Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The father of one of the teenage girls who was killed and one who was injured in Wednesday night’s crash wants the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to take accountability.
Deputies pursued a suspected shoplifter, and after the chase was called off, the sheriff’s office says the suspect crashed into the teens’ vehicle.
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Although the father is feeling grateful one of his daughters survived the crash, he’s still coping with how it happened, calling the pursuit unnecessary.
Benjamin Smith, the father of 17-year-old Gisselle Smith, who was killed after the suspected shoplifter crashed into her car, is spending much of his time at the hospital.
His other daughter, 20-year-old Paris Kiper, was inside the car with Gisselle and 17-year-old Semaj Morris, who was also killed.
Smith says Paris is showing signs of improvement.
“She was on the ventilator when we got here, and then they took her off of that yesterday,” said Smith.
A spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office had said deputies pursued 31-year-old Joneaka Smooth after receiving a report she and two other women fled Lakeside Mall in an SUV.
The spokesman also said the pursuit was terminated after less than a minute and before the crash occurred.
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“I don’t believe that,” Smith said. “Honestly, I don’t think that the ladies would have pursued like they did if they didn’t have the police behind them, so yeah, I don’t believe that.”
Smooth appeared in court on Friday, Dec. 13, where her bond was set at $565,000.
Smith also says deputies could have taken down Smooth’s license plate and tracked her to her home.
Smith is now more frustrated with the sheriff’s office than he is with the driver.
“They were shoplifters. They didn’t rob a bank,” Smith said. “I don’t feel that they needed to be pursued like that, and then for a few hundred dollars, I lost a 17-year-old daughter. I have another one that, she can’t even talk yet, and then there’s another young lady who’s also deceased.”
The father says he will likely retain an attorney once his surviving daughter recovers.
“I feel like I need to go as high as I can to get some kind of punishment for that because I don’t feel that should have happened,” said Smith.
WGNO reached out to the sheriff’s office for its response and has not yet heard back.
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