Police: Hampton boy ‘car surfing’ before fatal fall

The 8-year-old boy that died after falling from the roof of a moving vehicle was “car surfing” just before he fell, according to Hampton police’s review of security camera footage.

The driver, 18-yearold Enashia Futrell, was charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. She was acting as the guardian for her younger brother on Oct. 2. Police said the boy climbed out of the window of the vehicle and onto the roof before falling as Futrell drove through an apartment complex on Golden Gate Drive in the Buckroe section of the city.

He was flown to a hospital, where he later died.

Futrell told police she was not aware that her brother had climbed onto the roof, according to court documents. Video footage obtained by police shows that before the boy’s fall, he and another child — her brother was in the back seat while the other child was in the front — were hanging out of the windows of her 2006 Ford Explorer without any restraints.

The video showed the child “car surfing” for about 1,000 feet while Futrell was driving, the arresting officer wrote in the criminal complaint. Investigators believe she was travelling faster than the 10 mph speed limit within the apartment complex; she admitted in interviews that she was speeding and distracted.

Futrell had been watching the children at the request of her mother, who told police Futrell would often help her by taking care of them after school when she’s not available.

Futrell’s bond was set at $10,000, and the magistrate said she is not allowed to operate a vehicle.