A careless driving citation issued to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputy involved in a May accident that killed a Pennsylvania tourist driving an electric car was dismissed Tuesday.
The citation, careless driving causing a death, was tossed after no witnesses to the crash appeared at a court hearing and circuit Judge David Audlin granted a defense motion requesting dismissal, according to court records.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers cited Deputy Scott Ward in August after completing an investigation of the accident in which Ward rear-ended an electric car on U.S. 1 on Boca Chica Key. Randall Graft, 54, of North Huntingdon, Pa., died from injuries received when he was thrown from the vehicle.
Under Florida law, a law enforcement officer or a witness of the crash must testify that they saw the defendant commit the alleged violation. There were no such witnesses in this crash, said defense attorney Anthony Livoti.
"Statements made by [defendants] in order to complete a crash or action report cannot be used against them civilly or criminally unless it's a criminal trial," Livoti said. "If you are charged with a crime, then statements made by you to the officer could be used in court."
Ward remained on the scene with troopers for hours but no witnesses to the crash came forward, Livoti said.
"Deputy Ward has not taken this lightly," Livoti said. "He is very upset by what happened and you have no idea how awful he feels for this family. We certainly understand what they must be going through, especially this time of year. This was a tragic accident."
A Sheriff's Office Internal Affairs investigation found Ward violated a general order regarding the careless handling or intentional abuse of equipment/weapons/vehicles. He was suspended for four days, received a letter of reprimand and was ordered to go through retraining on Sheriff's Office policies -- all of which has been completed, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Deputy Becky Herrin.
Graft, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the small electric car. He was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where he died. Ward was on his way to work patrolling Higgs Beach in Key West.
Neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the crash, troopers found, but Ward had been looking at an in-car computer at the time of the crash, according to the FHP investigation report. He reportedly was going 59 mph in a 55 mph zone and Graft was going 20 mph.
Video from a patrol car camera shows the electric car was partially out of its lane and that Ward apparently didn't see it until it was too late, Sheriff's Col. Rick Ramsay said after the crash.
Ward began working for the Sheriff's Office in August 2007. His personnel file contains both a letter of commendation and another for a sustained neglect of duty offense. The latter involved "careless handling or intentional abuse of equipment or weapons," in this case a squad car. He struck a concrete utility pole in his patrol car in February 2010. He received a letter of counseling for the offense.
He remained working in road patrol as of Wednesday, Herrin said.
alinhardt@keysnews.com
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