witnesses including Monica’s father told a grand jury that Baldner stopped the family’s SUV, saying it was speeding on the New York State Thruway in Ulster County. The family was en route to a holiday season visit with relatives.

After quarreling with the father, Baldner pepper-sprayed the inside of the SUV.

The father drove off, Baldner pursued and he twice rammed the family’s SUV, according to the ruling. The vehicle overturned multiple times, and Monica was killed.

Baldner told a superior that Goods’ father had repeatedly rammed his patrol car, not the other way around, according to the ruling.

Murder charge reinstated against ex-trooper in chase that killed girl, 11

An appeals court has reinstated a murder charge against a New York state trooper in the death of an 11-year-old girl during a high-speed chase.

apnews.com

libertysnake · Sep 20, 2024

Let's assume he did ram the trooper's vehicle. The trooper saw the inside of the car. He knew an 11 year old girl was in there. I don't see a way this guy is making any excuse out of this.

How do you pepper spray an 11 year old?

kev74 · Sep 20, 2024

libertysnake said:
Let's assume he did ram the trooper's vehicle. The trooper saw the inside of the car. He knew an 11 year old girl was in there. I don't see a way this guy is making any excuse out of this.

How do you pepper spray an 11 year old?

On the other side of it.... How do you act so belligerently that you have to get sprayed with tear gas with an 11 year old in the car? Then, how do you try to drive off, evade police and resist arrest with an 11 year old in the car?

I'm all for holding police accountable, but if the guy getting pulled over didn't act like a giant asshole, the kid would still be alive.

spat · Sep 20, 2024

kev74 said:
On the other side of it.... How do you act so belligerently that you have to get sprayed with tear gas with an 11 year old in the car? Then, how do you try to drive off, evade police and resist arrest with an 11 year old in the car?

I'm all for holding police accountable, but if the guy getting pulled over didn't act like a giant asshole, the kid would still be alive.

The guy pulled over initially, everyone seems to agree about this.

Then the cop pepper sprayed the inside of the car. It must have happened then, because it can't have happened after the father started running.

Now, I don't know what the father said, but it seems difficult to justify the pepper spray. He was being given a speeding ticket, so just write the ticket and go.

kev74 · Sep 20, 2024

spat said:
The guy pulled over initially, everyone seems to agree about this.

Then the cop pepper sprayed the inside of the car. It must have happened then, because it can't have happened after the father started running.

Now, I don't know what the father said, but it seems difficult to justify the pepper spray. He was being given a speeding ticket, so just write the ticket and go.

From the original story...

"Trooper Baldner was on patrol in his marked State Police car and stopped the Goods family car for speeding.
During the stop, the trooper and Goods began fighting. Baldner deployed pepper spray into the inside of the car and Goods sped away."

Speculation on my part- I'm assuming that instead of taking his speeding ticket and driving off, Mr. Goods was likely acting like as savage, and the trooper over/improperly reacted with the pepper spray.

I don't know if a pit maneuver on the thruway is an appropriate action in response to someone evading arrest.

Regardless, if Mr. Goods knew how to behave during a traffic stop, his kid would still be alive.

spat · Sep 20, 2024

kev74 said:
From the original story...

"Trooper Baldner was on patrol in his marked State Police car and stopped the Goods family car for speeding.
During the stop, the trooper and Goods began fighting. Baldner deployed pepper spray into the inside of the car and Goods sped away."

Speculation on my part- I'm assuming that instead of taking his speeding ticket and driving off, Mr. Goods was likely acting like as savage, and the trooper over/improperly reacted with the pepper spray.

I don't know if a pit maneuver on the thruway is an appropriate action in response to someone evading arrest.

Regardless, if Mr. Goods knew how to behave during a traffic stop, his kid would still be alive.

How does someone sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle start a fight with someone standing outside of it ?

I have to assume that the "fight" at that point was entirely verbal.

Once the officer decided to escalate that to physical violence, what do you do ? Just sit there and let him attack your whole family, or try to run ?

kev74 · Sep 20, 2024

spat said:
How does someone sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle start a fight with someone standing outside of it ?

I have to assume that the "fight" at that point was entirely verbal.

Once the officer decided to escalate that to physical violence, what do you do ? Just sit there and let him attack your whole family, or try to run ?

I assumed the guy either grabbed or swung at the trooper. Otherwise it should have been characterized as arguing, not fighting.

I have been pulled over for various traffic infractions many, many times. I never got tear gassed or maced. I never had to physically defend myself from the cops. I'm basing my speculation on my personal experience.

All of this is backseat quarterbacking. And I don't think any of us care enough to look up the court records.

FRANKIE · Sep 20, 2024

I believe that 99% of the time someone is pulled over (and reluctantly speaking for myself) there is a definite solid reason. Nonnegotiable. Take your medicine and go on with your day.
Then there’s that 1%….
Fight it in court not on the roadside. Especially when there’s innocent passengers in the vehicle.

spat · Sep 21, 2024

kev74 said:
I assumed the guy either grabbed or swung at the trooper. Otherwise it should have been characterized as arguing, not fighting.

I have been pulled over for various traffic infractions many, many times. I never got tear gassed or maced. I never had to physically defend myself from the cops. I'm basing my speculation on my personal experience.

All of this is backseat quarterbacking. And I don't think any of us care enough to look up the court records.

It's a rare event all the way around.

What are the odds this has happened to this guy before either ?

I bet the odds this cop has pepper sprayed a driver over a speeding ticket before are a lot higher than the odds this driver ran before.

And while it's not a smart move, I can't fault someone for trying to run away after they are attacked.

repete · Sep 21, 2024

" We must hold law enforcement professionals to the highest standards,"

Damn! It really pains me to admit that Jumbo James and I have something in common!

Grimscale · Sep 23, 2024

So what did the patrol car dash cam and the trooper's chest cam show?

"Sprayed pepper spray into the interior of the car" could mean he aimed it at the driver, or he hosed down the entire interior of the car. Which is it?

If the car was being pursued by the trooper, how would it "ram" the trooper? It would have to either side-swipe the trooper's car or slam on the brakes so the trooper would hit him (thus the trooper doing the ramming).

Too much info missing from the whole thing to determine guilt or innocence from across the Internet.

spat said:
How does someone sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle start a fight with someone standing outside of it ?

It could be as simple as he threw the citation back to the cop and the cop overreacted, or he got so pissed he lunged out of the window at the cop who barely evaded it then pepper sprayed the perp through the open window. I've seen both just by watching "Cops" on TV.

normally I'd say "wait until all the info comes out" but the info never comes out.

Murder charge reinstated against trooper

GOYABEAN

.950 JDJ