Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods has said the suspect fleeing from deputies is to blame for a crash that claimed the life of a Villager and another woman.
The pursuit this past Friday night claimed the life of 57-year-old Denise Allen of The Villages.
She had been a passenger in a 2015 Lincoln driven by 29-year-old Brittany Chmilarski of Ocala which had been northbound at 10:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 301 in Marion County. Jaquard Cuyler, 26, of Wildwood, driving a 2013 VW Jetta had been fleeing at a high rate of speed from Marion County sheriff’s deputies when he failed to stop at a red light and struck the vehicle in which Allen and Chmilarski had been traveling, according to an accident report from the Florida Highway Patrol.
The VW Jetta went on to collide with a 2008 Chrysler Sebring driven by 70-year-old James Livers of The Villages. He and a passenger, 45-year-old Denise Anderson of Keswick, Ohio, escaped injury.
Allen and Chmilarski were pronounced dead at the scene by Marion County Fire Rescue.
Cuyler later died of injuries suffered in the crash.
Sheriff Woods has since said his deputies are not to blame for the death of the two women, but that Cuyler is the one to blame.
The MCSO pursuit policy allows a deputy pursuing a vehicle the discretion to initiate, continue or discontinue the pursuit, unless ordered otherwise by a supervisor.
