JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is getting answers about why the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office did not check to see if a driver was under the influence after he hit and killed a teenager on Lem Turner Road Sunday night, even though the agency knew he tweeted about drinking the night of the mishap.
Driver Keenan Slaughter tweeted song lyrics the night he struck and killed 16-year-old Trevius Williams about drinking "lean" -- a mix of cough syrup and soda – about two hours before the crash was reported.
"If that was in your system, you shouldn't have been even on the road. You shouldn't have been driving," said Penny Hayes, a friend of Trevius' family who said she gave him a dollar to go to the convenience store Sunday night.
Slaughter hit Trevius three minutes after he left the store.
"I lay in my bed every night and just cry because I miss him," Hayes said.
Officer Melissa Bujeda, a JSO spokeswoman, said officers did not do a field sobriety test, Breathalyzer or blood-alcohol test on Slaughter because officers had no reasonable suspicion he was impaired.
A traffic crash report noted that Slaughter was distracted by a electronic communication device.
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A tweet from JSO shows the department knew about Slaughter's Twitter account at least 20 minutes before the report shows investigators cleared the scene.
"Just because someone tweets something you can't assume it to be true and factual. He was tweeting lyrics of a song. You can Google it. What do you want us to do about that?" Bujeda said in an email to Action News Jax.
Action News Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson sees it differently.
“They should take it seriously,” Jefferson said. “Even with the words or lyrics from a song, he still may be expressing what he did."
Action News Jax called and texted Slaughter on Tuesday to get his side of the story, but we have not gotten a response.
Slaughter also tweeted a photo of Trevius' body lying in the road in a pool of blood the night of the crash. Slaughter’s Twitter page is now set to private.
Trevius' mother, Connie Coles, said Tuesday she wants criminal charges against Slaughter and plans to pursue a civil lawsuit against him.
“If he had any remorse, he didn't show it by immediately running over my child and jumping out if his car, taking a picture of my son laying in the middle of a highway dying instead of dialing 911,” Coles said.
JSO said her son was not in a crosswalk when Slaughter hit him. Trevius died at the hospital.
The investigation is ongoing and Slaughter is not facing any charges at this time.
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