Father speaks out against NY State Police after daughter, 11, killed
Tristin Goods is finally having his say after the death of his daughter, Monica, just days before Christmas.
A New York man is speaking out for the first time against the New York State Police after the 2020 crash that killed his 11-year-old daughter three days before Christmas.
In an interview with The New York Daily News, Tristin Goods and his lawyer are finally talking about the confrontation with a state trooper that resulted in the fatal crash.
Goods said he, his wife, April, and his two daughters, 11-year-old Monica and 12-year-old Tristina, were driving to visit relatives when Trooper Christopher Baldner stopped them shortly before midnight on Dec. 22.
He said the trooper stopped him for speeding. “He was screaming at me, ‘You were going 100 miles per hour, and you shook my car!’ Goods recalled.
Goods said he replied that the tractor-trailer in front of him shook the trooper’s car, and he asked for a supervisor.
The trooper then reportedly demanded to know if there were “guns or drugs” in the car.
“My wife said she was tired, and he said, ‘I don’t give a s–t if you’re tired,’” Goods said.
He said the trooper then went to his cruiser, and when he returned, he flooded the vehicle with pepper spray, despite being well aware that there were children in the car.
Goods said he instinctively drove off to protect his family.
Balder pursued him and used his car to ram the family’s SUV twice. The second hit resulted in a rollover accident. Young Monica was ejected from the car, and she died at the scene.
Goods said his surviving daughter was interviewed afterward by police without a family member present for over four hours. Her mother, Michelle Surrency, told the newspaper earlier that she had to free Tristina from the troops’ barracks.
The grieving father and his attorney have expressed that they are confident the evidence will bear out their account of the deadly encounter, which has sparked several lawsuits and an investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.
Trooper Baldner is currently assigned to desk duty while the investigation is ongoing, but Goods has made no secret of his anger and frustration.
“What did I do? What threat did I pose?” he asked. “It is just so hurtful. The guy was crazy. It’s illegal what he did.”
New York State Police policy notes that high-speed pursuits should be “minimized” and outlaws using “reckless or hazardous measures,” even if a civilian driver is doing the same.
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