Boynton city manager, mayor target of residents' anger over dirt-bike rider's death

BOYNTON BEACH — City officials absorbed three hours of blistering, angry comments during Tuesday night's Boynton Beach city commission meeting from supporters of a 13-year-old dirt-bike rider killed on Dec. 26, who say the city is not holding a police officer accountable for his role in the crash.

Residents say the city police officer involved in the teenager's death is also linked to high-speed pursuits in 2012 and 2016 that left two people, including a 5-year-old boy, dead.

Stanley "SJ" Davis III, a seventh-grade student at Congress Middle School, died the day after Christmas when he lost control of his motorbike and crashed along N. Federal Highway while being followed by a police vehicle.

Boynton Beach has declined to name the officer – placed on paid leave while the case is investigated by the Florida Highway Patrol – after he invoked his right to privacy under state law.

"What is it going to take for you to get this officer off the force?" a woman, identifying herself as Davis' aunt, shouted at officials. "He's an animal. He is killing our kids with his car. What is it going to take? For him to kill one of your kids?"

Much of the invective was directed at City Manager Lori LaVerriere, who has been in her position since December 2012 and oversees the city's 800-plus employees, including police officers.

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Pernell Davis, Stanley's uncle, told LaVerriere she was the "only common denominator" in the three deaths allegedly caused after the officer engaged in high-speed chases not permitted by department policy, which prohibits pursuits unless a driver is believed to have committed a "forcible felony" like murder or sexual assault.

"You haven't seen a problem yet," Davis told LaVerriere. "If you didn't see a problem then, what [should] make us think you will see a problem now?"

Following demands by one speaker for information on why the officer has not been fired, LaVerriere said: "I can take no action until the investigation is over."

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She made no further comments.

Mayor Steven Grant was also showered with criticism and, in one case, the target of a vulgar diatribe. The rest of the commission didn't fare much better.

"You all are just as guilty," one woman told the five-person board. "That baby should be here today."

Family members of two victims killed during police pursuits speak out

Among the 40-plus speakers on Tuesday were family members of the two victims killed in the pursuits allegedly involving the officer in the Davis case.

The 18-year-old daughter of Cyrus Deal, a 38-year-old man killed after he crashed in July 2012 following a police chase, said she still cries herself to sleep at night thinking of her father.

"I feel if we get justice for SJ, we'll get justice for my dad," she said.

The mother of Jayden Readon, a 5-year-old boy killed in 2016 by a fleeing driver as he walked to a park with his grandparents, wondered how the officer had managed to get "back on the road after not once, but twice, killing innocent people."

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"This officer gets to go home," she said. "He gets a nice paid vacation. He gets back on the road. What has this cost him?"

Stanley Davis Jr., the boy's father and namesake, said he has lost 30 pounds since his son's death, can't sleep and has suicidal thoughts.

"I just want you to do what's right," he told commissioners. "Not for me, but for the community."

There was widespread skepticism among those who spoke of police claims that there wasn't a dashboard camera installed in the vehicle involved in Davis' death. In a statement last week, police said that, since 2019, only a handful of the department's vehicles have been equipped with a dashcam.

Ben Crump, the well-known civil rights attorney hired by Davis' family, urged the boy's supporters last week to let commissioners "know they will continue to disturb the peace and they won't let this be swept under the rug."

Commissioners were warned Tuesday that city-sponsored events – like the family-friendly movies shown outdoors at Centennial Park on Friday nights – will be interrupted until Davis' family and allies receive "accountability from the people in this room."

"I know you want peace and quiet, but you can't have both," Pernell Davis said. "Every event that's on your calendar is going to be disrupted by us. Every single time.

"The rest of your citizens are going to be upset. And we really don't care....We gave a life. We're not giving nothing else."

jmilian@pbpost.com

@caneswatch

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach officials blasted for response on dirt-bike rider's death