CPD holds press conference regarding details of deadly crash
The media was not permitted to show the video yet, since this is an ongoing investigation.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) A crash in Columbus earlier this week claimed the life of one person.
Since that incident, online posts to social media have been spinning different accounts of what they say happened.
Friday, Columbus Police Chief Joseph Daughtry invited the media to watch officer bodycam footage and report on it.
The media was not permitted to show the video yet, since this is an ongoing investigation.
” Our kids need to understand that the choices they make affect their family members, ” said Chief Daughtry.
21-year-old Christopher Austin Bankhead died at the scene of Tuesday night’s crash. The incident is sparking conversations, questions, and, according to Chief Daughtry, rumors.
The Chief called a press conference to lay out the department’s information, not only for the public but for the families impacted.
” They have a lot of questions. I know that they have a lot of people giving them false information. They are giving them information because they are trying to get clicks. They are trying to get likes,” said Daughtry.
According to previous reports, police conducted a traffic stop on a white Honda on Airline Road for speeding and careless driving.
There were 4 occupants in the car.
Officers were in the area at the time, serving warrants in an unrelated matter.
During the stop, police observed that the driver and front seat passenger were wearing what officers believed to be ski masks.
In CPD body cam footage, officers issued several warnings to the driver and passenger in the Honda.
Police report that the driver of the vehicle kept reaching to his waist for what was believed to be a gun.
That’s when a CPD officer drew his weapon, but did not fire.
The bodycam footage then shows the vehicle drive away from the scene.
“After leaving the traffic stop, the Honda traveled westbound on Alabama at a high rate of speed. The officers ran back to their vehicle. To get to their vehicle, and in the process of that, when we got to Alabama, some looked right, some looked left, and some went left to catch up with the vehicle. When they were able to catch up with the vehicle, the vehicle crashed,” said Daughtry.
Chief Daughtry says officers did not perform any type of pit maneuvers to cause the suspect vehicle to crash, and the bodycam footage shown to the media did not indicate that any such moves were made.
Bodycam footage did show CPD officers rendering aid to victims when they arrived at the crash site. It also showed them talking calmly to the occupants inside the car.
During the investigation at the crash site, police were able to recover confirming information about a gun.
“We have a 16-year-old driving a vehicle with no driver’s license, okay? And we recovered a stolen AR from that individual. Those are the facts,” said Daughtry.
Chief Daughtry says the department is only able to share that information that will not hinder the investigation.
” I know that the community has questions. I know that the street committee, as they say, is running rampant with false rumors, but that’s not the case… we have documentation, we have proof to support what we have said thus far,” said Daughtry.
Charges are pending.
