PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

NY State Trooper Charged With Murder for Flipping Family’s Car, Killing 11-Year-Old Girl

Trooper Christopher Baldner is accused of ramming a car with four people inside while chasing it, causing it to flip it over a guardrail and eject Monica Goods.

A New York State Police trooper has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and reckless endangerment for allegedly ramming a car during a December 2020 pursuit. The car, carrying a family, flipped over a guardrail, ejecting an 11-year-old girl who was found dead at the scene. Christopher Baldner was on duty, Attorney General Letitia James’s office said, when he stopped Tristan Goods for speeding in Ulster County. Goods, his wife, and two daughters were on their way to visit relatives for Christmas.

The indictment said Goods drove off after Baldner administered pepper spray into the car. Baldner pursued the family, ramming them twice. Their vehicle flipped, killing Monica Goods, the family’s youngest daughter. “Police officers are entrusted to protect and serve,” James said, “but Trooper Baldner allegedly violated that trust when he used his car as a deadly weapon and killed a young girl.”