Tristin Goods says he was on his way to visit family with his wife and two daughters, when New York State Trooper Christopher Baldner initiated a traffic stop. After yelling at the family, Baldner attacked them with pepper spray, “flooding” the car and Goods’ children with the burning irritant.
Stirred by his crying daughters, and afraid of the officer’s next move, Goods tried to escape. So Baldner did the unthinkable.
Baldner sped after the family, RAMMING his car into their SUV. He then purposefully hit them again, and this time the SUV flipped over – ejecting and killing Goods’ 11-year-old daughter.
Clearly showing no desire to keep anyone safe, Baldner then pulled a gun on a shocked Goods, who wanted to locate his killed daughter. Later, troopers interviewed the Goods’ now-grieving 12-year-old other daughter back at the barracks without her parents present.
“This should have been a traffic ticket,” Goods lawyer says.
Because New York state has spent years neglecting to equip their troopers with body and dashboard cameras, there’s no evidence of what happened! And Baldner STILL has his job.
They kill you when you “comply,” and they kill you when you don’t. Even without lethal weapons, officers will continue to abuse their power at our expense. The only way to stop it is to get rid of this system entirely.