Calling himself “a deeply broken man,” the father of a teen driver police say caused a crash that killed four people in Osceola County was sentenced Wednesday to 37 years in prison for his role in the tragedy.
Richard Seymour Ferguson, 69, was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter in October after investigators said he allowed his 15-year-old son to drive without a license — leading to the son running a stop sign and killing a grandmother and her three young grandchildren.
At his sentencing in a Kissimmee courthouse, Ferguson wept as he apologized to the victims’ family.
“Each day is living in grief and regret, and in pain that knows no limit,” he said. “I am truly, deeply sorry for your loss…I know that the weight of my remorse can never compare to the weight of your pain.”
Ferguson’s daughter and stepson tearfully spoke to the courtroom about their father’s character, saying he was the type of man to give you the shirt off his back and calling him their family’s “gentle giant.” His niece said he became like a second father after her father died of cancer.
Sabrina Hernandez makes an emotional plea to Judge Keith Carsten during the sentencing hearing for Richard Ferguson, who was convicted of manslaughter after letting his 15-year-old son drive his car, leading to a crash that killed Hernandez’s children. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
But Sabrina Hernandez, whose mother and three children died in the crash, said she wanted Ferguson to receive the maximum sentence. She said Ferguson had already lived a full life — something she says her children were robbed of.
“The tears that I just see up here, it’s just ridiculous. This man is still alive, your guys’ family is still alive. If you want to hug him you can hug him. Guess what? If I want to hug my children I have to hug a vase full of a pile of ashes that sit in my damn living room.”
Hernandez also said her youngest son, now 7 months old, will never get to meet his siblings or grandmother.
Ferguson’s son was driving a white 2012 Chevy Impala at the intersection of San Miguel Street and Laurel Avenue in Poinciana at about 7 p.m. on Sept. 3, 2023, when he ran a stop sign and collided with a gray 2022 Honda. The Honda hit a metal light pole and wooden power pole while the Chevy came to rest in a roadside ditch, according to Ferguson’s arrest affidavit.
FHP calculated that at the time of impact, the son had been driving between 76 and 83 mph on a road with a limit of 30 mph, the affidavit said.
Four of the five occupants of the Honda were killed: Trinidad Hernandez, 50; her granddaughters Miley Cruz, 11, and Anayari Hernandez, 1; and grandson Marvin Cruz, 9. Hernandez and Miley were pronounced dead at the scene while Anayari and Marvin died at a nearby hospital, according to the affidavit.
Angel Hernandez, Trinidad’s husband and the children’s grandfather, was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries. He was the lone survivor of the five in the car.
At Ferguson’s sentencing, Hernandez said he had just begun his hard-earned retirement 11 months prior to the accident and was looking forward to spending more time with his wife and grandchildren, not just barely one year.
“I got robbed of time. … I was supposed to have a lifetime with them,” he said. “I lost my grandkids and my soulmate…Some people spend a lifetime trying to find a soulmate. But I had mine.”
Following the crash, Ferguson’s son said he was in trouble with his parents because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, witnesses responding to the scene said in to the affidavit.
Authorities charged Ferguson after a Florida Highway Patrol investigation concluded he allowed his son to drive a car with three other passengers, all also unlicensed 15-year-old boys. They said they had initially been planning to have one of their mothers drive them to the Loop in Kissimmee to see a movie later that evening.
The friends told investigators they’d been at Ferguson’s home from around 4:30 to 5 p.m. and were allowed to go “pick up a belt” for one of them despite none having a license. They said Ferguson even moved a pickup out of the home’s driveway so the teens could leave in the Chevy, according to the affidavit.
They said he reportedly told the son to come right back home, but the son drove to Deerwood Park for a few minutes before going onto Laurel Avenue, where the crash occurred.
Angel Hernandez receives a comforting hand from a loved one after he returns from making an emotional statement to Judge Keith Carsten during the sentencing hearing for Richard Ferguson, who was convicted of manslaughter after letting his 15-year-old son drive his car, leading to a crash that killed Hernandez’s wife and grandchildren. (Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel)
During his sentencing, Ferguson said he had allowed the son to back the Chevy out of the driveway. But he said he didn’t intend for the son to drive off without him and denied that he gave the son the keys, saying the son had taken them himself. He meant to call the son and tell him to return, but got distracted.
“I am sorry that I played a part…I should have went after my son and stopped my son,” he said. “There is something more that I could have done…I took the easy way out.”
Ferguson’s family said he currently has Stage 4 cancer and expressed concerns about whether he would receive the proper treatment in prison. They said the Osceola County Jail has been unable to provide him the medicine needed to prevent the cancer’s spread and that his wife has had to bring the medicine to the jail.
Ferguson’s attorney had asked for the judge to sentence him to community control, which includes house arrest.
Sabrina Hernandez took no solace in Ferguson’s apology, saying he was “extremely cowardly” and displayed a lack of accountability.
“I take no pity on this man. Am I sorry that he’s sick? I am. And I pray that the Lord comforts him in his bad health, I truly do,” she said. “And I pray that the Lord takes pity on this man, because it’s a pathetic excuse for a man to sit here with your head down and can’t even take accountability.”