Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Man with spotted record charged in July crash that killed deputy
Darran Johnson lost his driver’s license after a history of lawlessness on the road. But he drove anyway, police say, and it cost a sheriff ’s deputy his life.
Johnson, 32, of Boynton Beach, whizzed past a red light July 21 and rammed into Deputy Benjamin Nimtz, who was heading to a domestic disturbance call, the Broward Sheriff’s Office says.
Deputies took Johnson into custody Wednesday on charges of driving under the influence manslaughter and driving with a suspended license.
Records show Johnson’s license has been suspended at least three times: twice for failing to pay traffic fines and once for failing to complete court-ordered schooling.
He also has two tickets for speeding, one for going 88 in a 70 mph zone in South Carolina in 2014 and another for going 62 mph in a 35 mph zone in Broward in 2019.
Fourteen other violations include tickets for running red lights, failing to stop at stop signs and failing to pay tolls.
Johnson was driving east on Southwest 10th Street in Deerfield Beach about 3 a.m. July 21 when he ran his
Toyota Tundra pickup into the passenger side of Nimtz’s patrol SUV, the Sheriff’s Office said. Johnson’s car rotated and stopped. Nimtz’s Ford Explorer traveled through a grassy swale while rolling over.
Johnson’s arrest affidavit said he was traveling 13 mph over the 45 mph speed limit, and “was under the influence of an alcoholic beverage.”
The 30-year-old Nimtz had his lights and siren activated as he drove south on Military Trail, police said. Records show the call he was responding to was for a woman who said her boyfriend hit her in the head and put his hands around her neck while they were in a car.
Larry Meltzer, an attorney representing Johnson, said paperwork about the case he obtained shows Nimtz was driving 65 mph to 75 mph, leading him to question whether Nimtz bore some of the responsibility for the crash.
“We don’t have the evidence,” Meltzer said. “But certainly we know they were in that intersection simultaneously. The question is: Who was there first? Who had the right of way? And that information is not yet available.”
Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff ’s Office Deputies’ Association, said officers shouldn’t be faulted for going fast when they’re trying to reach someone “as quickly as possible in a dire time of need.”
“Even if the deputy was going 100 mph, he has the green light,” Bell said. “Nobody has the authority to run a red light. [Nimtz] was responding to an emergency call.”
After the crash, Nimtz and Johnson both were taken to Broward Health North, where Nimtz died. Johnson was treated and released later that week, detectives said.
At Johnson’s first court appearance Thursday, he wore a cast and had his left arm in a sling. A judge ordered him to remain jailed without bond.
Nimtz, who joined the Sheriff ’s Office in March 2018, was planning to start a new chapter in his life.
Nimtz lived in West Palm Beach with his wife, Emelie, and their two young children. But he was interviewing with a police department in Indiana, where he planned to join his family who had already moved north. An Army veteran, he was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nimtz was making slightly less than $50,000 a year with a base pay of roughly $23 per hour. A selection committee review of his hiring at the Sheriff ’s Office indicated Nimtz was a good guy who wanted to join the force for “the right reasons.” The notes also say that he was mature and a competitive person.
Court records show Johnson’s next court hearing about the crash has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to iron out whether he’d be eligible for release from jail on bond.
Anyone who has additional information about the July crash is asked to contact traffic homicide Detective Carlos De Jesus at 954-321-4842. Anonymous tips can be given to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 and online at browardcrimestoppers.org.