Narcotics – not alcohol – contributed to impairment

Sheriff’s representative Kevin Kelshaw told Historic City News that a 43 year-old St. Johns County man who was wanted in connection with the death of another driver in January, was placed under arrest in Jacksonville today.

Arrested was 43 year-old Trevor Wayne McMullen who resides at 468 Casa Sevilla Avenue in St. Augustine. He was located by U.S. Marshals at a home in the 3500 block of Bowden Circle East in Jacksonville this afternoon.

The crash occurred when McMullen’s 2004 Chevy Trailblazer SUV crossed a double yellow line on a dark stretch of CR-210, and struck a 2000 Ford Explorer head-on killing the driver 39 year-old David Lee Darnell who lived in Atlantic Beach.

At the time of the crash, around 6:13 pm on Thursday January 27, traffic homicide investigators suspected that alcohol was a factor in the collision — but toxicology results showed no alcohol in McMullen’s system.

A ten-month investigation culminated in the discovery of a large amount of narcotics in McMullen’s system, which Kelshaw said, was the cause of McMullen’s “drunken” behavior on the night of the crash. Lead investigator, Deputy J.D. McGinnis, was able to use the new toxicology report to obtain an arrest warrant.

The investigation was a first for the St Johns County Traffic Unit in that the source of the impairment causing the fatal collision was a narcotic. Kelshaw told reporters that this form of impairment is not unique; in fact, it is on the rise as many prescription drugs impair a person’s ability to drive a vehicle.

McMullen remains in custody in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News archive photograph