We thru the eyes of freddie, are just trying to keep up with booth, suddenly realize where we are THE CEMETERY.. BOOTH,then falls to his knees and says:"your daddy's coming." Brings a tear and a sniffle
EVERY TIME ..powerful stuff
BRAVO. S.PENN. BRAVO!

What's funny is I figured out that was what he was doing as soon as he started running, when he was still on his own street. And my opinion was that 1. he wanted to let him know he cared enough about what he had done that he knew where her grave was and 2. maybe a message that he (Nicholson's character) needed to deal with those feelings about his daughter to get better, not harm him (the drunk driver). And I felt like he was the crossing guard either because he was helping him cross through grief or something similar to that by leading him across to the grave.

Right - maybe he'll be spared by showing his remorse, and if not and he has to die, at least he feels it's a good place for it to happen.

I believe it was Booth's attempt to either show him that he was remorseful by leading him to Emily, or he wanted to depart this life in her presence, i.e. her grave site, if he thought he was going to be killed anyway. It gave him a chance to tell Emily he was sorry. Scene breaks my heart every time I see it.

That is how I saw it as well. I first thought he was taking him to the scene of the accident where he hit Emily. Taking him to the cemetery was better though. I'm sure Booth was just wanting to be shot where Emily was buried, kind of a warped mindset that it would be his way to apologize to her, by letting her dad shoot him. I'm sure he was shocked to find out that Freddy had a change of heart, once he saw her headstone.

Booth says, "Your daddy's coming. I need your help." I don't think he wanted to die. By leading Freddie to the grave, he showed he had genuine remorse for her death, and it made a difference to Freddie. Great movie. I cry every time.
ImpressionsEA

I heard Booth say, "I need your help."

I THOUGHT he said, "Your daddy's coming - he needs your help." My take on the scene was that Booth probably couldn't have been nailed down to one specific reason why he went there. It was like looking for forgiveness, closure (he went to go to her grave before but ran away when he saw her mum); and yeah, partly if he felt it was death that was coming for him (at his house he obviously decided that he didn't want to have killed TWO members of the same family), in the same vein as people saying 'I didn't want to die alone' and remembering back to the painfully touching scene he described earlier of Em's final words to him, he wanted to die near her. It's probably something that needs to be THAT broad and all encompassing, rather than for a specific reason. And yeah - I don't tear u0p and movies much, and a lot of this movie was a bit slow, but that final scene ack.

Good answers but this is my interpretation -> Booth didn't want to die at the moment of the final confrontation. After all, he sprang on Freddie with a weapon. But I think he had contemplated and perhaps accepted facing death for his crime - partly dictated by both reason and suicidal tendencies for his genuine guilt. But something interesting happens. Freddie takes the gun out and gives Booth the chance to shoot, pretending like its a game of best man wins.
Now, I would have shot Freddie if I didn't feel like I deserved to die, but Booth didn't kill him (proving his willingness to let Freddie decide his fate). But Freddie really DID want Booth to kill him as an act of suicide. Then Booth, realizing that Freddie does indeed want to die, doesn't grant him this cowardly out and runs.
Freddie chases him and shoots Booth out of emotional desperation. But Booth, on the ground looking like a helpless hunted animal, causes Freddie to lose his will to kill Booth as he realizes how entirely displaced his anger is and has been. Simultaneously, Freddie has also suddenly and unwittingly forgiven Booth. But he isn't consciously aware of it until his has a catharsis by witnessing Booth's courage to show his contrition through his sorrow over Freddie's daughter's grave.
POWERFUL SCENE MAN - yes, I got chocked up and I'm a grown man. The haters of this film are merely rejecting the idea of having to relate to the unthinkable sorrow that really can happen to people. And witnessing the power of forgiveness gives you incredible faith in humanity and is a very rewarding experience.

I don't think Booth wanted to die - he is heard praying for help just before the final confrontation.
Blowin' the changes!

That's a very good interpretation. I have another, much darker one:
Perhaps Booth wanted Freddie to kill him at the cemetery, as a means of bringing his grief full circle. I think Booth saw his guilt as overwhelming, and I was surprised to see him run, but maybe he didn't want his parents to find his body outside his trailer. I think he had a death wish, and saw the girl's grave as the perfect place to accomplish it.
This is just a hunch, though no right or wrong answers here.

Nobody here has stated what I think is the best answer to your question (and what I think is intended). By leading Freddie to the cemetery, Booth has communicated to Freddie that he knows where her grave is that he has visited her grave before. Booth may or may not have sensed that Freddie had not been to the cemetery, but this doesn't matter we know that Freddie has never been there, which we know he is thinking, and that is powerful. And by leading Freddie to the cemetery, Booth, having visited her grave himself, presumably many times, is letting Freddie know how remoreseful he is about being responsible for Freddie's daughter's death.

Thanks for posting your ideas I like that interpretation too
As 'odd' as the whole chase scene is, I think it really works and is incredibly powerful emotionally
I thought the scene where John brought flowers for Emily (and then hid behind the monument when he saw her mother) was also very sweet and touching

Messieurs et Mesdames, bienvenue au Cirque du Mousie

I think it was John's attempt at asking Freddie for forgiveness John didn't know he hadn't visited his daughters grave before but I think he wanted to show Freddie that his pain was just as deep for what he had done just as much as Freddies own grief!!
Two guys tortured for very different reasons

This message has been deleted.

And I seem to have spelled 'cemetery' wrong sorry