Two Charged In Teen Crash At Exclusive Ocala Fly-In Community
It was just four blogs ago where we talked about this very thing.
An adult serves minors alcohol. In this case five kids are dead and the adult is facing charges of serving alcohol to underage drinkers.
There is no evidence that alcohol played a role in causing the crash, so she is facing the lesser charges. Civil suits might address the liability issue later.
Here is the story.
Last January, five young men in an expensive car, took a fast ride on a runway in an exclusive fly-in community in Ocala, Florida before crashing and killing everyone in the car.
The fly-in community of Jumbolair Aviation Estates is the gated community where actor John Travolta lives. Early in the morning, the five young men, ages 18 to 20, left a party and piled into a 2008 BMW.
Traveling 120 mph, the car skidded and flew off the end of an 85-foot embankment, became airborne and struck a large tree. The car’;s split in half and three of the five young men were ejected, all were killed at the scene. No one could have survived that crash, regardless of whether you were wearing a seat belt.
The boys came from communities around north Florida including Jacksonville, and were known to be friendly boys, who had many friends. One young man was on the football team at Jacksonville University.
It was not clear if any lived in the gated community.
Five young lives extinguished in one moment.
Now two women have been charged in connection with the accident. All five young men had been at a nearby house party, though the driver was not found with alcohol in his system.
But police are charging Jolane McAlister with providing alcohol to underage drinkers at the party. It is illegal to serve minors.
And now the 20-year-old daughter of Jumbolair’;s owner has turned herself into authorities, charged with making a false statement to law officers who investigated the tragedy. Witness say she let the boys sneak into the house near Runway 36. She told investigators she was not even there.
Thayer’;s boyfriend, Issac Rubin, who died in the car, did have a blood alcohol level of .103.
Thayer is facing a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. More charges are likely forthcoming.
We at Farah & Farah are sorry for the losses suffered by families of the young men who just made a series of bad judgments. People blogging on this case can be very mean spirited, but who among us has not made a bad judgment call? It is a tragedy all around.
