Marcia Pochette,Jenice Woods Obituary, Death; – All seven West Palm Beach Police Department officers involved in a high-speed chase that resulted in the death of a mother and her pregnant daughter are out of a job.
The officers were fired after their involvement in the July 30, 2024, pursuit that ended when the fleeing suspect’s car slammed into a Toyota Corolla at the intersection of North Congress Avenue and Meadows Boulevard, the West Palm Beach chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) confirmed.
The crash scene blocked two lanes of traffic. According to the State Attorney’s affidavit, three of the officers used the still open one to cruise past Marcia Pochette, 57, and Jenice Woods, 27, as they fought for their lives.
The four other officers who were involved in the pursuit did not stop either. Not only did none of the seven officers stop to help, none of them picked up their radio or grabbed their phone to call for help, investigators found.
“They failed to render aid,” attorney Scott Smith, who is representing the women’s family, said. “They failed to stop, get out of their vehicles and use the skills that they have as law enforcement officers to be the first ones, within seconds, to start helping both Marcia and Jenice.”
The seven officers were identified as:
- Austin B. Danielovich
- Pierre F. Etienne
- Christopher C. Rekdahl
- Michael E. Borgen
- William L. Loayza
- Brandan C. Stedfelt
- Darien J. Thomas
The report stated that after the chase the officers simply went back to their day-to-day duties. Less than ten minutes after the crash, two of the officers conducted their next traffic stop, pulling someone over on I-95 near Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.
“The police officers’ actions are a disturbing betrayal of the public trust,” State Attorney Cox said when the charges were announced. “Law enforcement officers have a duty to the public they swore to uphold. No one is above the law, and this office will pursue justice wherever the facts and the law lead.”
Earlier this month, the State’s Attorney Office charged Danielovich, Etienne, and Rekdahl with Leaving the Scene of a Crash Involving Death, a first-degree felony, and one count of Official Misconduct, a third-degree felony. The four other officers are accused of official misconduct.
If convicted, Danielovich, Etienne, and Rekdahl face up to 65 years in prison, while the other four officers could get up to five years.
In the FOP’s statement confirming their firings, chapter President Adam Myers acknowledged the weight of the allegations against the officers; however, he condemn WPBPD’s decision to fire them at this time.
“These officers are entitled to due process and all the facts to come to light before final judgments are made,” Myers said. “We will continue to support each of them as their cases proceed in the courts.”
The Chase
Members of WPBPD’s Gang and Habitual Offender Suppression Team (GHOST) had been looking out for the Neoni Copeland that night and let one of their fellow officers know about him during an unrelated arrest. Five of the officers arrested are part of this team while the other two were bicycle officers, who normally do not respond to routine calls.
The officer, who was in a marked SUV, was alerted by a GHOST member that Copeland, 23, had been seen near the intersection of 45th Street and Australian Avenue. The officer soon spotted the Kia and tried to stop him. Copeland, however, refused to stop and took off, heading south.
The officer told investigators he did not pursue the suspect because continuing for nothing more than a traffic stop or general interview would violate policy.
After the officer said he was breaking off the attempted traffic stop, a motorcycle officer asked for the suspect vehicle’s description and spotted the sedan near Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and Australian Avenue with a black pickup truck that he knew was an unmarked WPBPD vehicle behind it.
The motorcycle officer followed the two vehicles, noting that he had not heard anything on the radio about the situation. He later saw a marked WPBPD Ford SUV driven by Danielovich and a Dodge Durango also following. The motorcycle officer stopped when he reached the city limits.
The two Dodges and the Ford SUV, with the seven officers on board, kept going and their chase hit speeds of nearly 120 mph, taking them out of West Palm Beach, the police affidavit stated. The investigation determined they spent 10 minutes on the tail of Copeland’s Kia and the chase lasted for approximately 12 minutes. Over that entire span, none of the officers turned on their body cams as is required by policy, despite the fact all of them were wearing them.
An earlier BBPD report stated Copeland and police were “driving with no regard for traffic devices or human life.”
The pursuit took them onto and off of I-95 and crossed into other agencies’ jurisdictions. However, police noted, the officers did not tell anyone about the chase, including the Florida Highway Patrol and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Nor did they alert BBPD as the chase crossed into Boynton Beach and the site of the deadly crash.
After colliding with the Toyota driven by Woods, Copeland took off running into a nearby neighborhood. None of the officers got out of their vehicles to chase him, BBPD added.
The officers also did not offer any aid to the people injured as the result of a crash “in which they were integrally involved,” the affidavit alleged, pointing out that they did not tell emergency services either. The Dodge pickup driven by Rekdahl and carrying two of the other officers was reportedly the one that went by the crash scene without stopping.
With none of the officers waiting to talk to BBPD officers who were investigating the crash, it was left to investigators to determine who was involved and what happened.
And, with none of the WPBPD officers apparently telling their supervisors what happened, it was left to BBPD to tell their West Palm Beach counterparts about it. According to the affidavit, the ranking officer on duty knew nothing about the chase and crash for hours.
He learned from a WPBPD sergeant who had received a call from a BBPD captain after 11 p.m., which the report notes is nearly three hours after the wreck.
“No officers told a supervisor about their involvement,” the affidavit states.
