Two police officers have been arrested on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy during a pursuit of his father in a sport utility vehicle in central Louisiana, the state police said Friday.
The officers, Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Lt. Derrick Stafford, who were placed on administrative leave after the chase Tuesday, also face charges of attempted second-degree murder, Col. Michael Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said during a news conference Friday.
The father, Chris Few, who was driving, was critically injured in the shooting. Few's son, Jeremy Mardis, was killed after the police opened fire on the SUV.
The coroner said the boy was struck several times in the head and chest. An autopsy was performed Wednesday but a final report was not expected to be ready for eight weeks.
"He didn't deserve to die like that, and that's what's important," Edmonson said Friday. "That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle and that was how he died."
He declined to say why the police began pursuing Few's vehicle or what caused them to open fire on the car.
Describing the body camera footage, Edmondson said, "I can tell you as a father it was one of the most disturbing things I have witnessed."
Two other police officers, in addition to Greenhouse and Stafford, were involved in the chase, the superintendent said, but he declined to say whether either of the other officers was suspected of wrongdoing.
All four are officers with the Marksville, Louisiana, police who work part time as city marshals.
The state police said in a statement Thursday that the officers had opened fire on the SUV at the end of the pursuit, about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in Marksville.
Marksville, a city of about 5,500, is north of Lafayette, near the Mississippi border.