The Palm Beach Post reported recently on the sentencing of a 36-year-old man convicted for his role in a car crash that involved members of the Jupiter Police Department.
The suspect was found guilty in February of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude, driving without a valid driver’s license, and driving with an unassigned license plate due to his involvement in a crash involving Jupiter Police back in May 2019.
In that incident, the police said the man was driving down Indiantown Road in a BMW when several officers attempted a traffic stop due to unregistered tags. After he failed to stop, one police vehicle sideswiped him and then he was in a head-on collision with another officer who was driving the wrong direction down a street.
The man’s attorneys argued that the chain of events was caused by the police’s actions and the man shouldn’t be held responsible. In addition, a now-former Jupiter Police detective filed an ethics complaint with Palm Beach County government alleging that the charges were an attempt to cover up by the officers who caused the wreck. The former detective also filed a civil lawsuit claiming he was retaliated against for not cooperating in the cover-up. Both have been dismissed.
Due to prior convictions on the man’s record and mandatory sentencing guidelines, the judge sentenced him to thirty years in prison.
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