PLAINFIELD, Ind. — A report by Avon police says a Plainfield officer chasing a suspect was going 100 mph seconds before a crash that killed a couple from Clayton, Indiana, in August 2024.
According to the report, the officer slammed on the brakes 2.5 seconds before impact but still hit the driver's side of the car going almost 60 miles an hour.
Barbara Williams, 78, and Bennie Joe Williams, 79, were killed in the crash at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Smith Road in Plainfield around 5:45 p.m. Aug. 30. According to the couple's obituary, the Williamses leave behind four children, 17 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
The incident started on a report of a person down at a Long John Silver's restaurant. Police said the suspect, later identified as 38-year-old Bryan Goodmon, of Fillmore, Indiana, was possibly impaired as he was sitting in a car at the restaurant.
When a Plainfield officer approached Goodmon, he drove away and nearly hit the officer with his car. The officer pursued the vehicle onto U.S. 40, resulting in a brief chase that ended in the crash with the uninvolved vehicle.
According to the police report, "emergency vehicles will outrun their sirens at approximately 55 mph, so it is likely that (the Williamses) did not hear (the officer's) sirens."
The report also says that as the Plainfield officer approached the intersection, the traffic light was red for him and the Williamses had a green arrow for their turn. Some intersections are equipped to change when they detect police sirens. That intersection did not have that equipment.
"Emergency vehicles must still drive with due regard even with lights and sirens activated," the report says. "(The officer) was traveling at a high rate of speed and did not proceed with due regard through the intersection."
The Avon officer investigating says that the Williamses likely didn't see the Plainfield cruiser until they were already in the intersection.
On Sept. 4, Goodmon was charged with resisting law enforcement causing death. He was taken into custody 17 days after the crash.
He is being held in the Hendricks County Jail. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 26.