Emotions ran high in a Key West courtroom Friday when a woman accepted a plea deal and was ordered to prison for the DUI-related crash that killed Delray Beach Police Officer Christine Braswell.
Lacy Morris, 33, will spend 10 years in state prison followed by two years of community control, one year of probation, DUI school, community service hours and will permanently lose her driver license.
On April 8, 2017, Braswell, 40, and fellow Delray Beach Police Officer Bernenda Marc, 25, were vacationing and riding a scooter in Key West when it collided with Morris’ sedan.
Morris, of Summerland Key, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 after the crash, Key West police said. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.
Morris was charged with DUI manslaughter; DUI with serious bodily injury, DUI with property damage and possession of marijuana less than 20 grams, according to court records.
Marc was critically injured in the crash and spent about five months recovering before returning to work.
Tears flowed from Braswell’s friends and family members — and from Morris — during comments to Monroe County Judge Mark Jones at the hearing.
“It’s your fault that I spent years to heal physically but not really mentally,” Marc told Morris during the hearing, according to WPLG-Ch. 10.
“I hope Christine’s memory impacts your life. You could have avoided this by calling a cab or a friend, but on April 8 you chose differently,” Marc said.
Barbara Braswell, who also addressed the court during the hearing, later said the process has left her with little consolation about her daughter’s death.
“It doesn’t change the fact that she’s still gone,” she told WPLG.
Morris, shackled and wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, choked back tears and apologized during the hearing. She is the target of a wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by Braswell’s family.
Braswell, who joined the Delray Beach police in 2005, was on the department’s S.W.A.T. team and was also a trained sniper.
She was a mentor to Marc and also served as a field training instructor at the police academy at Broward College.
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