News

Victim's Family To Sue Sheriff's Office Over Chase Crash

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two Orlando families plan to sue the Orange County Sheriff's Office after their loved ones were killed in a police chase.

In April, deputies chased Jose Maisonet-Maldonado from Blanchard Park to downtown Orlando. He was wanted for stabbing his girlfriend to death, but the crash at the end of the chase also killed two other young women.

Amanda Taylor, 28, and Fransesca Jeffry, 22, were best friends who worked as radiology technicians at Florida Hospital. They were killed when Maisonet-Maldonado crashed into their car going more than 100 miles an hour.

Orange County deputies were going just as fast trying to catch him after he admitted to stabbing and killing his girlfriend.

Taylor's and Jeffry's family members hired attorney Mel Wright, because they say the chase unnecessarily killed two innocent people.

"He had already killed the person he was after and he was not a threat to the public," Wright said.

Deputies chased Maisonet-Maldonado from east Orange County, near the Blanchard Park area; that's about nine miles from where the accident happened. To get there, they had to come down Colonial Drive, a street that's notoriously busy, especially on a Saturday night.

"They have to also do a risk versus benefit analysis of whether a high speed chase, through heavy streets, is appropriate," Wright said.

The sheriff's office is still doing an internal review and refused to comment on the pending lawsuit. Department policy says deputies can chase if a suspect is wanted for one of 12 different crimes, including murder.

Wright argues, deputies could've easily found Maisonet-Maldonado, because he had been arrested four times before.

The families can get up to $100,000, but they know that money will never replace the lives lost.

Maisonet-Maldonado is still in the Orange County jail. In May, he was indicted by a grand jury for killing Taylor and Jeffrey. He's also charged with murdering his girlfriend, Berlitz Alvelo.

Previous Stories: April 25, 2010: Man Kills Girlfriend, Kills Two Others During Chase

0