A St. Petersburg activist and the mothers of the three girls that died when a stolen car plunged into a pond are asking for an investigation into the incident.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the three teenage girls stole the car and were trying to avoid deputies when they drove into the pond early March 31 at the Royal Palm Cemetery.
Laniya Miller, 15, Ashaunti N. Butler, 15, and Dominique M. Battle, 16 died after the car crashed into the pond.
Brother Ali Muhammad, a minister representing Butler's mother said the parents feel sheriff's deputies did not do enough to rescue the girls after the police pursuit and crash.
The call for a further investigation comes after the sheriff's office released dash cam video of the deputies at the pond after the crash.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri vehemently defended his deputies, pointing out that you can see the deputies on video walking without their guns and badges, proving they made an effort to go into the pond and rescue the girls.
However, others said that is not what they saw in the video.
Muhammad said not only did the deputies not do enough, they created a smear campaign against the teenagers by discussing their prior criminal records.
"There’s a lot of questions to be answered," Muhammad said. "There should be a level of assumption that they are innocent because of what happened and they should be given the proper handling by law enforcement which is their profession and in this case we’re seeing that didn’t take place.
"It is a direct attack against the families."
Muhammad, along with the girls' mothers, is holding a news conference Thursday to ask the community and the mayor's office to rally together.
Mayor Rick Kriseman's office said they are aware of the tragic events however the sheriff's office is in charge of the investigation, not the city or St. Petersburg police.