2 Children Dead, 3 Injured in High-Speed Police Chase

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A Detroit family was planning two funerals Thursday and residents of their east side neighborhood were asking why a high-speed chase wasn’t called off before a parole absconder allegedly mowed down neighborhood children, killing two of them and seriously injuring three others as they played in their front yards Wednesday.

There are conflicting reports about whether a police supervisor ordered officers to end their pursuit of the red Chevrolet Camaro in a chase that reached speeds of up to 95 mph, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report.

Police said the driver, parole absconder Lorenzo Harris, 29, didn’t stop after his vehicle allegedly struck and killed siblings Makiah Jackson, 3, and Michaelangelo Jackson, 6, as they rode their scooters up and down the sidewalks.

Harris reportedly continued driving along the sidewalk, crossed the street and drove across front yards, where the other children, ages 3, 5 and 7, were hit by the Camaro. The chase that began at 7:30 p.m. at Chatsworth and Cornwall ended 11 minutes later when the Camaro slammed into a front porch on Nottingham near Frankfort.

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• Though this matter is still under investigation, what are your thoughts in general about high-speed chases?

One of the three children who were injured remained in critical condition Thursday evening and the other two were hospitalized in serious condition, a relative of the three children, who are related but not siblings, told the Free Press.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said he’s ordered an investigation into whether departmental policy was followed in the high-speed pursuit, which spanned 1.64 miles, and whether a department supervisor called it off, as he said he did.

Craig said Thursday he doesn’t have information “at this point” about whether the supervisor tried to end the chase, but that “doesn’t mean it did not happen,” The Detroit News reports.

“It’s a likelihood he could have tried,” Craig said.

Police said they began pursuing the Camaro after two officers reported seeing one the suspects with a gun at Chatsworth and Cornwall. However, when the Camaro was searched, police didn’t find a gun. The airbags deployed, and one of the occupants got out and ran, but was chased down on foot by police. Police didn’t find a gun on that individual, either, according to reports.

Grief stricken relatives of the children who were killed and injured said police should have called off the chase before its tragic end.

Among them was Darius Andrews Sr., whose son, nephew and cousin were injured. He told the Free Press police should have called off the chase when the suspect allegedly struck and killed the Jackson children.

“When he hit those kids on the first block, it should have got shut down,” Andrews said. “But guess what: He ran like a coward. And guess what: The police chased him and this happened. This is ridiculous.”

Harris was on parole from a 2006 drug charge and absconded in February 2014, according to offender information on the Michigan Department of Corrections website. A 26-year-old passenger, who was not named, was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Neither Harris nor his passenger has been charged at this point, police said.