A disgraced law enforcement officer in Florida will spend 35 years in jail for an alcohol-fueled crash that killed a 13-year-old boy and injured four others.
John Camfield, 50, was sentenced to jail Thursday, May 31, for hitting five students at a Polk County bus stop in April 2017, killing Dundee Ridge Middle Academy student Jahiem Robertson. Authorities said Camfield’s blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit when his car plowed into a group of students walking home from school. He later fled the scene.
Camfield, who served several years as a police officer in Mississippi, pleaded no contest to DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide back in February, local station WFTS Tampa Bay reported. During his sentencing, Camfield insisted he wasn’t drinking that day and instead attributed the fatal crash to a medical issue.
“I had no way of controlling the events that occurred on April 27,” he told the judge. “I had not been drinking at all that day.”
The former officer said he has no recollection of the accident at all.
Members of Robertson’s family attended Camfield’s sentencing, during which the defendant apologized for their loss. The victim’s relatives were pleased with the judge’s ruling but said they felt Camfield didn’t take responsibility for his actions. Not once did the former officer admit to driving under the influence.
“…I think I would have felt better about him had he said ‘look I drank, this happened, I’m sorry.’ Hold himself accountable. He didn’t do that,” Jaheim’s father, Allan Robertson, told Spectrum News 9.
The boy’s mother, Robin Robertson, said the lengthy sentence gave her a sense of relief but it still doesn’t bring her son back.
“My son was mowed down and killed by John Camfield, an ex-cop, who chose to drink,” said Robertson. “To drink your sorrows away and then get behind the wheel.”
“You left my son like an animal on the side of the road he was in his school clothes and didn’t even come home for dinner that night,” she continued at the hearing, directing her comments at the former officer. “Like I always waited for him and waited for him and he never came home.”
A judge called the case “egregious” and sentenced Camfield to 35 years in a Florida prison, followed by four years probation. His driver’s license was also permanently revoked.
“I’m glad the judge saw it for what it was and he dished out the sentence that he truly deserved,” said Allan Robertson.
