The City of Boynton Beach has reached a settlement agreement with the family of 5-year-old Jayden Carlos Ethan Readon, who was tragically killed during a 2016 police pursuit. As reported by CW34, the city will pay $300,000 to the Readon family for the suit accusing Officer Mark Sohn and the city of negligence. The settlement, while not an admission of wrongdoing, aims to bring closure to the family for the incident that occurred nearly a decade ago.
Further controversy surrounds the former officer, as Sohn's history of disciplinary issues include multiple unauthorized pursuits and policy violations. According to WPBF 25 News, after the death of 13-year-old Stanley Davis III in 2021, who crashed while fleeing a traffic stop initiated by Sohn, the officer was charged and subsequently fired. The city's recent actions to appeal again to try and prevent Sohn's reinstatement to the force, despite an arbitrator's ruling, come amidst public discord and a unanimous city commission vote to pursue the legally challenging venture.
This sequence of events has left the community fractured, with the families of both Readon and Davis seeking justice in the wake of these tragic pursuits. "He serves this community no purpose," Shannon Thompson, the mother of Stanley Davis III, expressed during a public meeting in May, as chronicled by WPBF 25 News.
The city's latest legal maneuver, a notice of appeal filed on June 5 to the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, is a bid to deny Sohn's reinstatement. This move comes after the Palm Beach County Circuit Court sided with the arbitrator, who ruled that the city did not make Sohn adequately aware of the seriousness of violating the pursuit policy. If the Fourth DCA opts not to take up the appeal, Sohn's reinstatement will stand firm. However, if the appeal is heard, the city and Sohn will have to present and argue their case before the judges, prolonging the legal battle that simmers in the heart of Boynton's administration and its residents.
