Police chased suspect at near double speed limit
Passenger, 18, died in Margate crash
Coconut Creek police officers hit speeds of nearly double the speed limit during a Dec. 2 chase that spanned for miles and ended in a woman’s death, according to newly released videos.
The dashboard-camera footage from four of the officers’ vehicles was obtained by the Sun Sentinel in response to a public records request.
Police said they were trying to stop a driver, Fabreece Ductan, 19, of Margate, who took off after an officer had smelled alcohol and marijuana coming from the parked car he was in. Ductan crashed, and his pas- senger, Abigail Espinoza, 18, died.
The police’s in-car camera system, which logs speeds and GPS location, recorded two officers clocking in at up to 78 mph on Rock Island Road during the chase. The posted limit is 40 mph.
Before the chase began, anMonday other officer had sped up to 91 mph on Sample Road to reach the suspect’s car. The posted limit on Sample Road is 45 mph.
While police are investigating whether Ductan faces any charges, they also are looking into whether the officers did anything wrong. Police in Margate, where the cars came to a
final stop, said Tuesday their investigation into the crash continues as well.
Coconut Creek police have a pursuit policy that requires officers to “balance the need to stop a suspect against the potential threat to themselves and the public created by a pursuit.” There is a list of 16 “forcible felonies” where officers may chase someone, including for crimes such as murders, carjackings or kidnappings.
Coconut Creek Detective Rod Skirvin, vice president of the Police Benevolent Association, said the policy generally prohibits chases for minor crimes because of the risk of an accident. But he said guidelines allow for other factors to be considered, including that the chase was not in a residential area, and it happened at night, meaning fewer cars were on the road. “It kind of changes with the situation,” he said.
Skirvin said officers wanted to “get a potentially dangerous driver off the road, a potentially impaired driver.”
Police said the incident began when an officer went to a Coconut Creek apartment complex Dec. 2 on an unrelated call and saw Espinoza and a man sitting in a parked car. The officer smelled alcohol and marijuana, and inside the car he saw a liquor bottle, as well as a mason jar with a leafy substance. The driver took off.
Dashboard-camera video shows police pursuing the car on Sample Road; the sound of their engines revving is heard on the recordings. About 12:30 a.m. Ductan crashed into another car after heading down Rock Island Road, police said.
The agency identified four officers — Rocco Favata, Chris Lewis, Cristian Salas and David Morales — in the chase. While the dashcam footage released to the Sun Sentinel doesn’t show the moment of the crash, it shows at least five or six officers showing up moments after the crash happened.
The footage leaves unclear which officer was closest to Ductan just before the crash happened.
Later, as one officer inspects the damaged car, he is heard saying that he sees a “bunch of weed” inside of it.
Skirvin said some officers stopped the chase after the driver made a U-turn and they “got caught up in traffic.” Others, he said, stopped the pursuit on their own. “The guy got away, it wasn’t worth it to pursue the guy . ... It seemed he was driving too crazy.”
Ductan could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Authorities said Favata was temporarily removed from the K-9 division and assigned to road patrol. He was instructed to leave his dog home. Lewis was temporarily taken off the SWAT team, and Morales, who drove an unmarked car, was reassigned to road patrol.
Moments after the crash, the video shows, police checked if Espinoza was OK.
“Abby, hang in there, all right?” an officer tells her while she’s trapped in the passenger seat. “We’re going to get you out of here. Hang in there.”
She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
Coconut Creek police have a pursuit policy that requires officers to “balance the need to stop a suspect against the potential threat to themselves and the public created by a pursuit.”