Officer Fired after Speeding Kills Motorist
This was a horrible story that resulted in the death of an 86-year-old man, Matthew Ogden. When Officer Marcus Kilpatrick was chasing a motorist for, of all things a tinted window violation, he rammed into Ogden’s pickup ejecting him from the vehicle and killing him. A News4Jax report states that Kilpatrick was only injured slightly in the 98 mph crash in a 40 mph zone. Ever since the January incident, Kilpatrick has been on desk duty taken off the streets which is a good thing. In January he pleaded no contest to culpable negligence. Now he has been fired after waiving his right to a hearing to challenge the decision to let him go. Sheriff John Rutherford wanted him out of the sheriff’s office and off the roads for good.
While initial reports were that Kirkpatrick had his lights and sirens on, later reports said that was not certain. Witnesses said they did not see any lights. Kilpatrick violated the law when he chased the suspect for the dark window violation. He’s been sentenced to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service. All the family of Ogden wants is for the sheriff’s office to change its vehicle chase policy. After the Ogden family sued the city and won a $200,000 judgment, all they still wanted was to change the policy. JSO says the wreck was the result of one officer; not a failure of the entire system. Kirkpatrick is lucky he was not charged with vehicular manslaughter as the average citizen would. Some accident lawyers in Jacksonville would say that a change in policy, or at the very least, an airing of what the policy is would do a world of good for both law enforcement and the public, who is increasingly afraid of officers who speed.
