Driver ran light in four-car crash that killed passenger, police say

BOCA RATON — One person died Saturday morning and several others were injured after a four-car crash in Boca Raton.

Duane Williamson, 28, of Deerfield Beach, was speeding in a 2006 Audi station wagon south on Dixie Highway and ran a red light shortly before 2:30 a.m., hitting a 2021 Honda Civic, Boca Raton Police said in a news release Monday. The driver of the Honda and two passengers were traveling east on West Palmetto Park Road.

The impact forced the Honda through the intersection and into two other cars stopped at the red light on north Dixie Highway, police said.

A passenger in the back of the Honda was ejected and died at the scene.

The second passenger fled the scene but was later found at West Boca Medical Center. The Honda driver was taken to Delray Medical Center as a trauma alert, police said.

Williamson was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The people in the other two cars were not injured, police said.

A criminal investigation is underway. The names of the victims are being withheld under Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that allows crime victims to shield their identifying information from the public.

Williamson has several previous felony cases and criminal traffic offenses in Palm Beach County and Broward County, court records show.

In February 2017, Williamson was arrested on charges of fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer at high speed, failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving non-serious injury, leaving a crash scene involving property damage, reckless driving and others, court records show.

Williamson admitted he ran from officers because his license was suspended and he had not registered or insured the car he was driving, the report said. He had been on probation until last September.

In Palm Beach County, he was arrested in October 2020 after a Boca Raton Police officer stopped him for driving at night without headlights, a probable cause affidavit said, and discovered he had an active warrant in Broward County for violation of his felony probation.

A gun was also found in the car Williamson was driving, leading to charges of a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed firearm without a license, the affidavit said. He was sentenced to nine months in county jail, according to court records.

Authorities ask anyone with information about the crash to call Officer Adam Reisner at 561-620-6121.