Monday, January 04, 2010

Officer Marcus Kilpatrick Pleads No Contest to Killing 86-Year-old Driver

A police officer on Monday pleaded no contest to charges connected to a crash during a high-speed chase that killed a 86-year-old driver nearly one year ago.

Officer Marcus Kilpatrick pleaded no contest to culpable negligence and was sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service. Under the terms of the plea agreement, there will be no record of the conviction if Kilpatrick successfully completes his probation.

An Florida Highway Patrol investigation into the Jan. 14, 2009, wreck found that Kilpatrick's patrol car was going 98 mph on Merrill Road when he struck a pickup truck driven by Matthew Ogden Jr.

Matthew Ogden died in January when his pickup truck was struck by a JSO patrol car.
Ogden was ejected from the pickup and died at the scene. Kilpatrick received a minor injury and fully recovered.

Prior to sentencing on Monday, Kilpatrick apologized to Ogden's family. The family told the court they did not want to see Kilpatrick go to jail, but wanted the sheriff's office to change their vehicle chase procedures.

Kilpatrick, 30, told investigators he was trying to pull over a vehicle for a window-tint violation at the time, but the FHP said there were conflicting reports about whether the marked patrol car had lights and siren on at the time of the crash.

"Visibility was not a problem. Apparently, the driver of the pickup truck didn't see the patrol car coming," FHP Lt. Bill Leeper said at the time.

Kilpatrick was placed on desk duty after the wreck. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office told Channel 4 that it was waiting on the state's case to be concluded before an internal investigation would be conducted. Undersheriff Frank Mackesy said an internal affairs probe of the wreck will take place and its recommendations forwarded to the sheriff.

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