A Broward Sheriff’s deputy who was accused of reckless driving and driving under the influence in a 2022 crash that injured a man will not be charged.
Deputy Carlos Hernandez was arrested several months after he was involved in the crash in May 2022 in his unmarked BSO car, a 2015 Ford Taurus. He was driving at 77 mph moments before crashing into the back of a 2018 Kia Sportage in Pembroke Pines shortly before 6 a.m. The speed limit in the area was 45 mph, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release about his arrest.
The Kia hit a tree and flipped over onto its roof and the driver, John Pierson, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital with a fractured spine.
Hernandez was initially accused of reckless driving and driving under the influence, though the DUI charges were not formally filed and the remaining reckless driving charges against him — one felony and three misdemeanors — were dropped at a hearing on Jan. 19. A separate civil lawsuit is pending.
Broward Sheriff’s deputy charged with DUI and reckless driving after rear-ending car while speeding
Paramedics and law enforcement arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and took Pierson to the hospital, and a Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived to investigate nearly two hours after the crash. The detective thought Hernandez smelled of alcohol, and Hernandez’s voice in the 911 call was slow and slurred, a close-out memo from the State Attorney’s Office said. The detective started a DUI investigation.
Once Hernandez learned of the DUI investigation, almost three hours after the crash, he asked to be taken to the hospital for a head injury, the memo said. Paramedics did not note in their reports any signs that Hernandez was impaired. He refused to give blood samples at the hospital, and the memo said it appeared he was not asked to give a breath sample “due to transporting him to the hospital.”
Hernandez told a nurse he drank alcohol several hours before the crash, but the memo does not say whether he specified how much. Two witnesses said they were with Hernandez at a club that night but denied knowing whether Hernandez had been drinking, the memo said.
Pierson’s wife came to the scene after the crash, and Hernandez told her that her husband caused the crash by turning in front of him. The wife did not see any signs that Hernandez was impaired, the memo said.
A deputy ended the DUI investigation at the hospital because Hernandez did not show any signs of impairment, though the close-out memo noted it was four hours after the crash. The prosecutor who filed the case filed charges of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury based on information in initial reports, the memo said, noting that there was “insufficient” evidence for a DUI charge.
Other law enforcement officers and witnesses were deposed and said they did not see any signs Hernandez was impaired at the scene, the memo said.
Both Hernandez’s car and Pierson’s car were sold after the crash rather than being kept for evidence, according to the memo. The Sheriff’s Office told the State Attorney’s Office an investigating deputy was “unaware that the victim suffered serious bodily injuries until he met with Mr. Pierson on May 27th” and learned that he had to wear a back brace and work on light duty.
“BSO policy is that they do not normally retain vehicles involved in misdemeanor related offenses,” the close-out memo said. “BSO attempted to regain custody of the vehicles but the Kia Sportage had been sold as salvage by the insurer and the Ford Taurus had similarly been sold/disposed on June 14, 2022.”
Prosecutors cannot prove a reckless driving charge based on speed alone unless the speed is “grossly excessive,” the memo said. Case law also holds that broken bones that can heal do not qualify as serious bodily injury, according to the memo.
“Without more than the speeding allegation, (i.e. possible DUI) and without further medical evidence that the injuries are permanent and debilitating, the discovery process cast doubt on the State’s ability to sustain the charges,” the memo said.
Hernandez was hired in 2017. After his arrest, he was suspended without pay, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time. Carey Codd, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said Friday he is still suspended without pay and the Internal Affairs Unit’s investigation is ongoing.
Hernandez’s defense attorney Michael White in an email last week declined to comment on the case due to the pending civil lawsuit.
Alexa Delgado, one of the attorneys representing Pierson in the civil case, said the lawsuit is continuing now that the criminal case has concluded.
The civil complaint was filed by Pierson and his wife in March 2023 and names Hernandez and Sheriff Gregory Tony as defendants. A filing in the civil lawsuit said Pierson’s left arm, back and neck were injured.
“Following the accident, he did suffer a fractured vertebrae, his injuries were significant and he’s still feeling the effects of that accident, the injuries today,” Delgado said.