{"id":45930,"date":"2025-11-14T01:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/45930\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T01:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:07:07","slug":"orlando-cop-wont-face-charges-for-homeless-mans-death-during-botched-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/45930\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando cop won\u2019t face charges for homeless man\u2019s death during botched pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando police officer whose high-speed chase<\/a> ended in the death of a homeless pedestrian near Holden Heights will not be charged, even though the pursuit violated department policies.<\/p>\n

A 14-page memo by the Orange-Osceola State Attorney\u2019s Office obtained Thursday by the Orlando Sentinel showed prosecutors initially considered charging Detective Christopher Moulton with manslaughter via culpable negligence for the Feb. 8 death of Gerald Neal, as a result of Moulton\u2019s pursuit of Dornell Bargnare, whose fleeing vehicle struck Neal as he sat on a curb.<\/p>\n

But the memo ultimately concludes charges against Moulton would not be appropriate, citing Florida law and legal precedent for its decision. The conclusion was reached Oct. 17, but it did not become public until Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bargnare is charged with vehicular homicide for Neal\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201c[E]ven assuming Moulton at some point pursued Bargnare in a culpably negligent manner, it is impossible to prove when that began and if it was so closely related to Bargnare\u2019s causing Mr. Neal\u2019s death that it should be attributed to Moulton,\u201d the report said. The memo\u2019s existence and details of its contents were first reported by WESH.<\/p>\n

Driving an unmarked pickup truck, Moulton pursued Bargnare for having an unreadable license plate. The chase violated Orlando Police Department policy, as pursuits are to be initiated only if there is suspicion of a forcible felony, absent \u201cexigent circumstances,\u201d which there were not in this case. Additionally, pursuits are generally to be conducted with marked vehicles, with the exception of such units not being \u201creadily available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bargnare sped south ahead of Moulton along Rio Grande Avenue just west of downtown Orlando, making a hard turn on Indiana Street, where he struck Neal before crashing into a utility pole. Moulton arrived shortly after, running over Neal and pinning him beneath his truck before exiting the vehicle and darting after Bargnare.<\/p>\n

An Orlando Police Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The department placed him on paid administrative leave following Neal\u2019s death, and a statement issued Aug. 5 said an internal investigation was underway.<\/p>\n

The memo cited gaps in Florida law and legal precedent as reasons not to charge Moulton. Particularly, it cited four court decisions \u2014 the most recent being a 1991 ruling from a Florida appeals court \u2014 concluding violations of law enforcement policy can\u2019t be considered in deciding whether to bring criminal charges, even when they result in death.<\/p>\n

Rather, those violations are to be litigated in civil court. Additionally, state law, unlike agency policies including OPD\u2019s, \u201cdoes not specify or limit the types of offense (sic) for which police vehicles may pursue, or when or how a pursuit must be terminated,\u201d the memo said.<\/p>\n

The law, it continued, also does not require police vehicles have their emergency lights on during the pursuit. The Sentinel first reported that Moulton<\/a> appeared to have turned his lights off mid-pursuit, a detail confirmed by prosecutors and included in their analysis.<\/p>\n

While an autopsy report has not been released, prosecutors said the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner\u2019s Office concluded Neal died \u201cas the result of multiple blunt impact injuries and listed the manner of death as an accident.\u201d Prosecutors further concluded, \u201cBargnare is the one who caused the injuries to Mr. Neal that led Mr. Neal to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[H]ypothetically,\u201d the report said, \u201cif the State could prove that Moulton was culpably negligent in his pursuit of Bargnare, the State would still have to prove that Moulton\u2019s culpable negligence should cause him to face criminal liability despite Bargnare\u2019s causing Mr. Neal\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Body-worn camera footage of that night showed Moulton appeared to be unaware that Neal was pinned beneath his truck as he chased Bargnare on foot. It wasn\u2019t until he was called back to the scene that he learned about it.<\/p>\n

Videos from other officers\u2019 cameras showed a near-lifeless Neal as he was extracted from underneath Moulton\u2019s front right tire. Neal was then taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.<\/p>\n

Neal\u2019s family described him as a loving father<\/a> beset by grief following the deaths of his wife, son, mother and brother over a yearlong span. He was living with his daughter, his only surviving child, before deciding to live outside, believing that he would have been a financial burden on her.<\/p>\n

He was killed two weeks later. A spokesperson for Ben Crump, the famed civil rights attorney retained by Neal\u2019s family, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

As for Bargnare, he has pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge related to the case, as he was found inside a building police said he broke into as he fled from Moulton. In exchange, he was sentenced to one day in jail. His other charges are pending.<\/p>\n

In addition to vehicular homicide, Bargnare is charged with leaving the scene of a crash, fleeing law enforcement and driving without a valid license, all felonies to which he pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando police officer whose high-speed chase ended in the death of a homeless pedestrian near Holden Heights…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[30114,29982,7918,29978,30113,139,141,140,1120,16741,26530],"class_list":["post-45930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-culpable-negligence","tag-dornell-bargnare","tag-florida-law","tag-gerald-neal","tag-moulton","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-police","tag-orlando-sentinel","tag-vehicular-homicide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45930","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=45930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}