Court reinstates murder charge against state trooper for girl’s death during chase
A New York State appeals court has reinstated a murder charge against former state trooper Christopher G. Baldner for the death of 11-year-old Monica Goods during a high-speed chase.
The ruling reverses a lower court’s dismissal of the charge.
Baldner had been indicted in October 2021 for second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and six counts of first-degree reckless endangerment related to the December 2020 incident.
The case stems from a traffic stop where Baldner allegedly pepper-sprayed the car carrying Monica Goods and her family, leading the father to flee.
Baldner pursued them, ramming their SUV twice. The second impact caused the vehicle to flip multiple times, ejecting Monica from the car and resulting in her death.
In February 2023, Ulster County Court Justice Bryan E. Rounds dismissed the murder charge, reducing some of the reckless endangerment counts.
However, New York Attorney General Letitia James successfully appealed, with the appellate court finding that Baldner’s actions demonstrated a “callous indifference” to human life.
The court ruled that Baldner’s ramming of the SUV, despite seeing it falling apart after the first impact, could support a murder charge.
The dissenting judge, Justice J.P. Egan Jr., argued that while Baldner acted recklessly, his conduct did not rise to the level of depraved indifference required for a murder charge.
Nonetheless, the majority of the panel agreed with James, allowing the case to proceed with the more serious charges.
Attorney General James praised the decision, emphasizing the need for law enforcement to be held to high standards.
Conversely, the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers criticized the ruling, warning it could hinder officers’ ability to perform their duties effectively.
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Baldner is now set to face trial for Monica Goods’ death, as her family seeks justice for the young girl’s tragic loss.
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Anything that hinders the Police’s ability to kill innocent and unarmed civilians is ok in my book.
Any person who continues running into a victim, even after stopping them, is an animal acting on primal predator instincts. A reasonable person would have never tried to ram a car, much less ram one hard enough repeatedly to cause it to flip & roll, because of the predictable results.
Police are trained to hit a car offside when approaching from the rear, causing it to slide sideways to stop their momentum. (The PIT Maneuver). A police car TURNS INTO the rear side of the suspects car in order to cause its tail end to lose directional momentum. It is similar to a “gentle” tackle to someones legs.
Hitting a car to flip them over is just reckless and predictable damage to life and limb. It is plain revenge by an indifferent human being. They just want to hurt the occupants and not just pull them aside by targetting a suspects vehicle and ramming it at an Excessive speed. Imagine running a train engine at full speed into a parked car.
And yes, you can tell the difference in your technique when you are involved in a chase and choose to use your car as a weapon or a tool.
Police are humans and humans make mistakes. Training that helps them keep a cool head, even during stressful situations, is what makes them professionals and above the average citizen.