Two former Memphis police officers have been charged after a fatal crash during a pursuit

Jessica Gertler and David Royer

19 minutes ago

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two former Memphis police officers have been charged with causing a fatal crash during an unauthorized chase last year and then leaving the scene of the accident without helping the victims.

Marquavius ​​Williams and Ontario Malone Jr. are charged in Thursday’s indictment with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, four counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, four counts of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in injury and six counts of official misconduct.

The former Memphis officers resigned Thursday from the Hernando, Mississippi, police department, where they had worked since February.

The charges stem from an incident on May 6, 2023, in which Jasmine Kinds died and several others were injured, the indictment states.

The indictment alleges the officers used a police vehicle as a “battering ram to force a pursued vehicle to stop.” The officers are also accused of failing to operate emergency equipment during the pursuit and failing to report the pursuit.

A peace officer decertification petition filed against Williams in March provides a summary of the facts:

“On the afternoon of May 6, 2023 at 2:53 p.m., Officer Williams and his partner were on patrol and observed a suspicious vehicle at a gas station. The vehicle drove away with Officer Williams and his partner in pursuit. There was no evidence or information that this vehicle was involved in any type of crime; nor had his driver violated traffic rules. Officer Williams drove the patrol car and pursued that vehicle without activating his flashing lights or siren and did not turn on his body-worn camera and/or in-car video recording. Neither the supervisor nor the dispatcher were notified and the pursued vehicle was destroyed, resulting in one fatality and several passengers being taken to the hospital with injuries. Neither Officer Williams nor his partner rendered aid to the occupants of the vehicle.”

The document does not indicate where the accident occurred.

The district attorney’s office confirmed the men were Memphis Police Department officers at the time, but left the department.

According to the POST documents, Marquavius ​​Williams resigned from the MPD effective January 5 of this year without an administrative hearing.

Both men were sworn in as officers of the Hernando Police Department on February 27 of this year and resigned on Thursday, the Hernando police chief confirmed.

We reached out to MPD for comment but have not yet received a response. We also requested the officers’ files and crash report for further details.

This story will be updated.