Report: Lake County deputy violated policy during chase that ended with deadly crash

A Lake County Sheriff’s Office corporal has been disciplined for a chase in April that ended with the death of a 19-year-old.

Cpl. Joshua Creech tried to pull over Wilverson Darius, who ran a red light on Washington Street in Minneola, an internal investigation report said.

Darius sped up and turned left on Washington Street into the wrong lane of traffic, according to the report.

Read: Driver faces homicide charge after crash that killed Winter Garden man, troopers say

Creech wrote in his report that the driver turned onto a dead end street and stopped, but when Creech approached the Mustang, the driver sped up again and drove past him.

Creech said Darius nearly hit him, but investigators could not determine if that was the case.

Other deputies began to chase the driver as well, and the driver eventually crossed the Orange County line, where Creech and the other deputies ended the chase.

According to the Sheriff’s Office police, when a pursuit is canceled, deputies turn off their emergency lights and sirens, and go in the opposite direction of the suspect, but in this case, investigators said Creech and at least three other deputies turned off their lights but kept following Darius until it reached Orange County

The crash happened a short time later, when Florida Highway Patrol troopers said Darius turned left from Colonial Drive onto Oakland Avenue, lost control into the opposite lanes, and hit another driver head-on.

The driver of the other vehicle, Carlos Santiago,19, died.

Investigators said Darius was going about 130 mph.

In the report, Creech told investigators he kept up the pursuit as long as he did, because he wanted to make sure the suspect made it through the curves in the road.

The backup deputies said they stayed with the corporal in case he wanted to meet somewhere or ran into the suspect.

According to the investigation, the deputies violated policy by not ending the pursuit.

It also said running a red light should not have warranted a chase.

Creech was stripped of 10 vacations days and given a written reprimand

Cox Media Group