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Police release horrific dashcam footage of a stolen car chase with three teen girls moments before they crashed and drowned in a pond
By VALERIE EDWARDS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 23:26 EST, 19 April 2016 | UPDATED: 23:51 EST, 19 April 2016
Police have released horrific dashcam footage of a stolen car chase involving three teen girls from Florida moments before they crashed and drowned in a pond.
The footage, released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, shows deputies in a car chase with the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who were driving in a Honda Accord they had allegedly stolen, according to ABC News.
In the video, which does not show the full incident, police can be seen pursuing the vehicle before the chase ends in a marshy pond at the Royal Palm cemetery, where 15-year-old Laniya Miller, 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler and 16-year-old Dominique Battle drowned.
Police have released horrific dashcam footage of a stolen car chase involving three teen girls from Florida moments before they crashed and drowned in a pond
The footage, released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, shows deputies in a car chase with the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who were driving in a Honda Accord they had allegedly stolen
Since the release of the video, the officers' statements about trying to assist the girls has been questioned. As the Sheriff's office maintains their position that the officers tried to enter the pond to save the girls, but the video only shows them standing near the pond (pictured)
'It's about two feet of the trunk left and it's going to be completely under,' one of the deputies said in the footage. 'It's going all the way down.'
'They're done. They're six, seven deep. I hear them yelling I think,' a deputy says.
The girls' lawyer, Will Anderson, told ABC News that he has questions about law enforcement statements. He said his team is in the 'process of reviewing everything'.
Anderson added that his belief is that the incident has 'been a rush to judgment' resulting in a 'smear campaign'.
On the other hand, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told ABC that deputies did everything by the book, even attempting to save the girls' lives after their car plunged into the pond.
He said he wasn't 'going to stand by and let these people cast a false narrative' adding that because the pond was 'thick with sludge', it was difficult for officers to get to the teens.
Since the release of the video, the officers' statements about trying to assist the girls has been questioned, according to ABC.
Police said the teenage girls stole a car in a Walmart parking lot on March 31, and evaded law enforcement who were pursuing them in the allegedly stolen vehicle. Pictured are 15-year-old Laniya Miller (left) and 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler (right)
A dive team located the vehicle about 60 yards into the pond. They were able to secure a tow line and pull the vehicle out (pictured) but were unable to see anything due to poor visibility
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the driver of the Honda Accord apparently missed a sharp turn near a cemetery and went into the water near St Petersburg around 4am on March 31. The car pictured after it plunged into the pond
As the Sheriff's office maintains their position that the officers tried to enter the pond to save the girls, but the video only shows them standing near the pond.
'The officers got in the pond and just because it's not on cam doesn't mean it didn't happen,' Gualtieri said.
Dominique Battle, 16, of St Petersburg was one of the three teens who drowned in the March incident
A dive team located the vehicle about 60 yards into the pond.
Police say the teenage girls stole a car in a Walmart parking lot on March 31, and evaded law enforcement who were pursuing them in the allegedly stolen vehicle.
'They've been arrested seven times in the last year on just auto theft charges,' Gualtieri said. 'These are not good kids. These are kids who are heavily engaged in criminal activity. I didn't make it up. I didn't make it up that at 4 o'clock in the morning they were driving a stolen car.'
'My daughter was not perfect,' Natasha Winkler, mother of Laniya Miller, one of the girls who drowned, told WFTS. 'What 15-year-old is?'
Gualtieri says the driver of the Honda Accord apparently missed a sharp turn near a cemetery and went into the water near St. Petersburg around 4am on March 31.
Gualtieri says a deputy spotted the car driving without headlights and tried to stop it before the driver fled, eventually running a red light.
The deputies were not actively chasing the car and did not have their emergency lights on, Gualtieri said.
The sheriff says the pond's water was so murky that police could not find the car.
Gualtieri said the vehicle had its windows rolled up and doors closed.
'That car became a death chamber for those girls,' he said during a news conference in March.
Divers later found the car, stolen in St Petersburg the night before, in 15 feet of water, according to Gualtieri.
The sheriff said the owner of the car, 35-year-old Damian Marriott, told police he was going to give the girls a ride to a nearby Child's Park.
On the way there, he stopped at a Walmart to buy a television, leaving the car running, and when he came outside, the girls had taken off with the car, Gualtieri said.
Hours later, the car was spotted driving with its lights off but police decided not to pursue when they could not pull it over, Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri says a deputy spotted the car driving without headlights and tried to stop it before the driver fled, eventually running a red light and leading up to their tragic deaths
Gualtieri (pictured during a news conference) said deputies did everything by the book, even attempting to save the girls' lives after their car plunged into the pond. He said he wasn't 'going to stand by and let these people cast a false narrative' adding that it was difficult for officers to get to the teens
The vehicle then continued and was seen going through a stoplight, according to police.
Another deputy in an unmarked car later spotted the vehicle and confirmed it was the car stolen out of St Petersburg, police said.
The deputy monitored the car from a distance.
Later, the deputies spotted the car in a cemetery and followed it but did not give chase, he said.
Then the deputies saw the car go into a pond inside the cemetery at about 35mph, he said.
'They tried to get in there and rescue those girls, and they just couldn't do it,' Gualtieri said.
It is against department policy to actively pursue a nonviolent offender, he said.
Juvenile crime, especially grand theft auto, has been skyrocketing in recent years in St. Petersburg, Gualtieri said.
The three teens had, between them, seven arrests in just a year - most of them for grand theft auto, he said.
'On the eighth time, they died,' Gualtieri said. 'Unless we do something different, we will continue to see more lives lost. Three dead teenagers is not acceptable.'
Regardless of the girls' past, regardless of what they did that night, they didn't deserve to die the way they did - dying with deputies standing on the banks of the pond making snide remarks about "hearing them yelling" inside the vehicle, as it was sinking. Not to mention, the deputies lied in the initial reports and stated that they went into the pond to try to save them, when they obviously didn't.
So fukking disgusting.
By VALERIE EDWARDS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 23:26 EST, 19 April 2016 | UPDATED: 23:51 EST, 19 April 2016
Police have released horrific dashcam footage of a stolen car chase involving three teen girls from Florida moments before they crashed and drowned in a pond.
The footage, released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, shows deputies in a car chase with the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who were driving in a Honda Accord they had allegedly stolen, according to ABC News.
In the video, which does not show the full incident, police can be seen pursuing the vehicle before the chase ends in a marshy pond at the Royal Palm cemetery, where 15-year-old Laniya Miller, 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler and 16-year-old Dominique Battle drowned.
Police have released horrific dashcam footage of a stolen car chase involving three teen girls from Florida moments before they crashed and drowned in a pond
The footage, released by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, shows deputies in a car chase with the teenagers, aged 15 and 16, who were driving in a Honda Accord they had allegedly stolen
Since the release of the video, the officers' statements about trying to assist the girls has been questioned. As the Sheriff's office maintains their position that the officers tried to enter the pond to save the girls, but the video only shows them standing near the pond (pictured)
'It's about two feet of the trunk left and it's going to be completely under,' one of the deputies said in the footage. 'It's going all the way down.'
'They're done. They're six, seven deep. I hear them yelling I think,' a deputy says.
The girls' lawyer, Will Anderson, told ABC News that he has questions about law enforcement statements. He said his team is in the 'process of reviewing everything'.
Anderson added that his belief is that the incident has 'been a rush to judgment' resulting in a 'smear campaign'.
On the other hand, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told ABC that deputies did everything by the book, even attempting to save the girls' lives after their car plunged into the pond.
He said he wasn't 'going to stand by and let these people cast a false narrative' adding that because the pond was 'thick with sludge', it was difficult for officers to get to the teens.
Since the release of the video, the officers' statements about trying to assist the girls has been questioned, according to ABC.
Police said the teenage girls stole a car in a Walmart parking lot on March 31, and evaded law enforcement who were pursuing them in the allegedly stolen vehicle. Pictured are 15-year-old Laniya Miller (left) and 15-year-old Ashaunti Butler (right)
A dive team located the vehicle about 60 yards into the pond. They were able to secure a tow line and pull the vehicle out (pictured) but were unable to see anything due to poor visibility
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the driver of the Honda Accord apparently missed a sharp turn near a cemetery and went into the water near St Petersburg around 4am on March 31. The car pictured after it plunged into the pond
As the Sheriff's office maintains their position that the officers tried to enter the pond to save the girls, but the video only shows them standing near the pond.
'The officers got in the pond and just because it's not on cam doesn't mean it didn't happen,' Gualtieri said.
Dominique Battle, 16, of St Petersburg was one of the three teens who drowned in the March incident
A dive team located the vehicle about 60 yards into the pond.
Police say the teenage girls stole a car in a Walmart parking lot on March 31, and evaded law enforcement who were pursuing them in the allegedly stolen vehicle.
'They've been arrested seven times in the last year on just auto theft charges,' Gualtieri said. 'These are not good kids. These are kids who are heavily engaged in criminal activity. I didn't make it up. I didn't make it up that at 4 o'clock in the morning they were driving a stolen car.'
'My daughter was not perfect,' Natasha Winkler, mother of Laniya Miller, one of the girls who drowned, told WFTS. 'What 15-year-old is?'
Gualtieri says the driver of the Honda Accord apparently missed a sharp turn near a cemetery and went into the water near St. Petersburg around 4am on March 31.
Gualtieri says a deputy spotted the car driving without headlights and tried to stop it before the driver fled, eventually running a red light.
The deputies were not actively chasing the car and did not have their emergency lights on, Gualtieri said.
The sheriff says the pond's water was so murky that police could not find the car.
Gualtieri said the vehicle had its windows rolled up and doors closed.
'That car became a death chamber for those girls,' he said during a news conference in March.
Divers later found the car, stolen in St Petersburg the night before, in 15 feet of water, according to Gualtieri.
The sheriff said the owner of the car, 35-year-old Damian Marriott, told police he was going to give the girls a ride to a nearby Child's Park.
On the way there, he stopped at a Walmart to buy a television, leaving the car running, and when he came outside, the girls had taken off with the car, Gualtieri said.
Hours later, the car was spotted driving with its lights off but police decided not to pursue when they could not pull it over, Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri says a deputy spotted the car driving without headlights and tried to stop it before the driver fled, eventually running a red light and leading up to their tragic deaths
Gualtieri (pictured during a news conference) said deputies did everything by the book, even attempting to save the girls' lives after their car plunged into the pond. He said he wasn't 'going to stand by and let these people cast a false narrative' adding that it was difficult for officers to get to the teens
The vehicle then continued and was seen going through a stoplight, according to police.
Another deputy in an unmarked car later spotted the vehicle and confirmed it was the car stolen out of St Petersburg, police said.
The deputy monitored the car from a distance.
Later, the deputies spotted the car in a cemetery and followed it but did not give chase, he said.
Then the deputies saw the car go into a pond inside the cemetery at about 35mph, he said.
'They tried to get in there and rescue those girls, and they just couldn't do it,' Gualtieri said.
It is against department policy to actively pursue a nonviolent offender, he said.
Juvenile crime, especially grand theft auto, has been skyrocketing in recent years in St. Petersburg, Gualtieri said.
The three teens had, between them, seven arrests in just a year - most of them for grand theft auto, he said.
'On the eighth time, they died,' Gualtieri said. 'Unless we do something different, we will continue to see more lives lost. Three dead teenagers is not acceptable.'
Regardless of the girls' past, regardless of what they did that night, they didn't deserve to die the way they did - dying with deputies standing on the banks of the pond making snide remarks about "hearing them yelling" inside the vehicle, as it was sinking. Not to mention, the deputies lied in the initial reports and stated that they went into the pond to try to save them, when they obviously didn't.
So fukking disgusting.
