Florida officer let an impaired driver go. Minutes later, that driver killed a mom and son, chief says
By Gail Paschall-Brown
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OCALA, Florida (WESH) — A mother and her son were killed on Tuesday in Ocala after being hit by a driver who was allowed on the road despite showing signs of impairment just minutes prior.
They were identified by the police department as Eric Derick Maurice McGill, 31, and De Lawn Marshall Duncan, 50, from Ocala.
The chief says what’s “troubling” is that the lead officer had just interacted with the driver and his brother, who the chief said were no doubt impaired.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat this,” he said.
Body camera footage shows the two brothers arguing on a sidewalk near their van, which was parked in the middle of the road.
“It’s his birthday, it’s his birthday … we just beef, bro,” the brothers can be heard saying.
An officer saw that the van was in the middle of the road and had stopped to see why.
“Y’all are good to go. Y’all can head on out,” the officer says in the bodycam footage.
Minutes later, the chief says the brothers were involved in the crash that killed a 50-year-old mother and her 31-year-old son.
The police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The brothers, aged 33 and 24, were taken to a local hospital, one of whom was listed as a trauma alert, according to police.
“There are indications, unfortunately, that both had been drinking earlier in the night and may have been impaired,” Balken said. “Unfortunately, and really for reasons I can’t fully yet explain, the officers failed to investigate a possible DUI or even question the driver’s level of intoxication. Instead, the brothers were allowed to drive away, and within minutes their vehicle struck and killed our victims.”
New to the department Balken said the officer involved is new to the department and had been out of field training for about 30 days. Two other officers also responded to the initial interaction with the brothers.
“You know, I really just can’t express how deeply disappointed and saddened I am with this situation,” Balken said. “I really want the community to know that we are taking every necessary step to investigate thoroughly and address any mistakes.”
Balken said he has met with the victims’ family, shown them the body-camera footage, and is working to provide them with resources.
“They’re frankly in shock right now,” he said. “We owe it to the families involved and this community to address these failures head-on and ensure mistakes like this never, ever happen again. To the family that have lost their loved ones, I am profoundly sorry. I only wish we had done more to prevent this tragedy.”
The chief said that the incident is not being attributed to a failure in training but rather a failure to act on a probable impairment issue. The identities of the officers and the victims have not been released and charges are pending. Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken said the department has taken immediate steps to launch a full-scale investigation into the crash, which he described as “devastating” and preventable.
The crash occurred around 2:45 a.m. at the intersection of SE Maricamp Road and SE 36th Avenue, police said
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