6 days ago
Boynton Beach to pay $300,000 settlement after 2016 police pursuit that killed 5-year-old
BOYNTON BEACH — Nearly 10 years after a little boy walking to a park was struck and killed by a driver fleeing from a Boynton Beach Police officer, the city and the boy's family have agreed to a $300,000 settlement to resolve a wrongful death lawsuit.
In February 2016, 5-year-old Jayden Readon was on his way to a park with his great-grandparents and 2-year-old brother when Lex Eugene, speeding in a 2008 Buick Enclave away from an officer, lost control and crashed into Jayden on a sidewalk near Rolling Green Elementary School.
Eugene was convicted of vehicular homicide and sentenced to 30 years in prison. But the boy's family and Eugene's defense attorney also blamed the officer who was chasing Eugene, Officer Mark Sohn — who had years earlier been involved in a pursuit that ended with the death of 38-year-old Cyrus Deal and who years later would be involved in another pursuit that ended with the death of 13-year-old Stanley Davis III.
Readon's family filed the wrongful death lawsuit in 2018. The settlement agreement, obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Thursday, was reached in May and approved by the City Commission earlier this month. The family's attorney could not be reached by phone Thursday.
'The city is pleased that we were able to reach this long overdue agreement with the family of Jayden Readon,' City Attorney Shawna Lamb said in a prepared statement. 'We hope that this resolution will help the family find healing after this terrible loss. The city extends its continued condolences to the Readon family.'
As the Readon family's lawsuit was pending, the same officer who chased Eugene was named in another wrongful death lawsuit. On Dec. 26, 2021, Sohn chased 13-year-old Stanley Davis III as he fled from an attempted traffic stop down North Federal Highway on a dirt bike that the boy was gifted for Christmas one day earlier. Davis crashed while fleeing from Sohn at 85 mph and died.
Sohn was terminated in August 2022, his fourth and final discipline for an unauthorized pursuit. The investigation found that Sohn drove against oncoming traffic and ran a red light without his siren on while in pursuit and 'attempted to conceal' the fact that he was chasing the teen.
Police department records previously obtained by the Sun Sentinel show Sohn was disciplined for violating the department's vehicle pursuit policy in 2004, 2010 and 2013. Early in his career, a supervisor noted in an evaluation that Sohn needed to better control himself, including during pursuits.
Sohn was not investigated or disciplined in connection with the pursuit of Eugene. He was suspended for one day without pay for chasing Deal, who crashed while speeding at over 100 mph and died, and was suspended for a week in 2004 for violating the pursuit policy, though records of that investigation are no longer available.
Then-Chief Marshall Gage publicly told city officials that Sohn and two other officers pursued a stolen car, putting drivers and pedestrians in danger during rush-hour traffic, the Sun Sentinel reported in 2004.
The details about Sohn's discipline for violating the pursuit policy in July 2010 are unknown. The department also no longer has the records in that case.
Now nearly three years after Sohn was fired, it remains to be seen whether he will get his job back. An arbitrator ruled last May that he should be reinstated without back pay. The city then appealed, alleging misconduct by the arbitrator, but the decision to reinstate Sohn was upheld.
The city has now filed a case in the 4th District Court of Appeal, which remains pending.
Information from the South Florida Sun Sentinel archives contributed to this report.
