ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Hit-and-run drivers have killed 12 people in Central Florida so far in 2017. That’s 12 people who leave behind families and friends because someone made a choice to leave them to die on the side of a road.
For more than a month, 9 Investigates reporter Daralene Jones has been digging into what happens to the drivers when they're caught.
9 Investigates began looking into the issue following the case involving former Apopka City Administrator Richard Anderson, who was sentenced to probation last month for leaving the scene of a crash.
Anderson is accused of hitting Michael Falcon on April 5, 2016, on a Lake County road and running away from the crash, investigators said.
Falcon will have lifelong injuries from the crash.
“It’s a shame he (Anderson) gets a slap on the wrist,” ex-wife Rene Falcon said the day Anderson was sentenced.
9 Investigates requested a list of all hit-and-run cases that have gone through the court system in the Fifth Circuit, which includes Lake County, where Anderson was sentenced.
9 Investigates received more than 700 cases over the last three years to include people charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving injury, reckless driving causing serious injury and those who were charged with simply leaving the scene of an accident.
Anderson was initially charged with all three, in addition to reckless driving with property damage and tampering with evidence. However, Lake County prosecutors decided not to move forward with the charges of tampering with evidence and the reckless driving charges were Nolle Prosequi in open court. Nolle Prosequi is a formal notice of abandonment by a plaintiff or prosecutor of all or part of a suit or action.
Of the cases 9 Investigates reviewed:
46 percent of defendants received some form of probation for leaving the scene of an accident.
31 percent received some form of country jail time, which is usually a year or less.
15 percent paid court costs and/or lost their driver’s license, vehicle, and some were even forced into community- service programs.
Cases 9 Investigates reviewed when someone was injured:
44 percent of defendants received some form of probation.
32 percent received county jail time and 24 percent were sent to state prison.
Jamie McWilliams lost her son, Justin, to a hit-and-run driver in 2002. The Justin McWilliams Act increased penalties for hit-and-runs involving death; that now requires a minimum mandatory of four years in prison and a maximum of 30 years.
When McWilliams saw the 9 Investigates research on the outcome of overall hit-and-run crashes, she said she became frustrated all over again.
“There is something very wrong with this picture. It's just time that we as a state say, we will not tolerate this any more,” McWilliams told Jones.
Lake County lead prosecutor and spokesperson Walter Forgie told 9 Investigates that prosecutors are forced to abide by sentencing guidelines set by state lawmakers.
“That's based on a number of factors, the crimes charges, the defendants’ prior criminal history, severity of crimes, severity of injuries,” Forgie said.
Forgie also described the legal challenges a prosecutor could face.
“If we've charged someone, we've made a plea deal consistent with the guidelines. Not every defendant’s actual circumstance warrants a maximum sentence. And believe it or not, there are legal issues that can be faced if it’s shown that one defendant is treated differently than another. In certain circumstances [such as plea deals] it might exceed what we might receive post trial,” Forgie said.
Anderson had no prior history, like most of the others who received probation.
A memo blamed state troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol, who didn't take scene photos or collect the airbag, which could've put Anderson behind the wheel.
An official with FHP told 9 Investigates that neither are standard procedure when responding to crash investigations, and the investigating trooper had also interviewed three eyewitnesses who could’ve testified during a trial and put Anderson, a trained EMT, behind the wheel.
“It's a shame that a leader of our community could leave somebody for dead,” Falcon said.
Cox Media Group