Driver gets DUI and homicide charges

PBSO: Acreage man hit woman’s stopped truck

THE ACREAGE — A 43-year-old Acreage man was driving at double the posted speed limit and was at more than double Florida’s legal threshold for intoxication in a July crash that killed a 23-year-old woman, authorities said in arresting him this week.

Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies took Emmett Christian Jr. into custody Wednesday in the July 28 death of Tanner Badgley. The charges he faces include one count each of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter and two counts DUI causing serious bodily injury.

Circuit Judge Donald Hafele set Christian’s bail at $100,000 and ordered that he be placed under court supervision upon his release. Christian remained in custody Thursday evening, Palm Beach County Jail records showed. An attempt to reach the attorney who represented Christian in court was not immediately successful.

Investigators say Badgley died when Christian’s 2019 Honda Accord rear-ended a Ford F-150 pickup as the truck was stopped with its hazard lights flashing on northbound Royal Palm Beach Boulevard near 57th Road North.

Investigators says Badgley and her husband had traveled to the intersection just north of Royal Palm Beach early that morning to help a relative retrieve a vehicle that had become stuck in a ditch the previous evening.

According to a sheriff ’s report made public Thursday, Christian was driving about 90 mph in a 45 mph zone shortly before 12:30 a.m., which was moments before the crash, as he headed north on Royal Palm Beach Boulevard. Investigators say he failed to recognize the roadway hazard in time to avoid the wreck.

At the time of the crash, Christian had a blood alcohol level of more than .160, surpassing the legal threshold of .08 for intoxication, the PBSO report

said.

Christian and two friends reportedly were returning from an adult nightclub in West Palm Beach, where they drank alcoholic beverages, according to the PBSO report. Christian drank two beers at his friends’ home before traveling to the nightclub, the report said.

Badgley and another person were seated in the pickup and were talking when the vehicle was struck by Christian’s Honda, causing the pickup to overturn and throwing Badgley onto the roadway, the arrest report said. She died at the scene.

Christian’s two passengers each suffered serious injuries, while the second occupant of the pickup sustained cuts and scrapes, the arrest report said.

Badgley was a mother of two, according to a GoFundMe page set up in the days after the crash by her husband, Joseph.