Police Conduct and Accountability

A jury in Kingston, New York, on Friday convicted former New York State Trooper Christopher Baldner of second-degree manslaughter for a December 22, 2020, high-speed chase on the New York State Thruway that ended when he rammed an SUV twice, causing it to flip and killing 11-year-old passenger Monica Goods. This was Baldner’s second trial: a November jury had acquitted him of murder and reckless endangerment but deadlocked on the manslaughter count, prompting Judge Bryan Rounds to declare a mistrial. Prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office argued Baldner chose to “recklessly use his patrol car as a weapon,” while the defense claimed Monica’s father, driver Tristin Goods, drove recklessly and that a “very minor impact” led him to overcorrect and lose control. The case stems from a late-night traffic stop for speeding north of New York City that escalated after an argument and Baldner pepper-sprayed the SUV’s interior, prompting Goods to flee and Baldner to pursue. The conviction adds to a small but growing set of cases where juries have held police criminally liable for deadly pursuits, a policing practice that has drawn increasing scrutiny from civil-rights groups and traffic-safety advocates nationwide.