A 15-month Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation has cleared the Polk County Sheriff's Office and a former deputy of responsibility in a fatal 2002 crash.
According to the Lakeland Ledger, in the report released on Wednesday, April 14, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement stated former Sgt. Scott Lawson was not responsible for the crash that killed a Polk County, FL teenager. Lawson was pursuing the car on a dark and curvy road in his unmarked car, without lights or sirens activated.
The FDLE report also found the Polk County Sheriff's Office did not hide evidence in its investigation of the crash.
"There is no cover-up," Chief Gary Hester of the Polk County Sheriff's Office stated Wednesday.
The FDLE reported that "private investigator Wayne Tucci ... found no evidence of damage (to Lawson's car) and photographed the vehicle from different angles."
But the Polk County Sheriff's Office found that Lawson had violated the agency's policies in the chase.
The 15-mile chase reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour ended in the pre-dawn hours of May 31, 2002, about 10 miles east of Lake Hamilton, in Polk County, FL.
With Lawson's unmarked car close behind, Adam Jacoby, of Dundee, FL crashed his Volkswagen Passat into pine trees near a curve on Lake Hatchineha Road, in Lakeland, FL shearing his car in two, and ejecting and killing 16-year-old Miles White, his lone passenger.
Jacoby is the son of former state Rep. Marty Bowen, a Haines City, FL Republican and member of a prominent citrus family.
And Tucci was working for Jacoby's defense team.
Traffic detectives investigating the accident blamed Jacoby, who was 18 years old at the time.
Traffic fatalities have been on the rise in the State of Florida since 1996. Florida's fatality rate reached all record high for a third consecutive year with a reported number of 3,533 traffic fatalities in the State of Florida during 2005.
According to the Florida Legislator's Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Florida's population has reached over 18,000,000 since 2005.
