Driver charged in death of his teenage passenger

Parents of young adults who were longtime friends were in court Monday, when a son was accused of killing a daughter in a crash that happened after a police chase.

Fabreece Lorenz Ductan had been friends with Abigail Espinoza since elementary Now prosecutors say he should be held responsible for her death.

The 18-year-old woman died when Ductan, 20, crashed his car while running from police in December and she was his passenger, authorities say.

Five months after the crash, whether Coconut Creek police should have chased his car in the first place is part of the department’s ongoing investi- gation.

Ductan, of Margate, appeared in court Monday. Ductan faces charges including vehicular homicide, fleeing or eluding law enforcement resulting in death and reckless driving.

The fatal Dec. 2 collision with another car on Rock Island Road in Margate began about five miles away, at the Olivine at the Township apartschool. ment complex in Coconut Creek.

Ductan, who had an open felony drug case at that time, took off from the apartment complex in his father’s 2002 Buick LaSabre, police say. Favata said he had a “grave concern” that the driver posed an “imminent threat of physical harm to the public.”

Police chased the Buick for 2 or 3 miles, along West Sample Road and then south, along Rock Island Road into Margate where the Buick collided with another car.

Six months after the crash, Ductan turned himself in to jail on Sunday to be arrested.

During his bond court hearing Monday in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom, Fabreece’s father, Fedelait Ductan, covered his face after Abigail’s mother, Juanita Diaz Espinoza, testified.

“We have been through a lot of suffering, sorrow and sadness, because we lost our beloved daughter in a crash,” Espinoza told Broward Judge Kim Theresa Mollica.

Hyram Montero, a lawyer for the Espinoza family, said after the hearing, “The family is still grieving and will continue to grieve for the rest of their lives because the loss of a child is something a person never gets over . ... They have faith in the legal system and they have faith the judicial system will serve justice.”

Montero declined to say whether Espinoza family is angry at their friend or the Coconut Creek police for pursuing him, saying his office is still investigating.

“The family is not in a position to place blame,” Montero said.

But the Broward County state attorney’s office has blamed Fabreece Ductan for Abigail Espinoza’s death.

“That crash ultimately killed the passenger, Ms. Espinoza,” prosecutor Veronica Rivera said during the bond court hearing.

Ductan’s defense attorney, John Weekes, said Monday the Coconut Creek police investigation of his client was flawed from its start.

An unrelated noise complaint brought Coconut Creek Police Officer Rocco Favata to the Olivine at the Township apartments that are west of Florida’s Turnpike and north of West Sample Road.

In the parking lot, Ductan and Espinoza were in the Buick, and Favata said in a report that he smelled alcohol and marijuana and saw liquor bottle and a jar containing a leafy substance.

Favata also reported that the driver “appeared extremely spacey” and his eyes were “glassy and bloodshot.”

But a Dec. 5 drug test of Ductan — of blood and urine taken because of his open case — came back clear, his lawyer said.

“I would like to see if his fingerprints are on the marijuana and/or the alcohol that was allegedly found in the car,” Weekes said after the hearing. “Because his crime lab report came back that he did not have drugs or alcohol in his system.”

Margate police allege approximately two pounds of cannabis were found in the car, and the prosecution has also charged Ductan with intent to sell or deliver it.

During the police pursuit, officers raced nearly double the speed limit and attempted a traffic stop in the 7000 block of West Sample Road.

Coconut Creek police said Monday that their pursuit of Ductan ended prior to the crash.

Their officers’ in-car camera system, which logs speeds and GPS locations, recorded the officers hitting speeds above 70 mph where limits ranged from 40 mph to 45 mph. One officer had sped up to 91 mph on West Sample Road to reach Ductan’s car. The posted limit on West Sample Road is 45 mph.

After the attempted traffic stop and about 1.5 miles farther away on southbound Rock Island Road, Ductan failed to negotiate a curve, struck a median and the Buick rotated and skidded into the northbound lanes and oncoming traffic. It collided with a northbound car in the 2400 block, a Margate police report said.

The Buick’s data recorder said it was traveling about 92 mph five seconds before impact.

After the crash, Ductan, Espinoza and the driver of the other car were all taken to North Broward Hospital in Margate, where Espinoza died.

Mollica, the judge presiding at the first appearance hearing, ordered bonds of $93,600 for Ductan. She also ruled that if he is able to post bail, that he wear an ankle bracelet, not drink or take drugs, cannot drive and must surrender his passport.

In 2016, three of the Coconut Creek police officers involved in the pursuit of Ductan were disciplined in a separate case for failing to call off a dangerous chase, with one of the officers lying to a supervisor that he had backed off.

Days later, a lieutenant emailed the chief and other department staff to say the officers needed to face swift consequences. Their actions “are not only reprehensible but rise to the level of incompetence,” he wrote.

Those officers are among four under investigation in the Dec. 2 chase and subsequent crash that left Espinoza dead.