NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A grieving community came together to pay tribute to a student athlete who died in police custody following a police chase that began in Hollywood and ended in a crash in Northwest Miami-Dade.
7News cameras captured friends and family members who gathered at the crash site to remember 16-year-old Christopher Walls, Saturday night.
Mourners released balloons during the somber memorial.
“We love you, Chris,” they said.
According to Hollywood Police, the chain of events leading to Walls’ death started on the night of Nov. 14 with a carjacking at a gas station on the corner of North 34th Avenue and Sheridan Street.
Investigators said the pursuit ended the next morning when Walls crashed the vehicle in the area of Northwest 27th Avenue and 62nd Street in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded, and paramedics treated Walls at the scene before police took him into custody.
Blurry cellphone video recorded by a witness captures audio of a person saying someone was getting beaten, but the quality of the clip makes it difficult to make out what was unfolding.
“They’re beating his [expletive],” someone is heard saying in the video.
Police said Walls lost consciousness and was transported to Hialeah Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Back at the memorial, Walls’ family mourned the sudden loss.
“Just a kid robbed so young — amazing athlete, loved his family, loved his siblings,” said Fatima Seymor, Walls’ cousin.
Walls was the oldest of five boys. His family describes the Hallandale High School student as a standout on the football team.
“We didn’t have our justice. We didn’t have our day for all sides to be spoken, and that was taken from us,” said Seymor, “and it’s just so sad and unfortunate, and our family is irretrievably broken.”
Seymor said the entire family has watched the Facebook Live video, and they’re waiting for answers from the medical examiner’s office.
“Again, he’s a kid. That’s the ultimate biggest hurt: the fact that he was a kid, and that he didn’t have his fair day for justice,” she said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate.
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