Tyler Dutton, the subject of several arrests in Flagler County over the past few years, was charged with DUI manslaughter in the death of 25-year-old Jordan Marie Rineer early the morning of Oct. 27 on U.S. 1, just south of Old Dixie Highway in Flagler County.
Dutton turned himself into the Flagler County jail Tuesday night (July 5), and was soon released on bond. The jail’s website lists the bond at $25,000, though Dutton’s felony warrant lists it at $100, 000. Florida Highway Patrol Homicide Investigator Pet Young filed two charges on June 23, when the warrant was also issued by Circuit Judge Pope Hamrick. The State Attorney’s Office decided against including the charge of vehicular homicide. The remaining charge is a second-degree felony. If convicted, the minimum punishment for DUI manslaughter in Florida is four years in prison. The maximum is 15 years.
Dutton and Rineer had been spending the evening together in Daytona Beach. After dinner and drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings, Dutton was driving back with Rineer, at the wheel of a Toyota Tacoma pick-up. Dutton, the investigation concluded, had a blood-alcohol concentration that, at 1:40 a.m., around the time of the wreck, “would have been between 0.11 and 0.18 g/100 ml of blood,” his arrest report states, “which is consistent with his medical records which showed his blood alcohol concentration at 0.13 g/100 ml.” The conclusion was based on a Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab analysis through a “retrograde extrapolation calculation,” the arrest report states.
Dutton had been driving north on US1, approaching a curve to his left, which he failed to negotiate. He drove onto the grassy shoulder instead. Dutton then overcorrected, re-entering the paved highway only to send the Tacoma spinning clockwise across both northbound lanes of US1, then onto the grass median, where the vehicle struck a concrete drain. That caused the Tacoma to overturn onto its right side and go airborne across the median and onto the southbound lanes. The vehicle continued to overturn several times before ending upright in a watery ditch.
Dutton, of 302 South Stone Street, was arrested in 2013 for driving on a revoked or suspended license, and the previous year on an obstruction of justice charge. In 2011, Bunnell police arrested him after he got into a confrontation with a woman at the Ice House Bar in Bunnell. The woman left the bar, but according to his arrest report, he and another woman followed her in an SUV to her house, where the woman allegedly grabbed her hair and Dutton punched her, then dragged her by the hair as the woman started to drive the SUV away. Initially charged with a felony and a misdemeanor, Dutton eventually pleaded n o contest to battery.
Reneer, daughter of Rick and Toni Shissler Rineer, was living in Lancaster, Pa., but was visiting her grandmother, who’d just had hip surgery, as well as her sister and her niece in Palm Coast, where she had also lived previously: she’d been part of the first graduating class at Matanzas High School in 2009, according to LancasterOnline. She was due home in Pennsylvania in a matter of days.
Anon says
Reading this article is just another reminder of how our States Attorney fails to prosecute for the crimes that theses criminals commit and settle for plea deals of far lesser charges. Could have potentially saved a life in this case who knows.
DaveT says
Every day, 28 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 53 minutes. So when is all of these state leaders going to push for new regulations on DUI. Sounds like the weapon of choice is booze and alcohol.
Jim says
I don’t condone drinking and driving but if you read the article a SEAT BELT would have saved this woman’s life. Not a stricter sentence. I have no sympathy for the driver but the passenger is equally as responsible for getting in the car with a drunk driver. If a child rides in a car with you who is not buckled then you receive the ticket. If an adult rides in a car with you and doesn’t have a seatbelt on then the passenger gets the ticket. Whether you are driving or riding along, drunk driving should be illegal for all adults in the vehicle. If this were a law then perhaps it might me more effective. Don’t drive drunk and don’t ride with a drunk driver. God bless the family. Very tragic.
The Impartial says
This guy is no angel for sure but they both decided to go drinking and unfortunately got into an accident that killed the girl. No one really knows the circumstances but if she were wearing her seat belt maybe it wouldn’t end this way. Before most of you start lynching this guy ask yourselves a question if you ever got into a vehicle under influence or with someone else who was impaired. It’s easy to point fingers but they both were responsible for it. I feel bad for her and the family and i know he’ll do some time for it. Hopefully it’ll teach him a lesson and he might turn his life around.
Fedup says
Wish this article would talk about what happened to this guy in the fall of 2014. He’s the biggest idiot ever. Should have been charged with murder. He almost lost his life due to drunk driving but clearly didn’t take it seriously and didn’t learn his lesson…he was allowed to take the life of this poor girl.
no empathy says
Probably could feel a little compassion for him had he not almost lost his life about a year before this happened. He was in an accident with a drunk driver that almost cost him his life. He regained more than anyone thought and then he turns around, gets in his vehicle drunk with someone, and drives… Taking her life.
Not mention the continual drinking like he’s got something to celebrate for even to this day.