ORLANDO, Fla. — Driving while high is leading to serious crashes on our local roads, and in some cases death.
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Law enforcement experts believe the numbers are severely under-reported because of the lack of technology and enforcement tools.
Families who have lost loved ones to drug-impaired drivers believe it’s time for Florida to consider sweeping changes.
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Pictures and severe injuries that will last a lifetime are all that’s left for the migrant workers who were headed to work at a farm in Marion County when their bus was involved in a crash.
It would become one of the most horrific highway crashes in Central Florida, caused when Bryan Howard, who admitted he was high on a mix of marijuana oil and prescription pills lost control of his car and headed to a methadone clinic.
He’s entered a not-guilty plea for DUI manslaughter charges.
In a recorded audio interview that lasted more than two hours, Howard told state troopers investigating the cause of the crash that he was confused and claimed the bus driver hit him. “I was driving as safe as possible,” he said, noting that he had recently been involved in another crash.
Eight people were killed, and more than 40 seriously injured, including a migrant worker describing what he remembered in a separate audio recording.
“Hitting the tree and very violently him being thrown from one side of the bus to the other as the bus overturned,” Jose Manuel Pacheco Leone said through a translator.
Through the years, Channel 9 News has done extensive reporting on people who have been arrested and charged with DUI because of alcohol impairment, but we asked state troopers if drugs are a problem, too.
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“It’s a very big problem. If you’re at a .08 or above, obviously you’re assumed to be under the influence of alcohol, but drugs, there’s no limit standard,” said FHP Lt. Channing Taylor. “The legislature has not established a certain level of drugs in your system to be considered impaired per se. So, we have to prove that impairment through the behaviors of the driver.”
Law enforcement, in Florida, is only allowed to force a driver to take a blood test when a crash causes serious injury or death, leading to a felony charge. And even then, a warrant is required.
Lt. Taylor showed 9 Investigates some of the vehicles involved in DUI crashes that are kept ahead of trial, so we could see just how much damage can be done when driving while high.
All of the cars are unrecognizable, making it easy to comprehend why the crash victims can suffer life-long injuries or death.
Lt. Taylor is the state coordinator, responsible for training officers as drug recognition experts for all police agencies in Florida.
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“They’ve got some very expensive instruments that we’re looking at, a cartridge they put in, and they kind of blow in it, or we take a cheek swab, and it gives us a presumptive positive is what it does. It doesn’t give us a level,” Taylor said.
He’s hoping to help push the state toward enhancing the penalties for drivers suspected of impairment but refuse a blood test. “I’d like to see us go to a blood testing state where I could get blood samples, even in misdemeanors, where that could be the opportunity to start getting at exact levels of drugs. Everybody’s afraid that we’re going to become too strict,” Taylor said.
Zack Farmer’s family will tell you that’s exactly what needs to happen. They lost him to a drug-impaired driver in 2021. “I think it’s too far. When you kill somebody, you’re worried about your own rights, but you’re not concerned about someone else’s right to live,” his cousin Alicia Morgan said.
He was walking along a road like this one, in broad daylight, headed to work, when a driver veered off the road, killing him. “The guy never even called 911. He never tried to get any help for him.”
The way the law stands now if her cousin hadn’t died that day, law enforcement likely wouldn’t have known the driver was high on drugs. They fought for a second and third blood test, because the driver kept saying he was high on Xanax, but they later learned through that testing that wasn’t the case, it was another drug, and that’s how Zack’s family learned blood testing, even when required, can be complicated. “First blood test, it came back negative,” Morgan said.
The panel only tested for a few drugs, twice at public labs. The synthetic drug the driver had taken was only flagged at a private lab out of state, and the family had to pay for that test.
“I hear people say, you know, if you drive high or you’re on drugs, it’s not the same as if you drive on alcohol, but impaired is impaired,” Morgan said.
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