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Teen Dead In Officer Involved Shooting
December 24, 2013
A teen is dead and a Pensacola Police officer is on paid administrative leave after an officer involved shooting about 5:30 near the intersection of 17th Avenue and Bayfront Parkway.
Officers reported William Goodman, 17, of Gulf Breeze driving a 2009 Corvette recklessly at a high rate of speed several times Tuesday morning prior to the incident. Goodman fled from officers at speeds nearing 100 mph, and officers twice cancelled pursuits.
Around 5:30 this morning, officers were able to block the vehicle Goodman was driving in an attempt to take him into custody at the intersection of 17th Avenue and Bayfront Parkway.
However, once boxed in, Goodman repeatedly rammed police vehicles in an attempt to escape. During this attempt, he ran over Sgt. Steve Bauer’s right leg. At that point, Officer Chad Willhite fired into the vehicle and struck Goodman. Goodman was taken to a local hospital for treatment and died a short time later.
A handwritten note from Goodman to his parents was found at his home.
Bauer was treated and released from a local hospital.
Goodman was scheduled for a court appearance in late January 2014 related to a March 30 incident in Santa Rosa County where he was charged with one count of vehicular homicide
and one count of reckless driving resulting in serious injury.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is handling the investigation as is standard procedure.
Comments
39 Responses to “Teen Dead In Officer Involved Shooting”
I have a Corvette with even lower clearance than a 2009 and a leg can fit under the front.
The goodman family is one of the best family you wood love know so stop judging people and the cops should loses there jobs why shot him he had no gun why god bless the goodman family
Cody was one of my BEST friends. Yes. It was stupid of him to speed through our neighborhood, however the man WAS walking in the middle of the road. He messed up, and he understood that. He was going to pay the consequence in January (it is extremely ridiculous that it would take TEN months for a case to go through.)
Cody couldn’t deal with the idea of going to jail, stuff happened at home & he got in an argument, in result, he was going to commit suicide. He TOOK HIS MOMS CAR WITHOUT permission. (KEEP IN MIND THIS CHILD HAS NEVER BEEN IN ANY TROUBLE PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT IN MARCH.)
He was aiming to commit suicide on i-10 at 430/5 am where there are hardly any cars. We talked him out of this ridiculous idea and he was on his way over to our house to spend our daughters first Christmas Eve with us before I had to work. Instead, an officer put MULTIPLE rounds into the car killing Cody. As someone previously stated “why isn’t there any damage to the car? The car is made of mainly fiberglass” if he were to hit ANYTHING, as was said; there would be damage to the car. Besides the bullet holes, the car is in pristine show room condition. Has anyone seen the 2009 c6 corvettes? They have VERY little clearance to where I (a 5ft, 93ilbs female) couldn’t put her foot under the car completely, let alone my leg. If I were Mr. & Mrs. Goodman, I would demand to see the video surveillance from the cop cars proving my son hurt any officers. I may not agree with everything Cody did that morning, but I’d rather people know the real story. Have a wonderful New Years everyone.
This young man definately got what he deserved. One problem I have with the official version of events is the police said he kept ramming their cars…only problem is in the numerous photos published shows no damage to the Corvette. Highly unlikely considering it’s a plastic and fiberglass body.
If the boy had killed someone before. With was he doing out of jail for if it would had been me.I would be still locked up just sayin
The kid made “choices” not “mistakes”. You make a mistake doing arithmetic your erase it and redo. Can’t erase and redo the 66 year old man he ran over. 100 mph are you serious. Luckily no one else was killed. I can understand there was a lot of things going on in this young mans head at this time. His life at the mercy of the courts. But he did what did. He refused to act like a near adult and take responsibility for his actions. He made a choice, not a mistake. Hope the officer recovers. Hope others learn from these choices.
sorry for all that this sad thing had to happen, but like others have said know one knows what was going through that young man mine. I’m sure he did not go out and look for someone to run over back in march, but it happened and I myself could not know how that made him feel after it happened. Do not judge before walking in someone else’s shoes
@ Cathy:
You say people should not judge or speculate, but you did the VERY same thing in your post! You said: “The accident that caused the death of the gentleman was horrible & I am sure Mr. Goodman was tormented by the fact that he caused it.”
How do you KNOW he was tormented? You wouldn’t! He might very well have been thinking. “So what, it was an old man!”
Bottom line, this was NOT a mistake. Mistakes happen when you are trying to do the right thing. As said earlier, he made a CHOICE, a bad one, but a CHOICE!
Someone has lost a child, a brother, a friend. What was going on in this child’s heart and head over the last few months, you all do not know. The accident that caused the death of the gentleman was horrible & I am sure Mr. Goodman was tormented by the fact that he caused it. Everyone should practice kindness here, realizing your comments and blind assumptions can further destroy a family. I really wish comments were not allowed on news stories, it prompts people to speculate and think they are judge and jury without knowing all the facts. We never know the battles people are fighting & please remember, you could be “the straw”.
Prayers being sent for the Goodman family as well as a whole community & high school of kids.
Great job for the police depts. ..calling off the chase may have saved more lives ..praying for all the officers who expertly brought this chase to an end …Return the officer who fired his weapon to duty asap ..the only good thing here is that it saved the taxpayers of Santa Rosa county a costly trial for the first death that this child caused …Pray for all the family members on both sides of this tragic affair …
,,,you reap what you sow…
In my first sentence it should be “happened”. Sorry.
It is a shame this senseless act appended. No one knows what this young man was going through after hitting the 66 year old man. Let those that have never made a mistake, even as severe as the one this young man made, think about those other people involved, family, friends, and acquaintances, that are left behind to deal with the actions. I did not know this young man but I do know people that knew him and I think this loss is tragic. What would you do if this was your son, your brother, your best friend? He made a mistake and paid the ultimate price. My prayers are with this young man, his family, his friends, and those that did not get to know him.
Please, those of you who keep using the word “MISTAKE”. A mistake is something that be erased, like a misspelled word. What this young man did was a CHOICE, and a bad one at that. He chose to drive his car over 100 mph. He did not mistake to drive his car over 100 mph while being chased by the police. And good for them to call off the chase when it was evident someone could be hurt. He chose to ram his car into the policeman’s car, he did not mistake to ram his car. He may have been a good kid with nice parents, and my condolences to them and the person he has been charged with killing, but it is an insult to call these “CHOICES” “MISTAKES”. He could have “CHOSEN” a better path.
KUDOS to Officer Chad Willhite…May our community find some peace with him now off the streets. Apparently he didn’t learn from the first time or he just didn’t care. what a shame to put his family through this.
Sorry, I put down @mooche, it should have been John.
It is so unfair to automatically blame the parents for this. How many times have you seen parents with several kids, all good, except one. They raised them all the same, but one was different. Remember the series, “Rich man, poor man”, same scenario. @mooche, I an sure that they are devastated by this, don’t pile on them while they are down.
@Mooche– Please change your comment from “he made a mistake” to he made MISTAKES. During the time he was playing fun and games in Pensacola running from LEO’s at speeds of 100 mph what would happen if you or another person were rammed? I wonder how many traffic tickets this young fellow had before this?
@mooche
Good kids don’t do things like what he had done. The parents probably gave the kid everything he wanted and decided to be his friend instead of parents. They only have themselves to blame for this kid actions.
My prayers to the Goodman family and his girlfriend for their loss. This was a good kid, who made a mistake.
I feel worse for the Officer’s involved in this incident. I hope Officer Bauer has a speedy recovery and that Officer Wilhite is okay. Great job PPD and be safe. Merry Christmas, Brothers.
I’ve said so many times, IF suicide is in your crosshairs please act alone if you can’t get help from a close family member or a professional. My prayers go out to the parents of this young man…
The 66 year old man that was killed was walking with his daughter, not his wife.
Evidently this individual has emotional problems ..my prayers go out the driver that lost his life and his family
Puddin, This guy ran over a man and his wife on March 30, 2013 while they were out for a walk, the mans wife is ok but the 66yr old gentleman died of the wounds obtained from being ran over by Mr. Goodman. Mr. Goodman got what he deserved.
He took the car without permission.
Praying for the officer who had to pull the trigger,that cant be easy even if justified.
What a shame for a vehicular homicide case to take 11-12 months to get to a trial, frivolous lawsuits fill the courts and those that need to be done are put off. Funny how quickly some menial case gets to court.
The courthouse would work better if they installed a revolving door with a cash box located nearby. Usually its all about the money, I learned it the hard way.
PAY and WALK, The Pensacola Way
God bless those police officers and thank you both for your service. Just another reminder why being an officer is tough work.
Get well soon! Thank you!
@ Mr. Reality. What 66 year old man? What are you talking about.
Praying for all involved.
How very tragic for all involved,sounds like “suicide by cop” but how many lives he ruined by doing it, especially on Christmas eve…
sounds like suicide by cop.
How sad it is that the family of the 66 year old man this kid murdered has to be without their loved one AGAIN this Christmas.
What was this guy doing driving anything?
He was awaiting trial for killing an innocent man walking and who seemingly got in his way.
Another case of “affluenza”.? What a stupid defense in that case.
Sad for this kid’s parents.
Sad for the family of the man he had earlier killed.
Neither one of these incidents had to happen.
what a sad way for Christmas to be for the family. My thoughts also would ask, where did this “kid” get his hands on a 2009 Corvette though. PLEASE tell me his folks didn’t put him in this car with his already tainted history behind the wheel of a car. If they did……wow. Prayers to the officers involved in this for a full recovery at the hands of a lunatic.
I hope the officer recovers in a timely manner.
I hope the Police Officer recovers will no permanent damage. I pray for the boys’ family. I’m very glad that boy was prevented from killing another or maiming anyone else.
He was to have been in court for hitting a couple walking where the male was killed and his wife hurt. I guess Goodman didn’t care who he hurt.
How sad for his Parents this Christmas.