{"id":160957,"date":"2026-02-19T07:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160957\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T07:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:57:11","slug":"dad-of-driver-in-osceola-crash-that-killed-4-gets-37-year-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/160957\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad of driver in Osceola crash that killed 4 gets 37 year sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calling himself \u201ca deeply broken man,\u201d the father of a teen driver police say caused a crash that killed four people in Osceola County<\/a> was sentenced Wednesday to 37 years in prison for his role in the tragedy.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 leading to the son running a stop sign and killing a grandmother and her three young grandchildren.<\/p>\n

At his sentencing in a Kissimmee courthouse, Ferguson wept as he apologized to the victims\u2019 family.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day is living in grief and regret, and in pain that knows no limit,\u201d he said. \u201cI am truly, deeply sorry for your loss\u2026I know that the weight of my remorse can never compare to the weight of your pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s daughter and stepson tearfully spoke to the courtroom about their father\u2019s character, saying he was the type of man to give you the shirt off his back and calling him their family\u2019s \u201cgentle giant.\u201d His niece said he became like a second father after her father died of cancer.<\/p>\n

\"SabrinaSabrina 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\u2019s children. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 something she says her children were robbed of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tears that I just see up here, it\u2019s just ridiculous. This man is still alive, your guys\u2019 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez also said her youngest son, now 7 months old, will never get to meet his siblings or grandmother.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s 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\u2019s arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Angel Hernandez, Trinidad\u2019s husband and the children\u2019s grandfather, was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries. He was the lone survivor of the five in the car.<\/p>\n

At Ferguson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got robbed of time. \u2026 I was supposed to have a lifetime with them,\u201d he said. \u201cI lost my grandkids and my soulmate\u2026Some people spend a lifetime trying to find a soulmate. But I had mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the crash, Ferguson\u2019s son said he was in trouble with his parents because he wasn\u2019t where he was supposed to be, witnesses responding to the scene said in to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The friends told investigators they\u2019d been at Ferguson\u2019s home from around 4:30 to 5 p.m. and were allowed to go \u201cpick up a belt\u201d for one of them despite none having a license. They said Ferguson even moved a pickup out of the home\u2019s driveway so the teens could leave in the Chevy, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"AngelAngel 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\u2019s wife and grandchildren. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

During his sentencing, Ferguson said he had allowed the son to back the Chevy out of the driveway. But he said he didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry that I played a part\u2026I should have went after my son and stopped my son,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is something more that I could have done\u2026I took the easy way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s 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\u2019s spread and that his wife has had to bring the medicine to the jail.<\/p>\n

Ferguson\u2019s attorney had asked for the judge to sentence him to community control, which includes house arrest.<\/p>\n

Sabrina Hernandez took no solace in Ferguson\u2019s apology, saying he was \u201cextremely cowardly\u201d and displayed a lack of accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take no pity on this man. Am I sorry that he\u2019s sick? I am. And I pray that the Lord comforts him in his bad health, I truly do,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I pray that the Lord takes pity on this man, because it\u2019s a pathetic excuse for a man to sit here with your head down and can\u2019t even take accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calling himself \u201ca deeply broken man,\u201d the father of a teen driver police say caused a crash that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,28,114,266,115,139,141,140,1976,3689,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-160957","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-osceola-county","17":"tag-poinciana","18":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}