Two police officers have been arrested on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a six-year-old boy during a pursuit of his father in an SUV in central Louisiana, the state police said Friday.
The officers, Norris Greenhouse Jr and lieutenant Derrick Stafford, who were placed on administrative leave after the chase on Tuesday, also face charges of attempted second-degree murder, colonel Michael Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said during a news conference on Friday.
The father, Chris Few, who was driving, was critically injured in the shooting. Mr Few's son, Jeremy Mardis, was killed after the police opened fire on the SUV.
The coroner said the boy was struck several times in the head and chest. An autopsy was performed on Wednesday, but a final report was not expected to be ready for eight weeks.
“He didn’t deserve to die like that and that’s what’s important,” Col Edmonson said Friday. “That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle and that was how he died.”
Col Edmonson said that over the past 72 hours, investigators had studied footage from body cameras, interviewed witnesses and listened to 911 recordings. He promised a “methodical and detail oriented investigation.”
He declined to say why the police began pursuing Mr. Few’s vehicle, or what caused them to open fire.
Describing the body camera footage, Col Edmonson said, “I can tell you as a father it was one of the most disturbing things I have witnessed.”
Two other police officers were involved in the chase, in addition to Officer Greenhouse and Lieutenant Stafford, the superintendent said, but he declined to say whether either of the other officers was suspected of wrongdoing.
He said investigators would follow the case “wherever this takes us” and that the state police had seized guns from all officers present during the shooting.
All four are officers with the Marksville, Louisiana, police who work part time as city marshals.
Col Edmonson said a forensic report from the crime scene would show how many guns and bullets had been fired. That report should be available by next Thursday, he said.
The state police said in a statement on Thursday that the officers had opened fire on the SUV at the end of the pursuit, about 9.30 pm on Tuesday, in Marksville.
Marksville, a city of about 5,500, is north of Lafayette, near the Mississippi border.
Jeremy was a student with special needs at Lafargue Elementary School in Effie, Blaine Dauzat, the school district superintendent, said in a telephone interview. The child had transferred to the school during the previous term from Mississippi.
New York Times