Bubbles floated through the auditorium on a Saturday afternoon. Children laughed and chased one another in between tables. Popcorn popped and crushed ice melted under cherry and pineapple syrup. As a DJ spun Stevie Wonder’s version of “Happy Birthday,” the Oakcrest Community Center in Capitol Heights brimmed with voices.
“Happy birthday, dear Zoey,” they sang at the all-too-familiar climax.
Only the birthday girl wouldn’t be singing along with them. A large, beaded framed picture leaned against the stage: Zoey Rose Marie Harrison, forever 3 years old.
Zoey was killed eight months earlier in a Capitol Heights crash when a driver fled from police during a traffic stop, prompting a pursuit, authorities said. She was sitting in a car seat in the back when an Infiniti SUV crossed over the centerline and slammed into the car. Despite efforts to save Zoey, she died at a hospital.
She was one of three bystanders killed in Prince George’s County as a result of drivers fleeing traffic stops, and the subsequent police pursuits, within the span of a month.
The tragedy pushed Zoey’s family to advocate for stricter safety guidelines. Days before what would have been her fourth birthday, the Prince George’s County Council passed a law named for Zoey aimed at reforming police pursuits in the county.
Zoey’s Law “stands as a powerful reminder that every child’s life is precious and deserves protection,” said Gina Pryor, Zoey’s grandmother, before the bill passed at a council hearing. “Zoey’s name becomes a symbol of protection, hope and advocacy, for all children.”
Introduced by Council Vice-Chair Krystal Oriadha (D), who represents the district where Zoey was killed, the new law will track police pursuits in the county by requiring an annual report. The law will also modify mutual aid agreements between the county police department and local municipalities to guarantee the same minimum standards for starting a pursuit, according to the bill’s language.
Those standards include maintaining “a balance between the need to apprehend the violator and the risks of potential danger to themselves and citizens,” according to the county police department’s general orders manual.
Vehicle pursuits are allowed “if there is a reasonable and articulable suspicion” that the person who fled is committing, has committed or attempted to commit certain crimes, which were redacted in the publicly available version of the manual. Officers cannot drive at an uncontrollable speed, go through a stop signal, intersection or against the direction of traffic signals without first slowing down or stopping, and emergency lights and sirens must be used during the pursuit, among other things.
Oriadha said she’s focused on driver accountability, too. Alongside Del. Nicole A. Williams (D-Prince George’s), the two are working to pass Zoey’s Law at the state level that would upgrade evading police and causing a death from a misdemeanor to a felony, she said.
“Every one holds a part of this,” Oriadha said.
Oriadha secured the community center and D.J. for Zoey’s birthday. Beyond the law, Zoey’s family wanted to give back. After all, Zoey loved to help. It was her 15-year-old sister’s idea to come up with an event to hand out toys to children. If Zoey couldn’t receive toys this year, other children should, she said.
Gwendolyn Perkins, Zoey’s godmother, set up her popcorn and snow cone machines inside the auditorium on Nov. 22. Perkins owns a party rental business. She brought a “bubble tower,” Zoey’s favorite. The tables lining the room featured colorful light-up signs that said “Zoey’s World Forever.” More than a dozen friends, family and community members mingled, most wearing pink, Zoey’s favorite color.
Zoey, born on Nov. 24, celebrated her birthday around Thanksgiving. Last year, the party was at Chuck-E-Cheese, said her aunt, Nancie Johnson-Pryor, 26.
Now standing at the community center in her memory, Johnson-Pryor said she has March 7 visibly marked on her calendar in her kitchen as the “worst day of my life.”
That Friday evening, Zoey was supposed to be in for a fun weekend with Johnson-Pryor and her daughter, 2-year-old Arely Flurry, she said. They planned to attend a birthday party at Urban Air, a trampoline park.
Johnson-Pryor said the route her sister, Zoey’s mother, Tanishia Harrison, took was routine, just down Addison Road South. Harrison was on her way to Johnson-Pryor’s to drop off Zoey.
But this night, the road was the wrong place. The wrong time.
Around 6:30 p.m., a District Heights police officer driving an unmarked patrol vehicle pulled over a driver, later identified as Larry Naylor, after spotting him with “a missing front registration tag and driver seat belt violation,” the attorney general’s office said in a report of the crash.
While Naylor stopped at Walker Mill Road at first, he then fled police, authorities said. The officer pursued him, and two others joined in after hearing a radio description, including an officer with Capitol Heights police. The officers maintained control of their vehicles and activated their emergency equipment, according to the report.
Just 40 seconds after the pursuit started, authorities said, Naylor crashed into four cars, including the Volkswagen Jetta that Zoey was riding in. The crash forced the Jetta off the road and into a tree.
Arely, Zoey’s little cousin, ran around the home that night looking for her best friend.
“It wasn’t fair,” Johnson-Pryor said.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office declined to pursue charges against the officers in September, determining they “did not commit a crime,” according to a news release. Naylor, 40, was later arrested and charged with negligent manslaughter, and now awaits trial. The Maryland Office of the Public Defender declined to comment on Naylor’s case.
“Sometimes we feel stuck,” Gina Pryor, 57, said, seated in a chair outside the auditorium. She scrolled through pictures on her phone of her granddaughter: Zoey seated at the kitchen table with cheese cubes. Zoey dancing in her living room on Valentine’s Day. Zoey smiling for a selfie with “Ma Ma.”
Pryor and her family managed to promote and raise donations for toys, filling 50 bags up for children, aged 3 to 14. There was a RSVP to complete online to ensure they had enough to accommodate Zoey’s birthday giveaway. They also received food donations, including hot dogs and chips that were served.
“I take this tragedy … to turn it into a triumph,” Pryor said. “Something traumatizing that as it may be, but in the end, God gets the glory.”
Cherry White, founder of Dollies 4 the Hollies, attended and donated baby dolls.
“If we brightened one child’s day, we’ve made a difference,” White said.
Harrison said she received messages from those who couldn’t make it to the giveaway. She had filled the bags up herself alongside her children, Zoey’s sister and brother.
She hopes next year’s event will be bigger, and that they can put it on every year. The leftover toys will be saved for then.
As the party wound down, the bubbles stopped flowing and the laughter faded.
Zoey’s great-grandmother, Nancy Pryor, 78, wheeled herself over to the front of the stage. She gazed at Zoey’s smiling face. The lyrics from Stevie Wonder’s, “With a Child’s Heart,” flashed across her mind, she said.
“That with a child’s heart, nothing can ever get you down. With a child’s heart. You’ve got no reason to frown.”
“Just a happy little girl,” she said, tears flowing from her eyes.
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