A teenager who was in the hospital for nearly a week after being hit by a now-fired Gwinnett County police officer has died, Gwinnett police confirmed.
Jose Coreas-Mejia, 16, died as a result of his injuries. He was one of two teens hit when Scott York's police cruiser jumped the curb along Stonewood Drive on the way to a Jan. 29 pedestrian-hit call. Coreas-Meija's cousin, Joel Melendez-Coreas, was hit and injured in the crash.
Coreas-Mejia died about 11:30 a.m. Monday at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett police spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said.
The rookie cop was fired after the crash. He had been with the department since April.
No charges have been filed.
According to police, York told investigators he was on a four-lane road when he traveled to the center lane to pass another car. But at the same time, the car started merging into the center lane. York was going 97 mph at the time of the crash.
Officials say York was responding to a personal injury traffic accident, which is considered a Code 2 response. It was later determined York violated department policy when he was going more than 60 mph over the 40-mph speed limit before the accident.
According to section 440.02 of the department’s general directives manual, during a Code 2 response an officer can have “intermittent use of emergency lights and siren is authorized to proceed through intersections and congested areas ... at no time shall the posted speed limit be exceeded.”
Police concluded that York was going 97 mph based on the marks on the pavement and black box data. His blue lights and siren were also activated at the time.
At the time he was fired, York had a relatively clean record. He was implicated in three use-of-force incidents, each involving him using his Taser on a suspect. He was found justified in each of those incidents.
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