Sarasota County has denied any wrongdoing on the part of the Sheriff’s Office in the death of Siesta Key resident Donna Chen, according to a letter from Deputy County Attorney Frederick Elbrecht to the family’s legal counsel, Damian Mallard.
Chen was struck and killed Jan. 7, by a car driven by Blake Talman, who was charged with vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter. Deputies made contact with Talman twice before the accident and arrested one of the 23-year-old’s friends for disorderly intoxication.
Mallard gave notice April 25 of a pending lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office for negligence in the incident, which was officially filed in December.
“Based on the applicable facts and law, we do not believe the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office bears any liability for the tragic death of Donna Chen,” said the four-line letter from Elbrecht.
“If they don’t think there was any wrongdoing, we’ll have a jury trial and let the people of Sarasota County decide who’s right and wrong,” Mallard said in a Jan. 3 phone interview.
Contact Alex Mahadevan at alexm@yourobserver.com.
Currently 2 Responses
- 1.
- My heart goes out to the family! Still bothered that this road in this exact same spot can be a nightmare every single day. People try to enjoy it...running, biking, walking...but it is very scary. Children can not even safely cross the road to get to their bus stop without nearly being run down by cars going to fast, texting, running the actual bus as it is stopped, driving into the sidewalk to get around other cars, and then add some alcohol into the mix...DISASTER! It's a shame...no one wants to hear it...but every life counts...and even one preventable loss is too many! wish someone would do something about that road...before there is another horrific tragedy for another family to grieve. RIP Mrs. Chen...I didn't know you, but I think about you at least twice a day while trying to get my little kids to the school bus in one piece!
- 2.
- How many times have we heard this. Police are seldom, if ever, held accountable for their actions or in this case inactions.
- May
21 Humanity Working to End Genocide meeting
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - May
21 Cat Depot: Volunteer Orientation and Cat Socialization Level 1 Training
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm - May
22 Voice Aerobics with Mary Spremulli, MA, CCC-SLP
10:00 am - 11:00 am - May
22 Rhonda Riley: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope
7:00 pm
-
Culinary roots
05/16/13
Trevor Kunk is the chef de cuisine at Blue Hill in New York City’s Greenwich Village, which the James Beard Foundation just named "most outstanding restaurant." -
Bright lights
05/16/13
Sarasota native and resident Bri Oliva made her TV debut May 7, on the "Rachael Ray Show." Oliva was selected to participate in a segment called "Hidden Dangers on the Playground." -
Key to the city
05/02/13
More than 100 community members and leaders, friends and family surprised Paul Thorpe, one of the founding members of the Downtown Association of Sarasota, April 25, at The Gator Club, to show their appreciation and celebrate the strides he’s made for Sarasota over the past four decades.
