ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A widow is frustrated with the criminal justice system. Her husband, an Orange County Field Service Officer, was hit and killed in a crash involving a driver, who\u2019s now facing D-U-I and Vehicular homicide charges. It\u2019s been four years, and the driver still hasn\u2019t gone to trial. \u201cHe was my person; we were married over 31 years. When he was killed,\u201d Nancy Grassi told Channel 9 Anchor Daralene Jones.<\/p>\n
Nancy Grassi remembers the knock on the front door four years ago, as if it were yesterday. \u201cI opened it up. It\u2019s a lieutenant. It\u2019s the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s office saying that I could get you to the hospital. David\u2019s been in an accident,\u201d Grassi stated. <\/p>\n
Her husband, David Grassi, a 19-year-veteran of the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s office, was sitting in his patrol car, guarding a construction zone on I-4, south of downtown Orlando when a driver plowed into him. \u201cHe was pushed against the steering wheel, but they said they did everything they could, and they couldn\u2019t save him,\u201d Grassi told Jones.<\/p>\n
According to the 2021 crash report, the driver who hit David was speeding going 87 at 100 percent acceleration. This is the first time we\u2019re seeing the damage from the crash and hearing what Neil Demetree told Orlando police. \u201cI guess I just came over in the lane. Something that shouldn\u2019t happen, but it did,\u201d Demetree told Orlando Police officers.<\/p>\n
Demetree also admitted he\u2019d been drinking at a local strip club. \u201cI don\u2019t want to (expletive) around. Three beers, Rachel\u2019s,\u201d Demetree stated.<\/p>\n
Officers didn\u2019t arrest him that night, instead discussing with him whether he had a family member or friend who could pick him up, and then Demetree can be heard asking if he can call an Uber or Lyft.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors charged him with vehicular homicide, eight months later in July of 2022. He ran away from our camera when he bonded out of jail, and has been free, waiting for trial, for nearly four years. \u201cThe criminal justice system does not respect the victims and their families,\u201d Grassi said.<\/p>\n
9-Investigates spent weeks digging through the court records, and shared them with a veteran criminal defense attorney, who is not connected to the case. \u201cIt\u2019s a long amount of time for any criminal case to go on,\u201d Kendell Ali told Jones.<\/p>\n
A major delay happened in 2023 when prosecutors added a DUI Manslaughter charge. That set off a series of motions from Demetree\u2019s attorneys arguing his blood alcohol level was below the legal limit when he was tested two hours after the crash. \u201cYou almost have to start all over again and redo discovery, file motions and do additional investigations,\u201d Ali said.<\/p>\n
Defense attorneys have since questioned whether the construction zone was properly set up to prevent a crash. And they also wanted to test the patrol car to see if it might have been moving when Demetree hit it – but the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office had already destroyed Grassi\u2019s car. \u201cI realize everybody has the right to due process , but when does it come due process, and then trying to drag it on. I\u2019m not going anywhere. I\u2019m not backing down,\u201d Grassi said.<\/p>\n
There is a hearing scheduled for March 24th to determine if testimony and evidence can be introduced raising questions about why the sheriff\u2019s office car was destroyed before it could be examined to determine if it was moving at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n
Neil Demetree\u2019s attorney told me all of the motions filed through the years are about providing his client proper representation in a case that could land him in prison for at least a decade, if convicted.<\/p>\n
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