Teenage Charged In Car Pursue Leading To Crash That Killed 4-Year-Old

WARNING: This movie contains footage that some may find disturbing.

Surveillance footage (courtesy of FOX 61) shows the Branford crash involving a stolen vehicle that led to a 4-year-old’s death.

WARNING: This movie contains footage that some may find disturbing.

Surveillance footage (courtesy of FOX 61) shows the Branford crash involving a stolen vehicle that led to a 4-year-old’s death.

The mother of a 4-year-old who died as a passenger in a stolen car Sunday night said she last spotted her son when the boy’s father and an acquaintance dropped her off at work in the afternoon.

Just a few hours later, the child’s father was running across Route 1, carrying his dying son to a nearby gas station to get help after the car crashed following a brief police pursue.

Briana Simuel of Hamden said Monday her son, Jairus Jeremiah Little, died of internal injuries Sunday night. He fought for his life for hours, she said, receiving a blood transfusion and other treatment before dying after eleven p.m., she said.

Tyler Carey (left) was driving the stolen vehicle, according to police. Brandon Little (right) was the father of Jairus Jeremiah Little, who died from injuries sustained in a crash Sunday. Brandon Little was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

Tyler Carey (left) was driving the stolen vehicle, according to police. Brandon Little (right) was the father of Jairus Jeremiah Little, who died from injuries sustained in a crash Sunday. Brandon Little was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

(Courtesy of East Haven police)

Simuel and the boy’s good aunt Lisa Heard spoke to The Courant by phone Monday evening. Simuel said that when she was at work she got a call from a frightened Brandon Little, the boy’s father, who said he was in a car police were following.

She described the driver, Tyler Carey, as an acquaintance and said that when the two dropped her off at work they were the only two people in the car with her son. She didn’t know who else was in the car at the time of the crash, she said.

Simuel said Brandon Little called her during the pursuit and told her the police were following but Carey wouldn’t let them get out. She said she has not been able to talk to Little since the accident.

“I know he’s grieving for our son too,” she said.

Heard said Jairus was to commence school next year, and that he made a giant impression on people he met.

“Jairus was into a lot of cars, Batman, dinosaurs. He was very joyful, he was very playful and he was goofy,” Heard said. “Jairus had a very big influence not just on the other children but on adults too. He was literally the life of the party. He was a 4-year-old but we always say he was like a grown man in a child’s figure. He touched a lot of lives.”

East Haven police said Carey, Legal, was the driver of the stolen car, and that he fled after refusing to pull over for a traffic stop Sunday in East Haven shortly before 6:30 p.m.

Lt. Joseph Murgo said that when the officer attempted to pull Carey over because the car’s tail lights were not illuminated, he fled and got onto I-95 north. The officer followed, and the pursuit lasted a few minutes before a supervisor called it off because of the traffic on the road and the high speed of the pursue, Murgo said.

After cracking off the pursuit, the East Haven officer continued driving on I-95 and got off Exit fifty five in Branford, where he found that Carey had collided head-on with another vehicle on Route one just off the exit, Murgo said.

East Haven police said there were six people in the car Carey was driving, including four minors under the age of 15. State police identified the 4-year-old as Jairus S. Benjamin of Bowen Street in Hamden, but Simuel said his private identification documents had been updated recently and his name is Jairus Little.

At the time of the crash the boy had been railing on another passenger’s lap, Murgo said.

Police and witnesses describe a chaotic scene after the Branford crash. Carey ran off and was tracked into the forest by a police dog, Murgo said. Another passenger, who Simuel identified as the boy’s father, Little, 24, carried the 4-year-old across traffic to a gas station, where witnesses said he laid the boy down near the gas pumps to check on him.

Little was later arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants, East Haven police said.

Murgo said the two thousand sixteen Toyota Corolla that Carey was driving was stolen from Fresh Haven. The driver of the two thousand four Honda Element that Carey crashed into had no apparent injuries and declined medical treatment.

The 4-year-old was taken to Yale Fresh Haven Children’s Hospital and later died, state police said.

Carey is charged with second-degree larceny, first-degree reckless endangerment, four counts of risk of injury to a minor, failure to have tail lamps, failure to stop for police, misuse of a license plate, reckless driving, driving in the improper lane and failure to signal. Murgo said that because of the death of the 4-year-old, extra charges will likely be added.

Heard said the family has set up a GoFundMe account to help Jairus’ family.

“It’s certainly hard. We’re still attempting to figure things out,” Heard said. “It’s been such a shock to everyone, a shock to the family and we’re attempting to cope. We haven’t had a death in our family for most likely eight to ten years.”

Murgo said the East Haven police officer ended his pursuit of Carey inbetween exits fifty four and 55, about a mile and a half from where the fatal collision occurred.

“We expect officers in pursuit to call out road conditions and speeds, and we’ll take everything under consideration,” Murgo said. “If it turns out to be too reckless, we’ll call off the pursuit, which happened here.”

He said the brief pursue topped eighty mph.

“This is an enormously tragic situation,” East Haven police Chief Edward R. Lennon Jr. said in a statement. “Our hearts break for the loss of a youthful life so senselessly. We will conduct a thorough review to ensure that all personnel followed all department policies and procedures, and will cooperate fully with the Connecticut State Police investigation.”

Late Monday morning, a group of Jairus’ family members and friends were gathered at the multifamily house in Hamden listed as the boy’s address. They said the child’s mother no longer lives at the house, on a residential street two blocks from Route Ten.

They were waiting for updates from the family, they said, and were grieving for the little boy, who one friend described as a “fun-loving kid.”

Also taken to Yale Fresh Haven Children’s was an older boy, Michael E. Cousins Jr., 15, of Silver Sands Road in East Haven, for treatment of a suspected minor injury, state police said.

State police in a release Monday morning identified another injured occupant, Jaymar Harris, 25, of Winchester Avenue in Fresh Haven. However, East Haven police in a statement Monday afternoon did not name Harris.

At the request of the Fresh Haven state’s attorney’s office, the state police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Squad took over the investigation.

Near the crash scene Monday, Heather Beedle and Christian Medina of Branford said they were stopped at a crimson light in front of a nearby Mobil gas station around seven p.m. Sunday. They said they spotted a man run across the road carrying a child, with two police officers following behind. They said the man put the childon the ground near the gas pumps and the two police officers gathered around him.

“We thought nothing wrong happened, we just thought there was an accident and something happened to the kid,” Medina said.

Beedle said they could see smoke from the crash as they were pulling up to the light, heading south on Route 1.

“We came to a crimson light and we witnessed the man with his child in his mitts run over here to Chucky’s, and he laid him on the ground and was kind of touching his face to see if he was awake,” Beedle said. “Then we eyed the cops behind him pursuing him.”

Alana Thompson, an employee of the Dunkin’ Donuts inwards the Chucky’s store at the gas station, said she was working when she eyed the man run into the parking lot carrying the child.

She said the officers did not take him into custody instantly. The officers let the man hold the child until he was taken away in an ambulance, Thompson said.

Anyone who has any information about the crash or what preceded it is asked to contact Trooper Donald Comstock at 203-630-8086 or [email protected].

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

Teenage Charged In Car Pursue Leading To Crash That Killed 4-Year-Old – Hartford Courant

Teenage Charged In Car Pursue Leading To Crash That Killed 4-Year-Old

WARNING: This movie contains footage that some may find disturbing.

Surveillance footage (courtesy of FOX 61) shows the Branford crash involving a stolen vehicle that led to a 4-year-old’s death.

WARNING: This movie contains footage that some may find disturbing.

Surveillance footage (courtesy of FOX 61) shows the Branford crash involving a stolen vehicle that led to a 4-year-old’s death.

The mother of a 4-year-old who died as a passenger in a stolen car Sunday night said she last witnessed her son when the boy’s father and an acquaintance dropped her off at work in the afternoon.

Just a few hours later, the child’s father was running across Route 1, carrying his dying son to a nearby gas station to get help after the car crashed following a brief police pursue.

Briana Simuel of Hamden said Monday her son, Jairus Jeremiah Little, died of internal injuries Sunday night. He fought for his life for hours, she said, receiving a blood transfusion and other treatment before dying after eleven p.m., she said.

Tyler Carey (left) was driving the stolen vehicle, according to police. Brandon Little (right) was the father of Jairus Jeremiah Little, who died from injuries sustained in a crash Sunday. Brandon Little was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

Tyler Carey (left) was driving the stolen vehicle, according to police. Brandon Little (right) was the father of Jairus Jeremiah Little, who died from injuries sustained in a crash Sunday. Brandon Little was arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.

(Courtesy of East Haven police)

Simuel and the boy’s excellent aunt Lisa Heard spoke to The Courant by phone Monday evening. Simuel said that when she was at work she got a call from a frightened Brandon Little, the boy’s father, who said he was in a car police were following.

She described the driver, Tyler Carey, as an acquaintance and said that when the two dropped her off at work they were the only two people in the car with her son. She didn’t know who else was in the car at the time of the crash, she said.

Simuel said Brandon Little called her during the pursuit and told her the police were following but Carey wouldn’t let them get out. She said she has not been able to talk to Little since the accident.

“I know he’s grieving for our son too,” she said.

Heard said Jairus was to commence school next year, and that he made a enormous impression on people he met.

“Jairus was into a lot of cars, Batman, dinosaurs. He was very joyful, he was very playful and he was goofy,” Heard said. “Jairus had a very big influence not just on the other children but on adults too. He was literally the life of the party. He was a 4-year-old but we always say he was like a grown man in a child’s bod. He touched a lot of lives.”

East Haven police said Carey, Eighteen, was the driver of the stolen car, and that he fled after refusing to pull over for a traffic stop Sunday in East Haven shortly before 6:30 p.m.

Lt. Joseph Murgo said that when the officer attempted to pull Carey over because the car’s tail lights were not illuminated, he fled and got onto I-95 north. The officer followed, and the pursuit lasted a few minutes before a supervisor called it off because of the traffic on the road and the high speed of the pursue, Murgo said.

After cracking off the pursuit, the East Haven officer continued driving on I-95 and got off Exit fifty five in Branford, where he found that Carey had collided head-on with another vehicle on Route one just off the exit, Murgo said.

East Haven police said there were six people in the car Carey was driving, including four minors under the age of 15. State police identified the 4-year-old as Jairus S. Benjamin of Bowen Street in Hamden, but Simuel said his private identification documents had been updated recently and his name is Jairus Little.

At the time of the crash the boy had been railing on another passenger’s lap, Murgo said.

Police and witnesses describe a chaotic scene after the Branford crash. Carey ran off and was tracked into the forest by a police dog, Murgo said. Another passenger, who Simuel identified as the boy’s father, Little, 24, carried the 4-year-old across traffic to a gas station, where witnesses said he laid the boy down near the gas pumps to check on him.

Little was later arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants, East Haven police said.

Murgo said the two thousand sixteen Toyota Corolla that Carey was driving was stolen from Fresh Haven. The driver of the two thousand four Honda Element that Carey crashed into had no apparent injuries and declined medical treatment.

The 4-year-old was taken to Yale Fresh Haven Children’s Hospital and later died, state police said.

Carey is charged with second-degree larceny, first-degree reckless endangerment, four counts of risk of injury to a minor, failure to have tail lamps, failure to stop for police, misuse of a license plate, reckless driving, driving in the improper lane and failure to signal. Murgo said that because of the death of the 4-year-old, extra charges will likely be added.

Heard said the family has set up a GoFundMe account to help Jairus’ family.

“It’s undoubtedly hard. We’re still attempting to figure things out,” Heard said. “It’s been such a shock to everyone, a shock to the family and we’re attempting to cope. We haven’t had a death in our family for very likely eight to ten years.”

Murgo said the East Haven police officer ended his pursuit of Carey inbetween exits fifty four and 55, about a mile and a half from where the fatal collision occurred.

“We expect officers in pursuit to call out road conditions and speeds, and we’ll take everything under consideration,” Murgo said. “If it turns out to be too reckless, we’ll call off the pursuit, which happened here.”

He said the brief pursue topped eighty mph.

“This is an enormously tragic situation,” East Haven police Chief Edward R. Lennon Jr. said in a statement. “Our hearts break for the loss of a youthfull life so senselessly. We will conduct a thorough review to ensure that all personnel followed all department policies and procedures, and will cooperate fully with the Connecticut State Police investigation.”

Late Monday morning, a group of Jairus’ family members and friends were gathered at the multifamily house in Hamden listed as the boy’s address. They said the child’s mother no longer lives at the house, on a residential street two blocks from Route Ten.

They were waiting for updates from the family, they said, and were grieving for the little boy, who one friend described as a “fun-loving kid.”

Also taken to Yale Fresh Haven Children’s was an older boy, Michael E. Cousins Jr., 15, of Silver Sands Road in East Haven, for treatment of a suspected minor injury, state police said.

State police in a release Monday morning identified another injured occupant, Jaymar Harris, 25, of Winchester Avenue in Fresh Haven. However, East Haven police in a statement Monday afternoon did not name Harris.

At the request of the Fresh Haven state’s attorney’s office, the state police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Squad took over the investigation.

Near the crash scene Monday, Heather Beedle and Christian Medina of Branford said they were stopped at a crimson light in front of a nearby Mobil gas station around seven p.m. Sunday. They said they witnessed a man run across the road carrying a child, with two police officers following behind. They said the man put the childon the ground near the gas pumps and the two police officers gathered around him.

“We thought nothing wrong happened, we just thought there was an accident and something happened to the kid,” Medina said.

Beedle said they could see smoke from the crash as they were pulling up to the light, heading south on Route 1.

“We came to a crimson light and we eyed the man with his child in his palms run over here to Chucky’s, and he laid him on the ground and was kind of touching his face to see if he was awake,” Beedle said. “Then we spotted the cops behind him pursuing him.”

Alana Thompson, an employee of the Dunkin’ Donuts inwards the Chucky’s store at the gas station, said she was working when she spotted the man run into the parking lot carrying the child.

She said the officers did not take him into custody instantaneously. The officers let the man hold the child until he was taken away in an ambulance, Thompson said.

Anyone who has any information about the crash or what preceded it is asked to contact Trooper Donald Comstock at 203-630-8086 or [email protected].

On Sept. Five, the White House announced it was moving to end the Obama-era program that has protected people from deportation. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

On Sept. Five, the White House announced it was moving to end the Obama-era program that has protected people from deportation. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

On Sept. Five, the White House announced it was moving to end the Obama-era program that has protected people from deportation. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

On Sept. Five, the White House announced it was moving to end the Obama-era program that has protected people from deportation. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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Here are nine organizations providing on-the-ground services and accepting donations: (September Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said that Obama’s act in creating the program was unconstitutional. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions said that Obama’s act in creating the program was unconstitutional. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Most boys with an elevated PSA level turn out not to have guts cancer. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Most guys with an elevated PSA level turn out not to have guts cancer. (Sept. Five, 2017) (Sign up for our free movie newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

Even after rains from Tropical Storm Harvey have stopped some Houston residents were told to evacuate their homes again due to water expected from reservoir release. (September 1, 2017)

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