OCALA, FL (352today.com) – There is absolutely zero doubt about who Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods feels is to blame for a deadly accident involving a deputy’s stolen SUV.
“A moron decided to steal his patrol vehicle which ultimately ended up resulting in us chasing them and then in a tragic accident where two individuals were killed because of that moron,” said Woods during a news conference on Friday. “I want to make something clear right off the bat abundantly clear… my deputy did absolutely nothing wrong.”
The accident happened Thursday afternoon on SR 40 between Forest Road 88 and Highway 19.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said 33-year-old Kendra Boone stole a deputy’s SUV when he responded to a report of suspicious activity at the Forest Plaza shopping center.
During the news conference, the sheriff showed the deputy’s body cam footage of the incident. You can see it took less than 20 seconds from the time the deputy put the vehicle in park and got out to speak with her, for Boone to climb through the passenger side, get in the driver’s seat and take off. The deputy attempted to get in the vehicle to stop Boone as she sped away and was not injured in the process.
You can hear the deputy tell another deputy his vehicle had been taken and then you see the start of the pursuit.
“The moment she did that, she’s a threat to human life. A threat for just merely getting in that car,” said Woods. “What do citizens think when they see blue lights coming down the road? They think it’s a good person. Not an (expletive deleted) like this.”
|WATCH WOODS: See the sheriff’s news conference in full
The sheriff’s office said Boone headed eastbound on East Highway 40 for several miles before making a U-turn near the weigh station just west of Highway 19. While traveling westbound, MCSO says additional deputies positioned themselves ahead of the pursuit to deploy stop sticks. However before getting there, MCSO says Boone performed another U-turn and headed back eastbound on East Highway 40. The sheriff’s office says Boone was traveling well over 100 mph and driving erratically during her attempt to evade deputies.
Deputies say the chase ended after about 10 miles when Boone drove onto the right shoulder in an attempt to pass a semi-truck. As she reentered the roadway at excessive speeds, they say she lost control of the stolen vehicle, entered into the oncoming lane of traffic. That’s when they say she crashed head-on into a 2016 GMC truck with three people inside.
The impact killed a 73-year-old man and his 72-year-old female passenger and left a male passenger in the truck critically injured. State troopers identified the innocent man and woman as being from Waterloo, South Carolina. Boone also died in the collision.
“This moron stole a police vehicle and killed two human beings. What my policies are. What the procedures are mean nothing,” said Woods in response to a reporter’s question about the deputy’s vehicle being left running when he got out. “We did nothing wrong. My deputy did nothing wrong. Our society today wants to blame everything else but where the blame should be. Not a policy. Not a deputy. The blame goes to this individual.”
Seconds later, Woods unfurled a printout of Boone’s arrest record in multiple jurisdictions across Florida.
Kendra Boone’s Background
“In her life, 13 felony charges, nine misdemeanors. Out of those, two convictions are misdemeanors,” said Woods. We found Boone had been arrested 18 times in Volusia County between 2009 and 2014. Most of the charges were felony grand theft.
In Marion County, jail records show deputies arrested Boone three times between 2020 and 2021.
“Here’s what infuriates us in law enforcement… You should know by now that in Marion County, we uphold the law. We enforce the law and we put bad guys in jail,” said the sheriff. “We arrested her. We charged her. We convicted her. We, the State Attorney’s Office, got a conviction and got a two-year sentence in 2022. Then because she violated a probation out of Orange County. They picked it up.”
Woods went on to explain that Boone was convicted in Orange County but instead of her sentence there starting after she finished serving her time at the Lowell Correctional Institution in Marion County, she was sentenced to 30 months with credit for her time served in Marion County.
Boone was just released from prison in the last few weeks.
“If this person would have been in jail, I wouldn’t have two dead innocent people,” said Woods.
The Problem
Sheriff Woods said Boone’s story is all too common. Repeat offenders out on the streets.
“In our world today, we spend 95% of our time dealing with 5% of a community. And of that 5%, it is the one percenters that are the true problem out here,” said Woods. “You want to fix our problem in society? Hold people accountable. Juveniles to 100 and some years old. It’s as simple as that.”