During her quarterly update Wednesday morning, the Orange County State Attorney Monique Worrell spoke publicly for the first time since her office declined to prosecute the Orlando Police Officer who caused the early morning January crash that killed 92-year-old great-grandmother Milagros Ortiz.“And in this case, there just wasn’t anything that led to criminal liability,” Worrell said in response to questions from WESH 2 Investigates.Worrell defended the decision not to charge Officer Andrew McKuhen with vehicular homicide.”One of the hardest cases that we deal with in this office are traffic homicide cases,” she said, “because when someone dies, generally people want someone to be accountable for that.”Ortiz’s family found out from WESH 2 Investigates in early June that prosecutors determined there was a lack of evidence to prove the officer’s driving was reckless.”We are very, very disappointed,” her daughter Judy Santiago said.The initial crash report found that found the officer was at fault for failure to yield right of way said the case was closed.Worrell said her office proactively requested a traffic homicide investigation and OPD cooperated. “Sometimes we do this in our officer-involved shooting cases,” Worrell said, “because one of my commitments to the community was to ensure that officers are not treated any better, but also no worse than any member of the community when something happens.”After reviewing the police investigation, Worrell said her traffic homicide unit prosecutor “found that there were not the elements that would be present in order for us to file criminal charges in that case.”The traffic camera video first obtained by WESH 2 Investigates shows Officer McKuhen had stopped at a red life on Hoffner Avenue at 1:49 a.m. on Jan. 18.As he slowly entered the intersection while the traffic on Semoran Boulevard still had the green light, the marked SUV’s top lights were steady and the bottom were flashing, but they went dark moments before impact.”He didn’t turn no sirens on or nothing and he just started creeping out,” witness Jose Rodriguez said a few days after the crash.On a local podcast, Chief Eric Smith acknowledged the 2019 Ford Explorer had a documented history of issues with its emergency equipment, which the officer reported.”The vehicle had been wrecked prior to him when he came on the department,” Smith said on The Patrick Carr Show. “It’s one of our older vehicles. He had brought it in three times saying, hey my lights aren’t working.”Smith suggested on the podcast that the department is looking at replacing all vehicles from the fleet that are at least six years old. Neither the police department nor the city’s fleet department have responded to WESH 2 Investigates follow up questions. The case disposition memo from the SAO revealed an attorney for McKuhen said he was trying to stop a vehicle that made an illegal U-turn. It also said investigators found the SUV was going 32 miles per hour at impact.The City’s records department said on Wednesday morning the police internal investigation into whether the officer broke protocol and if he will be disciplined was still “active and open.”The Oritz family’s attorney Ben Crump announced last week plans to file a $92 million civil lawsuit.”I always used to tell my mom I was always afraid of her, sometimes going out at night, but I always thought of a drunk driver that may hit her, but no, never a police officer,” Ortiz’s daughter Evelyn Alicea said during the news conference.Crump said he’s hoping to hold someone accountable, whether that’s Orlando Police or those responsible for the malfunctioning lights and sirens.

ORLANDO, Fla. —

During her quarterly update Wednesday morning, the Orange County State Attorney Monique Worrell spoke publicly for the first time since her office declined to prosecute the Orlando Police Officer who caused the early morning January crash that killed 92-year-old great-grandmother Milagros Ortiz.

“And in this case, there just wasn’t anything that led to criminal liability,” Worrell said in response to questions from WESH 2 Investigates.

Worrell defended the decision not to charge Officer Andrew McKuhen with vehicular homicide.

“One of the hardest cases that we deal with in this office are traffic homicide cases,” she said, “because when someone dies, generally people want someone to be accountable for that.”

Ortiz’s family found out from WESH 2 Investigates in early June that prosecutors determined there was a lack of evidence to prove the officer’s driving was reckless.

“We are very, very disappointed,” her daughter Judy Santiago said.

The initial crash report found that found the officer was at fault for failure to yield right of way said the case was closed.

Worrell said her office proactively requested a traffic homicide investigation and OPD cooperated.

“Sometimes we do this in our officer-involved shooting cases,” Worrell said, “because one of my commitments to the community was to ensure that officers are not treated any better, but also no worse than any member of the community when something happens.”

After reviewing the police investigation, Worrell said her traffic homicide unit prosecutor “found that there were not the elements that would be present in order for us to file criminal charges in that case.”

The traffic camera video first obtained by WESH 2 Investigates shows Officer McKuhen had stopped at a red life on Hoffner Avenue at 1:49 a.m. on Jan. 18.

As he slowly entered the intersection while the traffic on Semoran Boulevard still had the green light, the marked SUV’s top lights were steady and the bottom were flashing, but they went dark moments before impact.

“He didn’t turn no sirens on or nothing and he just started creeping out,” witness Jose Rodriguez said a few days after the crash.

On a local podcast, Chief Eric Smith acknowledged the 2019 Ford Explorer had a documented history of issues with its emergency equipment, which the officer reported.

“The vehicle had been wrecked prior to him when he came on the department,” Smith said on The Patrick Carr Show. “It’s one of our older vehicles. He had brought it in three times saying, hey my lights aren’t working.”

Smith suggested on the podcast that the department is looking at replacing all vehicles from the fleet that are at least six years old.

Neither the police department nor the city’s fleet department have responded to WESH 2 Investigates follow up questions.

The case disposition memo from the SAO revealed an attorney for McKuhen said he was trying to stop a vehicle that made an illegal U-turn. It also said investigators found the SUV was going 32 miles per hour at impact.

The City’s records department said on Wednesday morning the police internal investigation into whether the officer broke protocol and if he will be disciplined was still “active and open.”

The Oritz family’s attorney Ben Crump announced last week plans to file a $92 million civil lawsuit.

“I always used to tell my mom I was always afraid of her, sometimes going out at night, but I always thought of a drunk driver that may hit her, but no, never a police officer,” Ortiz’s daughter Evelyn Alicea said during the news conference.

Crump said he’s hoping to hold someone accountable, whether that’s Orlando Police or those responsible for the malfunctioning lights and sirens.