A head-on crash on State Road 11 just past the center of Bunnell took the life of one person and required two patients to be trauma-evacuated late this morning. The crash today brings the number of road fatalities to nine this year in Flagler County, matching the total number of road fatalities last year.
Cops/Courts
60-Year-Old St. Augustine Man Dies in Single Car Crash on U.S. 1 Near Matanzas Woods Parkway
A 60-year-old St. Augustine man was killed in a single-vehicle car crash on U.S. 1 in Palm Coast Friday afternoon. The crash took place just north of the roundabout at Matanzas Woods Parkway.
It’s Not Mayberry Anymore: A Matanzas High School Student on Bridging Community, Police and Mutual Trust
Kadance Nickmeyer, a student at Matanzas High School, entered and won an essay contest through her Criminal Justice class, devoting her essay to pragmatic ways schools, the community at large and law enforcement can build mutual trust in a difficult age.
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down UCF’s ‘Discriminatory Harassment’ Policy as Chilling Free Speech
The 38-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals backed arguments by the group Speech First, which has represented students at universities in various parts of the country. Judge Kevin Newsom wrote that the UCF policy “objectively chills speech because its operation would cause a reasonable student to fear expressing potentially unpopular beliefs.”
Mistrial in Case Against Kwentel Moultrie, Accused of Raping 16-Year-Old Girl, as Jury Deadlocks
An all-white jury of five women and one man could not agree on a verdict on the charge against Kwentel Moultrie, now 23, of raping a 16-year-old girl when he was 20 in a P-Section house in Palm Coast. The three day trial hinged on whether the sexual encounter was consensual or forced. Moultrie remains in jail on this charge and on unrelated second-degree murder and burglary charges resulting from a December alleged home invasion in the R-Section.
Flagler Sheriff’s Corrections Deputies Are Being Trained to ‘Rebuild Inmates’ Battling Addiction
In partnership with the Opioid Response Network (ORN), the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) and C4 Innovations are delivering a two- phase training program to deputies working within the walls of the county jail. They are teaching a spring and fall training session to jail staff in order to provide education about addiction, its impact and to help them to be supportive to inmates in treatment programs during their recovery.
Moultrie’s Defense in Rape Trial: He Was Framed in ‘Cover-Up’ By 16-Year-Old Girl, But His Lies Uncloak Him
Kwentel Moultrie’s defense attorneys argue the sex with a 16-year-old girl was consensual, but was followed by a “cover-up” by the girl and a friend who did not want to be found out after partying with Moultrie and others. Moultrie, in his trial’s second day, faces a first-degree felony rape charge in the 2019 alleged incident in a P-Section house in Palm Coast.
Moultrie’s Trial on Rape Charge Begins After He Rejected a No-Prison Deal, and Got Charged With Murder
Kwentell Moultrie turned down a no-prison deal on a first-degree felony charge of raping a 16-year-old girl, then got charged with second degree murder. His trial on the rape charge began today. He faces up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
Sheriff’s Office Is Flush With New Deputies, a New Operations Center and a New Mobile Command Center Ahead
The sheriff’s annual address gave him a chance to boast of a crime index 53 percent lower than when he took office in 2017, to summarize the past year in policing, explain current initiatives and project some of what’s ahead, including the big-ticket items–a new mobile command center and the opening of the Sheriff’s Operations Center later this year–and another big ask from the County Commission.
Damari Barnes, 15, Wants Out of $500,000 Bond in Man’s Killing But Lurid Detention Fight May Complicate Things
Damari Barnes, the 15-year-old Matanzas High School student accused of killing Jamey “JuJu” Bennett, 19, at a party in February, wants his $500,000 bond lowered so he can go home, but he and another inmate allegedly ganged up on a cell-mate on April 3, beat him and forced him to drink urine, making more difficult his attorney’s argument that he should be released to his mother on a lower bond.