Cop returns to work after crash that killed colleague

DELRAY BEACH — Delray Beach officer Bernenda Marc is back at work three months after a car wreck killed her colleague and left the 26-year-old fighting for her life.

Marc returned to light duty last Monday, while she recovers, said police spokeswoman Dani Moschella.

“It’s great for us to have her back because she is part of the family and we’ve missed her for the last three months,” Moschella said.

The crash happened in April in Key West when investigators said Lacey Morris veered into the path of a 2014 Yamaha Zuma scooter ridden by Officer Christine Braswell, 40, and Marc. The two officers, both from Lake Worth, were off duty and on a three-day vacation.

After the Nissan and Yamaha collided, Braswell and Marc were ejected from the scooter and landed beneath the sedan’s front end.

Braswell died. Marc survived with injuries, including a concussion, four fractured ribs and a lacerated spleen, according to the arrest warrant.

The “crash left me fighting for my life,” she told a courtroom in June. Doctors told her that it is “remarkable I survived,” Marc said.

She told the judge she has “periodic pain and permanent damage that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Morris, who lives in Summerland Key, is accused of smoking marijuana and drinking before driving a Nissan Altima to get fried chicken. Morris had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 after the crash, Key West police said, citing blood test results. The legal limit is .08.

Morris remains jailed on charges including DUI manslaughter with a $170,000 bond after a judge denied a bid to have it reduced in June.

Moschella said Marc will have to be medically cleared before she returns to her former assignment and “still has a ways to go.”

“I know she is happy to be back in the building and will be happier when she is back in her patrol car,” Moschella said.