DETROIT – A 14-year-old boy riding his minibike home on Detroit's west side is dead after crashing into a car Friday night.
Police said there was heightened security in the area due to shootings that happened earlier this week. It was then that police noticed the teen, identified as Trent Moses, speed by on his minibike at around 9 p.m.
Officers turned on their lights and began to follow the boy, initiating a brief pursuit.
Officers said they decided to call off the chase and pulled over to turn off their lights. It was only a brief few seconds after calling off the chase that Moses ran a stop sign and crashed his minibike into a white Pontiac on Rosemont and Dayton avenues.
He died of his injuries.
Police said the driver of the car was unharmed, though she was visibly shaken by the crash.
The events were captured on dashcam video, but the video has not yet been released.
Cmdr. Jacqueline Pritchett described the video to Local 4.
"Viewing the dashcam, you see a blur and you see a white car and you see something like, something just happened, at which point you can hear the dashcam saying, 'Oh my God, the bike hit something,'" she said.
As the teen's family grieves, Moses' parents said they will demand answers from the Detroit Police Department. But Saturday night, family and friends paused to remember the 14-year-old killed.
"They go up north with their grandparents," Nicole Calvillo, Moses' cousin, said. "They ride four-wheelers. They ride bikes. They enjoy it."
"They chased my baby down for a minibike, the teen's mom, Lisa Moses, said. "My baby died for a minibike."
Lisa Moses insists officers chased her son in patrol cars because the minibike wasn't registered.
"If they wanted my son's minibike so bad, why couldn't they come right where they know he lives and take them?" she said.
Lisa Moses told Local 4 News she was sitting on her front porch when Trent lost control and crashed into the car.
"He died in my arms on the streets right here over a minibike, over him riding his minibike," she said.
Family members said officers did not have sirens on while they chased Trent, but the DPD said that's not the case, adding that officers stopped the chase before Trent crashed into the car.
"You can hear on the dashcam an officer saying, 'Let him go, Ricky,' at which time both scouts pulled over to the curb," Pritchett said. "Lights went out."
"They were trying to block my son at the other end and he flew down the street, and he turned around to see if they were coming, and he was going too fast to stop," Lisa Moses said. "I know what happened. I was on my porch."
Trent's entire family said they are torn by the loss, including his identical twin brother. But the mother is questioning why police chased a teen on minibike.
"My baby is gone, for what reason?" she said. "There was no reason to chase him."
A GoFundMe account has been set up for Moses' family. Click here if you would like to donate.
