The family members of a 5-year-old girl killed in a crash with a Florida police officer, want the cop fired and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the crash, WTVT reported.
Jalina Anglin, 5, was in the backseat of a Kia sedan driven by her mother, Jer'Manica, crashed into Auburndale Police Sergeant Danny Swann's police truck, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office press release obtained by PEOPLE. Jalina and Anglin were rushed to the hospital, where the child died from her injuries. Swann was not injured.
Deputies claim Swann was responding to a call and had his emergency lights on when he sped past a red light and collided with the Kia at an intersection. Anglin started driving when the lights turned green even though other traffic yielded to the approaching police vehicle, the sheriff's office wrote.
Come Monday (December 4), Jalina's family and members of the Black Lives Matter Restoration Inc. and the Poor and Minority Justice Association for a press conference alleging discrepancies in the crash report and statements from the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the crash.
Organizers have requested the Justice Department take over the investigation, citing "strong credibility concerns" with the sheriff's office. They claim authorities haven't produced evidence that Swann was responding to a call and pointed to "unfounded and inflammatory" comments Sheriff Grady Judd told the media.
"Sheriff Judd's inflammatory remarks prove of his inability to accept responsibility for Sergeant Swann's negligent actions, and we are concerned for the integrity of the investigation due to strong credibility concerns of the Polk County Sheriff's Office," organizers wrote in a press release obtained by WTVT.
Reporters also published the statement Judd released on Monday:
"Here we go again with the PMJA making false accusations and inflammatory statements.This fatal crash investigation by our Traffic Homicide Unit, which is the very best in the business, is still ongoing. Once the investigation is complete, the full report will be available for inspection under Florida’s public records laws. As we do with all traffic crashes, we release very preliminary information to the media and the public as quickly as possible. To suggest any nefarious conduct by law enforcement is outrageous, and once again diminishes the PMJA’s credibility."
The organizations also demanded the police department terminate Swann, who's currently on administrative leave, a police spokesperson told reporters.
"We want justice," Latrice McKinnis, Jalina's grandmother, said at the press conference. "Jalina was a bright, intelligent young girl that was taken from us because of the negligence of a driver who was an officer."
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