<\/p>\n
Laiken Randolph is seen holding her first son, who is now 10. Randolph is in the Broward County jail awaiting trial after she led police on a high-speed chase on Florida\u2019s Turnpike and crashed into a woman\u2019s SUV, killing her, police say. Randolph has two sons and a daughter.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Barbara Randolph<\/p>\n
Hours before a woman led police on a high-speed chase on Florida\u2019s Turnpike that ended in an innocent motorist\u2019s death, she was sitting in a Fort Lauderdale police cruiser not far from a black pickup truck that had been reported stolen.<\/p>\n
The slight, troubled, \u201csuspicious white female\u201d had been seen exiting the truck on the third floor of a parking garage, and then walking around asking people for help, police records say. Someone called the cops.<\/p>\n
But Laiken Lynn Randolph, 35, wasn\u2019t arrested that morning. She\u2019d later be charged with stealing the pickup truck. But the pieces of the mystery didn\u2019t come together soon enough, and Fort Lauderdale police officers gave her a \u201ccourtesy ride\u201d to her Extended Stay Hotel.<\/p>\n
Randolph, a mother of three from Pennsylvania who has voiced her drug addiction struggles on YouTube, went on to steal a second Ford work truck that day, police say. This time, Randolph\u2019s alleged theft ended in tragedy, killing a 74-year-old Davie woman who loved her cat and slots.<\/p>\n
Randolph is sitting in the Broward County jail, charged with second-degree murder and 43 other alleged crimes for her role in the fatal police pursuit that occurred that day, Feb. 26. She pleaded not guilty to all the charges.<\/p>\n
During the chase, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, Bernard Major, 33, bumped the Ford F-250 pickup truck Randolph was driving, using a PIT, or Precision Immobilization Technique, a controversial maneuver that law enforcement uses to stop a fleeing driver. The truck spun out of control and smashed into Bonnie Bouffard\u2019s Nissan Altima, parked on the shoulder of Florida\u2019s Turnpike. Bouffard had seen the lights and heard the sirens and pulled over, in accordance with Florida law.<\/a><\/p>\n About 30 seconds prior, a Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office deputy, Gerald Wengert, had attempted a PIT but decided against it, \u201cdue to oncoming traffic safety concerns,\u201d records show. It was shortly before 5 p.m. and the Turnpike was thick with rush-hour traffic. The crash, near the Sunrise Boulevard exit, shut the southbound Turnpike down for hours.<\/p>\n Bouffard, who was declared dead at the scene 19 minutes later, was on her way home from work and about four miles from her exit.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Innocent victim of police chase had pulled over to get out of the way, records show<\/a><\/p>\n FHP has refused to release documents describing Major\u2019s role in the crash to the Miami Herald, citing open criminal and internal investigations. It\u2019s unknown whether the agency completed a review of the trooper\u2019s actions; a spokeswoman said Tuesday she believes it is still under way.<\/p>\n Where Randolph was going, no one knows. She was under the influence, court records say, and a swarm of officers from three agencies \u2014 Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office, FHP and Coconut Creek \u2014 joined in the chase. The truck had a GPS tracking device, and officers kept tabs on the location, records in the case say, raising questions about why the high-speed pursuit was necessary. A Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office helicopter also was tracking Randolph overhead.<\/p>\n Randolph\u2019s next court date is in August. Her attorney, Maria Della Guardia with the state Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, declined comment for this story.<\/p>\n The woman she is accused of killing, Bouffard, was the second person in a 16-day span to die in police chases in Broward.<\/p>\n On Feb. 10, Ronald Wilson, 73, was killed when<\/a> BSO deputy Brian Quintal crashed into his car in an intersection while pursuing a suspect and attempting a PIT maneuver. That pursuit, too, was sparked by the theft of a vehicle.<\/p>\n Controversial and deadly maneuver<\/p>\n The PIT maneuver is avoided or severely restricted by many law-enforcement agencies, given how it can lead to deadly crashes. In recent years, the Department of Justice commissioned the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based nonprofit that recommends guidelines to law-enforcement agencies, to examine when police pursuits should take place.<\/p>\n The police think tank, in its 2023 report, found only two scenarios that call for a pursuit: \u201c(1) A violent crime has been committed and (2) the suspect poses an imminent threat to commit another violent crime.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these two conditions are not met, agencies need to look for alternatives to accomplish this same objective. You can get a suspect another day, but you can\u2019t get a life back,\u201d wrote Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.<\/p>\n Despite this admonition, FHP loosened its chase policy two and a half years ago, freeing troopers to use PIT maneuvers to stop fleeing suspects. Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office also permits them.<\/p>\n In the maneuver, a law enforcement officer uses the front of the patrol car to bump the rear corner of a fleeing suspect\u2019s vehicle, forcing it into a spin and stall.<\/p>\n Randolph was considered dangerous because in trying to get away from officers, she hit two police vehicles, similar to other chases reviewed by the Miami Herald<\/a>. The way Florida law and police policy works, that\u2019s tantamount to shooting at an officer.<\/p>\n The chase was on.<\/p>\n \u201cThey could have just followed her or they could have waited till she parked,\u201d her grandmother, Barbara Randolph, told the Herald in an interview. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s not like they had to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Police pursuit wasn\u2019t warranted: Expert<\/p>\n Geoffrey Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina who was involved in writing the think tank\u2019s guidance on police chases, said there are crimes that warrant chasing. But the Laiken Randolph scenario, he said, didn\u2019t sound like one.<\/p>\n \u201cThe immediacy isn\u2019t there. Just wait till the person pulls over,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s only driving crazy because she\u2019s being chased, more than likely.\u201d<\/p>\n The two factors that are most important in weighing the safety of a PIT maneuver are vehicle speed and vehicle type, he said. Alpert, who has studied police chases since the 1980s when he taught at the University of Miami, said trucks have high centers of gravity and can become unstable when struck.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy risk lives and do a PIT at high speed on a pickup truck when you don\u2019t have to?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n Alpert said high-speed chases remain prevalent because \u201cit\u2019s an adrenaline high, catching the bad guys, exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesman Carey Codd said the reason deputies gave chase is laid out in Randolph\u2019s arrest report: \u201cAs the driver of the stolen vehicle intentionally struck two occupied police vehicles and accelerated towards uniformed officers on foot in the path of travel, the driver committed multiple forcible felonies.\u201d<\/p>\n Coconut Creek police spokesman Scotty Leamon, likewise, said, \u201cThe reason that we joined the pursuit is … she hit one of our cop cars.\u201d Seated in the police vehicle\u2019s passenger seat, Coconut Creek police Sgt. Brian Mullin was injured and went to the hospital.<\/p>\n Troubled childhood<\/p>\n Records, social media posts and interviews paint an unflattering picture of Randolph\u2019s life. Her grandmother said she\u2019s been on and off drugs for years, starting when she was a teen living with her father. Court records show a criminal history nine pages long.<\/p>\n Just weeks before she was in South Florida, she allegedly cashed a bad check \u2014 and was charged with that crime in March, while in jail in Broward.<\/p>\n All three of her children are being raised by other people. Her grandmother hopes to adopt the youngest, a 1-year-old girl.<\/p>\n She said Randolph had a tumultuous childhood, a \u201cvery mean\u201d mother who has since died, and more recently, was physically abused by an ex-boyfriend. But she wasn\u2019t violent, her grandmother said.<\/p>\n \u201cShe doesn\u2019t hurt people,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cShe\u2019s very compassionate; she helps people.\u201d<\/p>\n Drug addiction battles<\/p>\n Social media posts over the years capture glimmers of sobriety, and hope, in Randolph\u2019s life. And then, the reality of her drug addiction.<\/p>\n She had a dog grooming business. She proposed to the father of two of her children on Leap Day six years ago, at a bar, and everyone cheered. She is articulate, and likes public speaking.<\/p>\n But more recently, she appeared in two YouTube videos by a documentarian in Philadelphia\u2019s Kensington section, a haven for homeless drug addicts.<\/p>\n In May 2025, she was the focus of an episode entitled \u201cCertified pet groomer to fetty crack tranq addict.\u201d She said she goes by the nickname \u201cL.A.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what brought her to Philadelphia, she responded bluntly<\/a>, \u201cDrugs. The drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a war,\u201d she said of her drug addiction. \u201c… You want to get out of here so bad, and when you do, it\u2019s just calling you back.\u201d<\/p>\n Three months later, the same videographer found her again. She talked about prostituting for money to pay for her drug habit.<\/p>\n When asked what advice she\u2019d give younger people in her situation, she offered this: \u201cTo get out, to think about your dreams and aspirations and chase them, instead of chasing the streets, because there is no love out there, no love that\u2019s going to carry you anywhere but jail, rehab or death.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Miami Herald<\/p>\n The Broward County State Attorney\u2019s Office formalized charges against Laiken Randolph earlier this year, and she is in jail awaiting trial. Broward court documents <\/p>\n
Laiken Lynn Randolph was arrested under an alias name, Anna Giza, after her police chase and crash in March on Florida\u2019s Turnpike near the Sunrise Boulevard exit. Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office <\/p>\n
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