Father of teen driver in deadly Florida crash sentenced to 37 years in prison
A Florida father was sentenced to 37 years in prison for allowing his 15-year-old son to drive unsupervised resulting in a crash that killed a grandmother and three children.
Richard Ferguson, 70, was sentenced in Osceola County on Feb. 18 for the 2023 crash, according to court records. His attorneys asked the judge for leniency before the sentencing saying Ferguson has stage four prostate cancer and other health issues. Prosecutors argued the severity of the loss warranted a lengthy prison term.
“I must speak these words from the deepest place in my heart,” Ferguson said in court, according to WESH 2. “I am profoundly sorry. This tragedy did not just take lives, it shattered families.”
He was sentenced on four counts of vehicular manslaughter. His son took a plea deal and is behind bars until he turns 19, pending good behavior.
Why was Florida father charged in his son’s deadly crash?
Authorities said Ferguson knowingly allowed his then 15-year-old son, who did not have a permit, to drive his vehicle with friends the evening of Sept. 2, 2023.
The son ran a stop sign crashing into an SUV with a grandmother, grandfather and three of their grandchildren. The grandfather, Angel Hernandez, was taken to a hospital and survived. Hernandez’s wife and grandchildren, a baby and two others under the age of 11, died.
The children’s mother and the grandmother’s daughter spoke at the sentencing.
"They should've been burying me, not the other way around," she said.
