Vehicular homicide charges have been filed against the man who last month slammed into the car of a pregnant Boynton Beach woman and her mother, killing both.
That driver, Neoni Copeland, 23, was being chased by three West Palm Beach Police vehicles following an attempted traffic stop.
A supplemental probable cause affidavit by the Boynton Beach Police Dept. said Copeland was going 108 mph five seconds before the crash on Congress Ave.
The report said surveillance video showed Copeland being chased by the three cars, and at one point on Lantana Road, both Copeland and one of the pursuing cars were going westbound in the eastbound lane “with no regard for traffic devices or human life.”
Originally charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and resisting arrest, Copeland now faces two additional charges of vehicular homicide for slamming into the car of pregnant Jenice Woods, 27, and her mother Marcia Pochette, 57, on July 30.
The new affidavit says Copeland was going 108 mph five seconds before the crash, 101 mph when he applied brakes, and 81 mph at the time of impact.
Copeland told police he was “actively fleeing from the West Palm Beach Police Department at the time of the crash.”
The chase started on 45th Street in West Palm Beach when a K9 unit attempted to pull Copeland over – a source says it was for having tinted windows.
Copeland has never had a Florida’s drivers license, according to the report, and he refused to stop.
The K9 unit did not pursue but Copeland says a truck, later identified as a black Ram West Palm Beach police vehicle, followed him onto I-95 “attempting to cut him off and hit his vehicle…prompting him to accelerate.”
Copeland told police he then noticed an unmarked gray Dodge Durango and a marked West Palm Beach SUV joining the pursuit which continued south to Lantana Rd.
Boynton Beach police say video surveillance from six locations along the chase showed Copeland traveling west with the three West Palm Beach Police units in pursuit, going “at a high rate of speed.”
On Lantana Road, police say video shows Copeland’s Kia Stinger and a marked WPBPD vehicle traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes before turning south on Congress Ave, with “no regards to traffic control devices or human life”
The report continues “You can see that the marked WPBPD vehicle had their emergency lights activated and was actively pursuing the Kia Stinger.”
The final surveillance video shows Copeland suddenly braking just before striking Woods’ Toyota, but trees blocked the view of the crash.
As WPBF 25 News previously reported, seven West Palm Beach Police officers are on administrative leave and under internal investigation.
The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Public Corruption Unit is also conducting a criminal investigation.
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Source: wpbf
