GREEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Nicole Humphrey has already buried one of her seven children. Now, 12 years later, she's forced to bury another.
This time it's her youngest — 28-year-old Yoshua Humphrey. The father of two was killed Tuesday morning while driving home from work.
"Just to know my baby didn't see that coming ... it's heartbreaking. It's the most worst thing in the world," Nicole told WCPO, struggling to fight back tears.
Yoshua was heading west along North Bend Road near Thornhill Avenue at around 7:30 a.m. when a speeding car rounding the curve in the opposite direction crashed into his car, Green Township police said. That speeding car was allegedly stolen by a 15-year-old who had just been leading officers on a pursuit.
WCPO requested police video of the pursuit and crash. Footage captured on an officer's dash cam shows the young suspect running from the crash through a front yard. The officer is seen running after him moments later.
Just out of frame is Yoshua's crushed, smoking car. Another car, driven by a 69-year-old woman, is in a similar state. The teen is accused of hitting that car as well.
Both victims were taken to area hospitals. While police said the woman's injuries were not life threatening, Yoshua's were too severe and he was pronounced dead at UC Medical Center.
Nicole said she was nearby when the crash happened. Detoured around the scene while on her way to work, she didn't know it was her son trapped in his mangled BMW. The next time she saw her son was at the hospital to say goodbye.
"To see my baby laying on that cold a— table like that," Nicole said. "He was f—ked up. He was f—ked up really. He was hurt bad. Oh my God."
Green Township police said they later located the teen and took him into custody. They didn't specify where the teen was located.
He was in juvenile court Wednesday morning and faces five charges, including aggravated vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of an accident and assault on a peace officer for allegedly hitting a Green Township police cruiser during the pursuit.
"These kids stealing these cars — they need to stop," said Yoshua's aunt, Sylvia Humphrey. "They taking people's life. Like this is a 15-year-old. He's got to deal with the consequences of him stealing that car."
The Humphreys want accountability. They said they will attend the teen's future court dates and hope he is brought to justice.
"Watch y'all kids," Nicole said. "Not only they putting other people's lives in danger too cause they stealing these cars and stuff, speeding through traffic and nobody's thinking ... I mean everybody's just got to keep up with them and we won't have more stuff like this happen to people."
The family said they're not only placing blame on the teen, who was reportedly reaching speeds over 60 miles per hour. They're also pointing the finger at police, questioning why officers pursued the teen at high speeds through a school zone and residential areas.
"Kids are going to school. It could have been way worse than what it was," Sylvia said. "And we feel like they don't even care just with the aspect that they haven't reached out to (Yoshua's) mom. Like to even give your condolences. Nothing. What we learned, we learned from word of mouth."
The Humphreys spoke with WCPO Wednesday morning, more than 24 hours after the incident. At that time, they said they had not been contacted by Green Township police or Cincinnati police, who were called in to help with the crash investigation.
"My question is what are the laws?" said family friend and community activist Steven Sherman. "We understand school zones and stuff like that but my question is, what are the laws when situations like that do happen where it's 7 o'clock in the morning, kids are waiting on the bus, school buses are around ... if a person is being chased, what is that law?"
WCPO requested a copy of Green Township's police pursuit policy. Within the first paragraph, the policy reads, "Vehicle pursuits require officers to exhibit a high degree of common sense and sound judgment. Officers must not forget that the immediate apprehension of a suspect is generally not more important than the safety of the public and pursuing officers."
The policy goes on to say, "It is recognized that vehicle pursuits are not always predictable and decisions made pursuant to this policy will be evaluated according to the totality of the circumstances reasonably available at the time of the pursuit."
Department members should only initiate a pursuit when the officer is attempting to apprehend a suspect who appears to present a serious risk to the public or officers, the policy reads.
The following factors individually and collectively should be considered in deciding whether to initiate or continue a pursuit:
- (a) The seriousness of the known or reasonably suspected crime and its relationship to community safety.
- (b) The importance of protecting the public and balancing the known or reasonably suspected offense and the apparent need for immediate capture against the risks to officers, innocent motorists and others.
- (c) The apparent nature of the fleeing suspect (e.g., whether the suspect represents a serious threat to public safety).
- (d) The identity of the suspect has been verified and there is comparatively minimal risk in allowing the suspect to be apprehended at a later time.
- (e) The safety of the public in the area of the pursuit, including the type of area, time of day, the amount of vehicular and pedestrian traffic (e.g., school zones) and the speed of the pursuit relative to these factors.
- (f) The pursuing officer's familiarity with the area of the pursuit, the quality of radio communication between the pursuing units and the dispatcher/supervisor, and the driving capabilities of the pursuing officers under the conditions of the pursuit.
- (g) The weather, traffic and road conditions that unreasonably increase the danger of the pursuit when weighed against the risks resulting from the suspect's escape.
- (h) The performance capabilities of the vehicles used in the pursuit in relation to the speed and other conditions of the pursuit.
- (i) Vehicle speeds.
- (j) Other persons in or on the pursued vehicle (e.g., passengers, co-offenders and hostages).
- (k) The availability of other resources, such as aircraft assistance.
- (l) The police unit is carrying passengers other than on-duty police officers, unless it involves a situation where the pursuit is necessary to prevent death or serious injury.
Pursuits should be discontinued whenever the totality of objective circumstances known or which reasonably ought to be known to the officer or supervisor during the pursuit indicates that the present risk of continuing the pursuit reasonably appears to outweigh the risk resulting from the suspect's escape, the policy reads. Officers and supervisors must objectively and continuously weigh the seriousness of the offense against the potential danger to innocent motorists, themselves and the public when electing to continue a pursuit.
"We have no answers. No one has contacted this mom. At the end of the day, not even Green Township, Cincinnati police, no one has contacted (Nicole)," Sherman said. "At the end of the day, that's a murder. That's just how we look at it. So we need answers."
WCPO reached out to Green Township police for comment on Tuesday's pursuit and crash but did not hear back by the time of this publication.
"Y'all are the police. Y'all are supposed to protect and serve me. Y'all was supposed to be at my door, on my phone, something. 'Nicole, we gonna find all the answers for you. We going to get everything taken care of.' My son was a victim of a crime that he had nothing to do with. He was innocent in the whole situation," said Nicole.
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