Driver faces charges in crash that killed 3
Cops sought man, 26, for two years in death of family.
PALM BEACH GARDENS — For nearly two years, James Geoffrey Dameron had evaded charges in a 2015 crash that killed a family of three west of Orlando.
But the 26-year-old’s time on the run ended Tuesday when Florida Highway Patrol troopers spotted him on Florida’s Turnpike in Palm Beach Gardens, the FHP said.
Thanks to information from the Seminole County Sheriff ’s Office, FHP troopers learned Dameron was headed south Tuesday on the turnpike in a white Mercedes SUV. Three troopers waited for a car matching that description and stopped two SUVs before finding Dameron’s, according to Sgt. Kim Montes, FHP spokeswoman.
Troopers tracked Dameron from Martin County, according to an arrest report. At about 5:45 p.m., authorities pulled up next to the rented SUV and saw Dameron driving. By that time, they were in Jupiter. Troopers activated their lights and tried to pull Dameron over. He first pulled off to the right shoulder, then veered left and sped up to 120 mph.
A few miles down the road, Dameron drove down the exit ramp at PGA Boulevard and got stopped in traffic. There troopers took him and his half-brother, 24-yearold Joseph Kieran IV, into custody.
Dameron faces charges of fleeing and eluding, driving with a suspended license and tampering with an electronic monitoring devices after authorities saw he’d wrapped copper and tinfoil around an ankle monitor on his left leg. It was not immediately known why he had the ankle monitor.
Both Dameron and Kieran face methamphetamine and drug equipment possession charges.
Dameron refused to make his first appearance Wednesday before a Palm Beach County judge, so that hearing is rescheduled for today.
Dameron has had an active arrest warrant in the Sept. 6, 2015, Lake County crash that killed a family of three from southern Georgia. Authorities blame inattentiveness on that rear-end wreck that killed two adults and an infant.
According to FHP records, Dameron was speeding just after 4 a.m. that September day on the turnpike in Lake County when he crashed into the back of the family’s 2001 Nissan Maxima.
Dameron’s 2010 Mercedes SUV slammed into a median guardrail, overturned and caught fire. The Maxima crashed into a guardrail on the right shoulder and caught fire.
The driver, Lillian Luna, 20, and Thomas Garza, 23, died at the scene, according to FHP records. One-year-old Brianna Garza was thrown from the car. She died later that day at a hospital.
All three had been properly buckled, records show.
Dameron was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Neither alcohol or drugs appeared to be factors in the crash.
Dameron faces three counts of vehicular homicide and a charge of driving with a suspended license in the wreck. FHP said Dameron has another warrant out for his arrest in Seminole County.