Saturday, August 03, 2024

St. Johns County to pay $6.3M for deputy’s crash. (Noah Hertz, Jacksonville Today)

Good work, Noah Hertz! Our St. Augustine Record stinks on ice under mendacious maladministration by GANNETT hedge fund profiteers. Lugubrious goobers. Good coverage by Noah Hertz in Jacksonville Today, which is now attempting to fill the massive lacuna left by chain gang journalist (GANNETT). I attended St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners meeting, where our one-party rulers did not answer earnest public comment questions.  In future, please attach link to video showing the ineptitude, decrepitude and contempt from our all-Republican satraps on our St. Johns County Board of Courty Commissioners! From Jacksonville Today: 


St. Johns County to pay $6.3M for deputy’s crash

Published on July 16, 2024 at 11:21 am

Five years ago, St. Augustine resident Julia Perez was on her motorcycle when a St. Johns County sheriff’s deputy hit her and her husband. Perez was on a motorcycle and her husband, Thomas Eiland, was on a bicycle. 

The two were wearing helmets and had the right of way, but Deputy Brandon Hetzler was answering a phone call and made a left turn into the two. The crash left Perez unconscious on a ventilator for three months and, when she came to, disabled with a traumatic brain injury and kidney failure. 

Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The crash occurred in 2019, and the St. Johns County Commission on Tuesday approved the payment of $6.3 million from the county coffers to Perez. The payment came after the Florida Legislature ordered the county to pay up.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last month signed into law an order for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office to compensate Perez the $6.3 million to pay for “the injuries and damages she sustained due to the negligence of an employee of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.”

Hetzler, who had been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office for just one year when he hit Perez and Eiland with his police cruiser, is still employed with the Sheriff’s Office.


2 comments:

Earl said...

And because there's no state tax..the people of this county have to pay for a mistake that anyone could have made. I'm not saying they shouldn't pay but with a more evolved and functional government in Florida, the burden could have been lighter on SJC. Again, anyone anywhere could have made that mistake. It was an accident at the end of the day.

Ed Slavin said...

Watch video. Several of our County Commissioners silence, and our County Attorney's unresponsiveness in response to questions indicates they're not qualified to hold office. One-party rule is wrong. Lack of candor is inculpatory. Good work, Mr. Hertz. As Jefferson said, "a public office is a public trust." It's time for them to go.