No bond for driver charged in fatal crash

Prosecutors: Man who killed deputy tampered with device to hide his drinking

The driver who killed a Broward sheriff ’s deputy in an early morning crash last summer will await his trial in jail, a Broward judge has ruled.

Darran Johnson, 33, of Boynton Beach, had been free on a bond of more than $100,000 in January when the bracelet he was wearing to monitor alcohol consumption recorded he had apparently been drinking. The device was later blocked from being able to read anything at all.

Prosecutors said the block was a deliberate attempt by Johnson to tamper with the device to hide his drinking. Johnson is charged with DUI man slaughter, and avoiding alcohol was a condition of his pretrial release.

“We can’t tell whether he consumed alcohol because he tampered with it!” prosecutor Ross Weiner said. “Only he knows what he did with that device.”

Johnson’s lawyer said it was a malfunction.

Both sides argued their cases in front of Broward Circuit Judge Andrew Siegel last week, though Johnson did not take the stand. Siegel issued his ruling in writing late Monday, offering no explanation for denying Johnson’s motion to have his bond reinstated.

“We are incredibly disappointed with the ruling,” said defense lawyer Michael D. Weinstein. “It is absolutely counterintuitive that a machine that malfunctioned just a day earlier would suddenly be reliable enough to hold someone in custody who is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

Deputy Benjamin “Benji” Nimtz was on his way to a domestic disturbance call early on July 21 when his vehicle collided with Johnson’s at Southwest 10th Street and Military Trail in Deerfield Beach. Nimtz died at the scene.

Nimtz