Deputy won’t be charged in crash that put teen in coma

A Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputy won’t face criminal charges after being accused of running a stop sign and causing a crash that left a young woman in a coma.

The State Attorney’s Office decided Thursday not to file charges against Michael D’Avanzo, who was 25 at the time of the crash, because “the evidence provided cannot prove all legally required elements of the crime alleged,” according to a document obtained by South Florida Sun Sentinel news partner, WPEC-CBS12. This goes against the Delray Beach police recommendation that he be charged with two counts of reckless driving with serious injury.

Farrah Fox, 18 at the time, had just finished her first year at University of Central Florida, hoping to become a aeronautics engineer when she was left in a coma from the crash on July 15. Fox reportedly has since come out of the coma.

A memo from Assistant State

Attorney Laura Burkhart Laurie details the reasoning behind not filing charges.

Laurie said there is evidence that leads prosecutors to believe a large tree was blocking the stop sign and therefore “anyone going at or above the speed limit would have been involved in this crash.”

The tree has since been trimmed by the homeowners and their property insurance has offered a settlement to all parties in both vehicles, according to Laurie.

“This information would be admissible to show that the fault lied with the improper maintenance of the tree, which will bolster their position that D’Avanzo didn’t see the stop sign,” she said.

Laurie also said police failed to provide clear evidence for some details they included in their initial report.

The memo states police seemingly indicated that D’Avanzo’s six passengers could have overloaded his vehicle and contributed to the crash. However, Laurie indicates “there is no evidence of this and cannot be considered as it would not be a proper argument to try to establish reckless driving.”

Laurie also said police allegedly did not do any mathematical calculations to determine the amount of time it would take to stop at that particular intersection.

“I think this is important because the defense would hire an expert to determine if any vehicle could stop even at the speed limit, thereby negating their client’s guilt by utilizing a skid to stop,” she said.

What data investigators did collect at the scene “seems consistent with his statement in which he says he stopped at the prior intersection and then slowed as he approached the upcoming intersection but didn’t see a stop sign,” Laurie said.

“I cannot show that he acted with a conscious and intentional indifference to the consequences,” Laurie said. “He stated he did not see the stop sign and there is competent evidence he didn’t.”

The criminal charges D’Avanzo would have faced would have been third-degree felonies. He would have faced up to five years in prison.

D’Avanzo joined the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in January 2017 and is a road-patrol deputy. He has remained on active duty, PBSO said.

Fox’s family did not comment on the news the deputy won’t face charges.

Instead, her father, Ira Fox, said, “we are focused on Farrah’s recovery, and we are doing whatever we can to help Farrah to get better.”