Ex-cop who fatally ran over woman on Deltona sidewalk goes unpunished, angering brother

DELTONA - On the afternoon of April 2, 2023, a red BMW convertible headed east on East Normandy Boulevard crossed the centerline, ran off the road, struck a traffic sign, continued onto the sidewalk, and ran over two pedestrians and a dog.

The BMW then struck a 2,340-pound rock, “pushing it a short distance” records show and the car came to a halt.

Eileen Flaherty, 68, who was thrown 59 feet 5 inches before coming to rest on the driveway apron of 1162 E Normandy Blvd., died at the scene, according to records of the crash. Her brother Robert Flaherty, 55, was taken to a hospital with bleeding in his brain.

The driver, Ralph Aguilar, 68, a retired New York City police officer, who records show was ordered by the court in 2004 to attend driver improvement school, suffered minor injuries. His passenger was taken to a hospital.

After an investigation, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office wrote Aguilar a ticket for careless driving, a $166 citation, that was later dismissed in court.

Robert Flaherty was incensed.

"This is an injustice for my sister," Flaherty told the News-Journal.

Others say what happened was a tragic accident, and that the justice system is limited in these situations and no one was happy with the outcome.

A dropped bag

In body camera recordings, Aguilar is heard telling deputies that a drawstring bag fell on the floorboard and got caught on his leg. So he bent down to grab it while having one hand on the steering wheel and lost control. He looked up and saw he was on the sidewalk just before he struck the Flahertys.

"I hurt these people over a stupid bag," Aguilar can be heard saying, sitting near his wrecked car. "I hurt these poor people, man."

Aguilar told deputies he was traveling the speed limit, 35 mph. A passenger riding with Aguilar, Victor Hernandez, said Aguilar was driving 35 mph to 40 mph.

In body camera videos, Aguilar tells deputies he is a retired policeman from New York City. His brother, Michael Aguilar, who came to the crash scene later, tells crash investigator Deputy Nicholas Maletto that he and Ralph Aguilar "are both retired from the job," and says to Sgt. Jeremy Patterson that "We are a family of blue."

Michael Aguilar pulls out what appears to be business cards and tells Maletto he knows people at the sheriff's office.

Body camera footage shows Aguilar's brother contacted deputies and investigators at the scene of the crash, noting his friendships within the sheriff's office.

"One must view the body cam (video) to appreciate Michael's glad-handing and name-dropping," Robert Flaherty said.

The investigation

Speed was a critical issue in the investigation.

Maletto's crash report concluded that the average speed of the car was 13.9 mph “over the entire distance” and the car’s “minimum impact speed” was 19.23 mph.

Flaherty is skeptical, saying the estimation did not take into consideration that Ralph Aguilar knocked down a street sign, barreled onto the sidewalk, crashed into the Flahertys, and that Aguilar said he stepped on the brakes after hitting the pedestrians before striking the rock, Flaherty said.

"His (Maletto's) calculations miss a critical point: the car hit the rock after a series of crashes which are not accounted for. Further, the boulder was uprooted from years of settlement and the weight did not include pieces that were broken off," Flaherty said.

The sheriff's office did not respond to follow-up emails from the News-Journal asking for an explanation of the different speed calculations Maletto noted in his final crash report, nor did it reply to a request to interview the deputy.

Wrong formula used to calculate speed?

Andy Cospito is a former policeman and veteran traffic homicide investigator, now an accident reconstructionist who for more than 30 years has been reconstructing crash scenes with fatalities for trials.

Cospito agreed to review and analyze the investigative material provided to The Daytona Beach News-Journal by the sheriff's office to make his opinion.

"I don't agree with some of their mathematics that they used to come up with the speed," Cospito said. "They used the wrong formula. Basically, they used some formula that usually you don't use in this type of a crash."

Cospito explained that Maletto applied a kinetic energy formula that is largely used to calculate high-speed crashes on interstates and highways. "This was not a high-speed crash," he said.

"No, absolutely not," Cospito said when asked if Maletto's 13.9 miles per hour estimation was accurate.

If the appropriate formula had been used, Cospito believes it would have shown that Aguilar was traveling much faster than the investigator's estimate.

Citation dismissed

On July 24, the day of the hearing regarding the traffic ticket, Maletto showed up in court without the needed evidence and witnesses needed to identify Aguilar as the driver, Flaherty said.

"Even though there was a mountain of evidence that Ralph Aguilar was the driver – three incident reports, several hours of police body cam video, the toxicology report, and the careless driving citation – Deputy Maletto came to court with nothing," Robert Flaherty said.

Maletto claimed to have emailed County Judge Angela Dempsey the video but she did not receive it. Maletto then claimed to have the video on a thumb drive but then could not find it, Flaherty said.

"Judge Dempsey offered to give Deputy Maletto a continuance twice, but he declined,” Flaherty said. "I bit my tongue because I was not allowed to speak in court."

The sheriff's office did not respond to follow-up emails asking about Flaherty's account.

Aguilar's lawyer, David Shekhter said that Dempsey's decision to acquit Ralph Aguilar and dismiss his $166 fine was fair given that she gave Maletto a chance to get his presentation together for a later hearing, but the deputy chose to proceed.

"In all fairness to the judge, she did offer to continue the case," Shekhter said.

As to the evidence, Shekhter said there was testimony by Maletto that a video identifying Aguilar existed but that he did not submit it as evidence.

Shekhter said that the judge reached her decision after no one could identify Aguilar as the driver. The attorney said that even Flaherty could not identify Aguilar, so the judge followed the law in her ruling.

"He was honest in his response," Shekhter said of Flaherty. "This is such a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out for him."

Cospito said he is also perplexed that Maletto showed up with no witnesses or evidence calling this a "fatal case."

"It's a mandatory hearing I don’t understand why the deputy went in there not prepared," he said.

’There are no winners here’

Flaherty said that in his quest to get justice for his sister Eileen, he wants criminal charges filed.  He has reached out to different members of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

Cospito said he has seen many cases like Eileen Flaherty's where the family of victims do not agree with the outcomes but until the law in Florida changes, civil infractions will remain non-criminal, he said.

"No one goes out in a car to drive on the road and have an accident and kill people There are no winners here. Everyone is upset," he said. "The victim's family are upset, the people involved in the crash are upset but until they change the law in Florida that's what we have to do. We have to go by it."

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood wrote in a social media post that Aguilar was cited for careless driving because a thorough investigation determined he was not impaired, which was confirmed by toxicology tests, and not speeding, or driving recklessly which was confirmed by video evidence and crash analysis.

Chitwood said Florida distinguishes between reckless driving and careless driving. "Any person who drives any vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving."

Persons are required to operate a vehicle in "a careful and prudent manner, having regard for the width, grade, curves, corners, traffic, and all other attendant circumstances, so as not to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person. Failure to drive in such manner shall constitute careless driving and a violation of this section."

"The investigation and the circumstances just didn’t support a higher charge of vehicular homicide – which would require reckless driving with 'willful disregard' for the safety of others," he wrote in his Facebook post.

"I can understand how a grieving family might not be satisfied with anything less than vehicular manslaughter in this case. My deputies don’t have that option. They have to follow the evidence and the law."

Flaherty said that in his quest to get justice for his sister Eileen, he sought help from different members of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

He said that he asked a sergeant for help, and when that did not work, he sought the help of a lieutenant. He didn't get any help either, he said.

Flaherty then reached out to Chitwood in an email.

In an email titled Wrongful Death of Eileen Flaherty, Volusia County Case 23-6323, Robert Flaherty asks Chitwood to help bring criminal charges against Ralph Aguilar.Chitwood responded to Flaherty writing "Robert, I hope you and your sister are recovering."

"The State Attorney’s office will handle what charges they will proceed with," Chitwood assured Flaherty in his response.

State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Haley Harrison said there is no record in their system that shows Chitwood and his investigators forwarded the case to prosecutors for a charging decision.

"We did not receive anything," she said.

Flaherty said Chitwood should stop posturing and politicking on social media and focus on the job taxpayers are paying him to do, to help the people he protects.

"He didn't know that she passed" even though Flaherty said she had in a "very short three-line e-mail."

"So he doesn't have time to read his emails," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Deltona man wants justice for sister run over by ex-cop on sidewalk