15-year prison term for DUI manslaughter in bicyclist death

A judge on May 8 sentenced a man to 15 years in prison for killing a man on a bicycle while driving drunk and then tossing cases of beer from his car into a pond.

Circuit Judge Cary Rada also tacked a year’s probation onto the prison sentence of Marcus K. Williams, 41, of Tavares, in the death of Daniel Still on Aug. 7, 2021.

Williams could have been sentenced up to 30 years if he had not entered a plea and been convicted of all charges because leaving the scene of a fatal accident is a first-degree felony.

The crash was caught on the dash cam video of a nearby car, and the coverup was caught on a store’s security camera video, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The dash cam video shows Williams’ car passing the other vehicle on North County Road 19A just before 11 p.m. The car, traveling at a high rate of speed, then struck Still, who was headed south.

“While continuing to watch the video, I observed lights flying up in the air, later determined to be lights from the victim’s bicycle,” Mount Dora Sgt. Adam McCulloch noted in the report.

Williams kept going while passersby stopped to help and call 911.

Almost an hour later, a surveillance video from a business showed Williams pulling into the company’s parking lot. According to the report: “…The defendant is seen exiting the vehicle carrying a case of Bud Light bottles toward the retention pond adjacent to the business and discarding the case over the fence into the pond. As he is walking to and from the pond he is observed walking normally with no signs of injury. The defendant returns to the vehicle and retrieves something in his right hand and walks back to the pond and discards it as well.”

He is also heard talking to himself.

A second camera shows him throwing a second case of beer into the pond, according to the affidavit. The video clearly shows damage to the front of his car.

He laid down in the parking lot and called 911. When EMS and law enforcement officers arrived he held his arm close to his body, claiming it was broken.

“I was barely doing 30, whatever hit me I don’t know what it was,” he said.

Police said he was disoriented, could not walk in a straight line, and reeked of alcohol. In the video he seemed to be walking normally.

He told another officer he was doing 45 mph and “blacked out” after crossing the overpass over U.S. 441.

He later told officers he suffered a broken arm, a concussion and a broken nose. Medical records from the hospital, however, showed only that he had lacerations to his face from a broken windshield.

What the records did show was that his blood alcohol level was over the legal limit.

Investigators also determined that his car was traveling at about 66 mph in a 45 mph zone.

Police also recovered the cases of beer from the pond and a plastic bag with what appeared to be marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

The bicycle was equipped with proper lighting.

Meanwhile, in Sumter County on May 7, a jury found a federal corrections officer guilty in the DUI crash that killed 68-year-old Richard Neely on April 4, 2018.

The jury found Robert J. Headley, 43, guilty of DUI manslaughter, vehicular homicide and DUI involving property damage.

Prosecutors said Headley was driving on the wrong side of County Road 470 on his way to work and missed three entrances to the Coleman prison. He nearly collided with a co-worker’s car.

"Driving while impaired poses significant dangers to both the driver and others on the road. Impairment, whether due to alcohol or drugs, slows reaction times, impairs judgment, and decreases coordination which increases the risk of accidents, injuries, and ultimately fatalities," said Bill Gladson, 5th Judicial Circuit state attorney. "This case and its verdict serve as a reminder of the devastating consequences of driving under the influence."

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: DUI manslaughter case results in 15-year prison term in bicyclist's death