Three members of an Idaho family were killed in a tragic car crash while on vacation in Las Vegas last year after police stopped, searched and ultimately released a driver they had reason to believe was high on fentanyl, a new investigation revealed.
Tyler Kennedy, 33, was going 90 mph when he rammed his Ford F-150 into an SUV carrying a family of five on March 27, 2021 - just hours after police stopped him and discovered drug paraphernalia, tin foil and pills in his car.
The family was headed to Vegas to stay with an uncle as part of a Spring Break trip. The night before, they had been to the hot springs in the city of Elko.
The accident killed Michael Durmeier, 39; his daughter Georgia, 12; and his fiancee Lauren Starcevich, 38, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Two other children survived, though one suffered lasting brain trauma as a result of the crash that left him unable to play contact sports.
Kennedy, a drug user with a history of shoplifting and traffic violations dating back a decade, had been stopped hours earlier by Nye County deputies responding to an incident at an RV park.
The park's manager said Kennedy drove into the park, started an altercation and tried to shoot him. Deputies couldn't find a gun on Kennedy and ultimately let him drive away without administering a field sobriety test - despite finding evidence of active drug use in his car.
'That was a huge waste of time,' one deputy said, according to bodycam footage. 'And how many f****** cars we have here?'
Last week, Kennedy pled guilty to three counts of DUI causing death. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss two counts of DUI causing injury and five reckless driving counts as part of a plea agreement, the Review-Journal reports.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19 and could get a maximum of 60 years, though he could serve a lot less based on the plea.
'They should have not let me go because a lot of the blame is going to be on them,' Kennedy admitted during a preliminary hearing. 'If they would have arrested me, like they should have, the accident never would have happened. People never would have died.'
Tyler Kennedy (above) was going 90 mph when he rammed his Ford F-150 into an SUV carrying a family of five on March 27, 2021 - just hours after police stopped him and discovered drug paraphernalia, tin foil and pills in his car
The accident killed Michael Durmeier (second from right), his daughter Georgia (center), and his fiancee Lauren Starcevich (left)
After the accident, bystanders said they found glass pipes, a bag with white powder that later tested positive for meth, a bottle of pills and burnt foil in Kennedy's car. Above, the wreckage of Michael Durmeier's car
Kennedy told police that he's used opiates since his late teens, after his mother gave him pills, and became an addict by age 20 or 21. He has a spotty employment history and a lengthy criminal record, court documents show.
Kennedy was parked outside the Area 51 Alien Center, right across the Fort Amargosa RV Park, when deputies first caught up to him last March.
He was smoking fentanyl, the Review-Journal reports, but deputies were more interested in the gun he allegedly used to shoot at the park's manger during an altercation.
'Oh s***, you scared me,' Kennedy said when he was approached by Nye Sheriff's Deputy Breanna Nelson.
Two more deputies and two detectives arrived. They asked him to get out of his car as he sat on the store's porch vaping and complaining about being stopped.
Based on surveillance video, they determined that the 'gun' was his cellphone and the 'gunshot' was just fireworks.
'He's probably got dope in the car, and that’s why he doesn’t want anyone going through it,' Nye Sheriff's Detective Daniel Fischer told Detective Brooke Gentry.
'I don't care about that,' Gentry responded.
Kennedy let officers search the car after they assured him they were only interested in finding a weapon.
Deputy Nelson found pills and a piece of burnt foil used for smoking fentanyl, according to court records and a police video obtained by the Review-Journal.
Kennedy let officers search his vehicle (above) after they assured him they were only interested in finding a weapon. Despite finding evidence of drug use, officers allowed him to drive away
Body camera footage from officers at the scene shows their interaction with Kennedy. Officers called the incident a 'huge waste of time' after failing to discover a gun in the vehicle
They decided there was no reason to take down a report, though they did note how high Kennedy was.
'Yeah, his eyes are pinpoint,' Detective Fischer said. 'He’s probably under the influence.'
They threw his pills away.
'That was a huge waste of time,' Nelson said. 'And how many f****** cars we have here?'
After
