Hickory officer off the job after a mom, son killed in police chase

HICKORY, N.C. — A police officer was terminated by his department after a mother and her son were hit and killed during a police chase.

The Hickory Police Department confirmed Officer Atia Shamseldin’s final day was last Wednesday.

On Sept. 8, Shamseldin tried to pull over a motorcycle driving recklessly and without a license plate on Highway 70 near Fourth Street Southwest. The motorcycle fled, starting a chase.

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During the pursuit, a Honda Odyssey minivan drove into the intersection of Highway 70 and 13th Street and was hit by Shamseldin’s vehicle. Thirty-eight-year-old Cynthia Fox and her son, 12-year-old Michael Lail, were inside the van.

Fox died at the scene and Lail was taken to the hospital where he later died. Shamseldin and the passenger in the police vehicle were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Troopers said the passenger was applying to work at the Hickory Police Department.

We know from the initial report that Shamseldin was traveling well above the speed limit -- 95 mph -- when the crash happened.

Motorcyclist Chancellor Johnson, the subject of the high-speed chase, left the scene but investigators later found the bike. He turned himself in 10 days later and was charged with felony elude arrest in a motor vehicle causing death.

Beth Fox, Cynthia’s mother and Michael’s grandmother, spoke to Channel 9′s Dave Faherty about Shamseldin being fired. She said the decision to terminate the officer is a step toward justice for her family.

“Do I think there should be consequences? Yes, there should. He made a bad choice,” she said. “It did not make him a bad person. But when you make bad choices, there’s consequences to those choices.”

Highway patrol said it could take months for an investigation into the crash to be completed. When they do, it’s up to the district attorney’s office to decide whether or not Shamseldin will face charges.

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