RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — Riviera Beach's interim police chief and its internal affairs division are at odds over a sergeant's handling of a pursuit that ended with the death of a young couple last year.
D'Asia Monroe, 19, and her boyfriend, Shawn Knowles, died on March 6 when she lost control of her mother's SUV on Blue Heron Boulevard. The vehicle crashed through a fence and flipped over into a retention pond at the VA Medical Center.
Monroe did not have a driver's license, and according to a Riviera Beach Police report, was fleeing from a police cruiser that was trying to pull her over.
According to the police report, a high-speed chase started a mile away on Blue Heron Boulevard when Sgt. Tabitha Smith reported the SUV sideswiped another car, then took off.
A Contact Five investigation found that in 1995 and in 2020, Smith was cited for violating the department's chase policy.
The investigation also found she had other driving violations.
Smith was cited in 1995 for the "reckless use of a patrol car in pursuing a traffic violator."
She was cited again in 2020 for "excessive speeds" for chasing a man who drove away from a traffic stop.
As for the pursuit in March, an internal affairs investigation found that Smith violated its chase policy during the pursuit of Monroe and her boyfriend.
However, a news release from Riviera Beach cites interim Police Chief Josh Lewis as finding the chase was justified because the fleeing SUV driven by Monroe did not have its headlights on and was an immediate danger to the public.
WPTV talked with Monroe's mother, Mikea Brown, who called the chief's findings disappointing and promised to continue to press for the truth.
The case will now go to Riviera Beach City Manager Jonathan Evans to review and either accept the findings of the chief or the internal affairs investigation.
