‘Mad as hell’: Family questions GSP chase policy after teen killed in Atlanta

“I’m mad as hell,” Vogel told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday from Schoenke’s mother’s house. “There’s no way to excuse that.”

In response, lawmakers and advocates are calling for change. They have scheduled a news conference Wednesday afternoon at the site of the deadly crash.

They are pushing for an end to high-speed pursuits and for changes to the State Patrol’s pursuit policy, restricting them to cases that involve violent felonies and requiring a supervisor’s approval. Advocates also want to bar high-speed pursuits in highly populated areas, during peak traffic times and in residential areas.

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

On Monday evening, a driver fleeing troopers veered off I-20 and onto busy streets in Little Five Points, where authorities said the motorist ran a red light and struck a passing vehicle, killing Schoenke.

The GSP said troopers saw a Chevrolet Equinox speeding and “making erratic lane changes” on the interstate near the Boulevard exit just before 8 p.m. They tried to stop the car, but the driver sped away, triggering the pursuit, according to a GSP statement.

The fleeing motorist, identified as 23-year-old Faduma Mohamed, exited onto Moreland Avenue, where she continued to weave through traffic at high speeds, “making reckless lane changes and passing other vehicles in the center turn lane,” the GSP said.

She then ran the red light at the intersection with McLendon Avenue and hit Schoenke’s car on the driver’s side, the GSP said. The Honda crashed into the side of the Little Five Corner Tavern.

Schoenke was declared dead at the scene.

“I can’t imagine who in their right mind would go down Moreland Avenue that fast, chasing someone,” Vogel said.

Mohamed was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, the GSP said. She is facing several charges, including murder, first-degree vehicular homicide, reckless driving, possession of a schedule 1 narcotic, felony fleeing and other traffic offenses.

Atlanta Municipal Court records show Mohamed was driving a Black Equinox in October when she was stopped by police and charged with having a suspended/revoked license and no tags or decals. The incident occurred in the 3400 block of Peachtree Road, and she later pleaded guilty and was given probation, according to online records.

Monday’s incident is the latest fatality during a pursuit by Georgia state troopers.

An AJC investigation found the GSP’s pursuit policy is one of the most permissive in the country. It does not clearly outline a supervisor’s role during a pursuit and leaves many decisions up to individual troopers, including when to initiate or terminate a chase.

“Every life is precious, and any life lost during the course of ensuring public safety is tragic and heartbreaking,” a GSP spokesperson said previously. “The Department of Public Safety protects Georgians by ensuring our members use good judgment and act within the bounds of policy and law.”

Experts on police pursuits across the country have been critical of policies, like the GSP’s, that allow officers to engage in high-speed chases for almost any traffic violation. A study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a policy think tank, released in late 2023 with the U.S. Department of Justice urged law enforcement agencies to limit pursuits or revise their policies to make them less risky.

The 144-page study listed more than 60 recommendations, such as requiring a supervisor’s participation during a pursuit and evaluating training standards. It determined that discontinuing chases, especially those that began over traffic violations, is the most effective way to minimize harm to the public.

“You can get a suspect another day, but you can’t get a life back,” Chuck Wexler, PERF’s executive director, wrote in the report’s introduction.

Some policymakers in Georgia have tried to curb police pursuits. State Sen. Gail Davenport, D-Jonesboro, has introduced legislation in the past and again this year to try to restrict police pursuits statewide, except for certain violent offenses. She has struggled to gain traction for the proposal.

“If a person is fleeing a felony or something — if they kill someone or rape someone and they’re pursuing them — I can understand that they need to make sure that the public is safe,” she said. “But if a minor traffic (violation) — and that’s what most of them are — I don’t think that you need to just keep going. At some point, you need to call off that police chase.”

The GSP has declined multiple requests from the AJC over the past year to discuss its record on pursuits, its policy and the harm caused to bystanders and passengers. The agency spokesperson said last year that troopers initiate traffic stops, not pursuits. It’s the fleeing driver who initiates pursuits by their failure to comply with an officer’s lawful demand to stop, the spokesman said.

Monday’s GSP chase comes exactly one week after a pursuit initiated by Atlanta police ended in a crash that killed a bystander at another intersection. Although the investigation into that case has not been completed, the known details are very different from Monday’s pursuit.

The night of April 7, Atlanta officers were hot on the trail of a suspect in a violent felony: a robbery at a Chick-fil-A.

It is unclear what information the officers had when they gave chase, aside from knowing the car had just been used by a suspect accused of pepper-spraying employees at the DeKalb County restaurant while taking a drawer of cash from the drive-thru window.

The Atlanta Police Department’s pursuit policy, like agencies in most states, is tightly worded to limit its officers’ engagement in chases. For example, they must have “direct knowledge” that the fleeing suspect has committed or attempted to commit a “forcible felony” and the suspect’s escape poses imminent danger.

So what qualifies as a forcible felony? According to the policy, that includes murder, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, vehicular homicide, armed robbery, vehicle hijacking, aggravated assault, kidnapping or escape.

And how does an officer get direct knowledge of an offense? The officer or another officer would have to witness the crime, the policy states. The information can also come from a credible source, so long as the person has enough detailed evidence in addition to a clear description of the suspect’s vehicle and the suspect is still in that vehicle.

When Atlanta officers spotted the vehicle in the Chick-fil-A case, it was less than an hour after the alleged crime. They tried to pull the driver over, but like the suspect in the GSP pursuit, he refused to stop.

He eventually blew through a red light at Peachtree and Piedmont roads in Buckhead, crashing into another vehicle and killing its driver, 26-year-old Richard Wells Jr., according to officials. Wells worked as an athletic trainer for the University of Kentucky for four years, including during the Wildcats’ run to the College World Series in 2024.

The robbery suspect, later identified as Santario Barnwell, 23, was also injured and taken to a hospital. An update on his condition was not provided. Officials have not said what charges he will face.

On Tuesday, Vogel said the tragedy involving the GSP hurt doubly for her family. When Schoenke was young, she said, his father was killed in a crash in Boulder Canyon, Colorado, after he struck a deer and was thrown into the canyon.

“I hope he sees his daddy in heaven,” she said.

Vogel said Schoenke took a break after high school and was working part time at the Fox Theatre. He loaded items, worked behind the bar and loved getting to watch the shows.

She said he was trying to figure out life, and “We had no doubt that he would succeed in whatever he did.”

“He was just born with a radiant personality, and he was very soft and gentle and creative and bright,” she said. “All the things that you would want out of a young man.”