'Really, really good people': Victims in deadly police chase crash were members of Karen community

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- At a busy and hectic north side intersection Thursday, Sept. 18, people came and left mementos while others stopped to pay their respects to the three victims killed two days earlier when a driver fleeing police slammed into their car.

Authorities and relatives identified the victims as Pler Moo, 50, and two of her sons, Moo Nay Taw, 21 and Karlah Kri Moo, 15. Two other siblings were badly injured in the crash.

Family members said the victims were coming home from a soccer game when police said a 19-year-old man trying to flee a traffic stop hit their car at intersection of N. 35th St. and W. Vliet St.

CBS 58 is not naming the suspect until he's formally charged, but court records show the suspect posted bail just last week in Elkhart, Indiana. The man was arrested a little more than two weeks ago after police there said he tried to flee from a stop.

The victims are part of Milwaukee's Karen community. The Karen people are an ethnic minority in Southeast Asia, and in Milwaukee, there are dozens of families who resettled after leaving Burma, now known as Myanmar.

Vince Goldstein is the soccer coach at Riverside University High School. He said he coached Moo Nay Taw until he graduated in 2023.

Goldstein said he stayed in touch with the former student, as Moo Tay would check in with questions about life as an adult. Goldstein said their final conversation was about getting insurance.

"Very, very responsible, and he wanted to make sure that he didn't- he didn't want to have blemishes on his record," Goldstein said. "He would always ask, 'Is this gonna mess up my credit? Is this gonna affect me some way down the road?'"

Goldstein also coached Eh Moo Gay Paw, one of the siblings injured.

Eh Moo Gay graduated from Riverside last year and had just begun college at Mount Mary University, where she was playing soccer. Thursday was her 19th birthday.

"Eh Moo Gay, the one thing I could say about her for sure that I think everybody would agree with, is she's just a sweetheart," Goldstein said. "She's a really, really nice person."

Goldstein he also coached Moo Tay and Eh Moo Gay's older sister, who was not in the car Tuesday night. He estimated coming across 40 to 50 different Karen families during his eight years at Riverside.

"People need to know that the Karen community, in general, are a group of really, really good people," he said. "Hard-working people."

The crash scene is just 11 blocks west of St. Michael Catholic Church. Father Cha Krit, an associate pastor at the church, said about 50 Karen families are parishioners there, although the victims belonged to a different church.

"Many of us know them, so we are really sad and we come to comfort the family, the relatives," Krit said. "We talk together. We try to pray together and support the families."

Krit said the subject of reckless driving comes up with the congregation. He added the location is central for many parishioners coming from either further to the north or from the south side.

"We try to avoid the busy roads," Krit said. "We try to come to the small roads and come during the day and not the busy times of rush hour days."

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's office said Thursday charges were still pending against the driver responsible for Tuesday's crash.

Court records show the suspect has an open case related to his arrest for firing a gun in Sherman Park in 2024.

Milwaukee police said officers initially tried to stop him Tuesday for reckless driving. The crash happened one minute after the chase began, according to MPD.

"If anything good can come out of it, hopefully there's some awareness about how people behave on the streets," Goldstein said. "And just that this Karen community is really, really vibrant and a really, really positive community here in Milwaukee, and they're doing a lot of good things that are maybe unnoticed."