WEST PALM BEACH — Drunk at his stepdaughter’s sleepover and just days away from Christmas, 37-year-old Ryan McCue shepherded the teen girls into the back of his off-roader and sped toward a stretch of holiday lights.
None of his passengers were belted, but only 15-year-old Makayla Mullins was thrown from her seat and pinned beneath the 1,000-pound buggy when McCue crashed into a canal in Jupiter Farms on Dec. 22, 2023. Trapped underwater for 10 minutes, her heart stopped beating by the time help arrived.
When it did — in the form of neighbors, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and sheriff’s deputies — McCue claimed he wasn’t the driver. Then he turned and ran.
“Chill out. Chill out,” he said less than a minute later, caught and forced to the ground by a deputy in pursuit. “I haven’t done anything wrong! It’s not a big deal, man.”
“It is,” the deputy said, though he did not yet know the extent of it.
First responders performed CPR on Mullins for 10 minutes. When she drew a breath — her first in 20 minutes — it marked the beginning of a new life for the Jupiter High School student who once loved gymnastics, the beach and photography.
Mullins now cannot stand or speak or swallow. She’s tube-fed and wheelchair-bound. She frequently vomits, and her legs remain contracted at the knees. Her lung is partially collapsed, her pancreas inflamed, her blood clotted and her brain permanently injured. Assistant State Attorney Francine Edwards, prosecuting McCue for five felony charges related to the crash, listed the ailments one by one during McCue’s sentencing hearing on Dec. 4.
“For all intents and purposes, that child died,” added Circuit Judge Sherri Collins.
Mullins — as if to underscore, or rebut the point — whined. She did so frequently throughout the hearing, sometimes in short staccato bursts, other times long falsetto trills.
McCue and the dozens of friends and family who attended the hearing filled the opposite side of the courtroom. His associates sometimes cast quick glances at the girl, now 17, when the sounds sharpened, though McCue kept his eyes on the judge.
Dozens of friends, family appear in court to support driver
Unable to negotiate a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to driving recklessly, driving drunk, driving something that wasn’t street legal, neglecting a child and leaving the scene of a crash in hopes that Collins would give him fewer years in prison than state prosecutors wanted.
McCue’s attorney, Ari Goldberg, asked for two years. Edwards recommended 25. They debated from 11 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in the ceremonial courtroom where Collins moved the hearing once realizing that a standard one would not hold all those who wanted to watch.
Of the dozens who attended, only a handful spoke. McCue’s neighbor, as well as a cousin, a family friend, his mother and his partner described him as a loving and devoted father, a role model who made a mistake he would spend the rest of his life trying to fix.
They cried while they spoke, though not all in the courtroom seemed moved. Mullins’ mother and round-the-clock caretaker, Nicole, listened with one eyebrow cocked. When one said McCue deserved a second chance, the mother asked quietly if her daughter did, too.
When another said she thinks about and prays for Mullins every day, Nicole breathed “Yeah right,” then wiped drool from her daughter’s chin.
Drunk driver apologizes to victim, pledges longterm financial support
When it was McCue’s turn to talk, he approached the podium with a letter in one hand and a tissue in the other. He said he can’t look at emergency vehicles without thinking of Mullins, can’t look in a mirror without feeling ashamed of the man he sees there.
He said he never would have gotten behind the wheel if he’d known how dangerous the vehicle was.
McCue cried harder when he turned to Mullins and apologized, though she didn’t register it. He pledged to support her and her family as much as he can, committing to a large, one-time payment on Dec. 4, followed by smaller, monthly sums.
Goldberg echoed this point in his argument for a two-year sentence, adamant that incarcerating McCue long-term would defeat his ability to pay Mullins’ family the restitution they’re owed — restitution Nicole Mullins said she doesn’t want until after McCue’s prison sentence ends.
Edwards called McCue’s money a “drop in the bucket.”
“There is no amount of money, no amount of treatment, that will make her better enough to function on her own,” the prosecutor said. ” ‘The need for restitution.’ You know what? This family needs justice.”
Life after accident is ‘absolute Hell,’ teen’s mom says
Nicole Mullins, the final person to speak at the hearing, agreed.
She spoke of the milestones her daughter will never reach, of the hospital rooms Mullins’ 3-year-old brother occupies instead of playgrounds, of the bullying her 11-year-old sister endured in the wake of the accident, of the emotional and financial strain that made the last two years “absolute hell.”
“Today, I barely recognize myself. I find myself unable to concentrate on anyone or anything, except for Makayla,” she said. “My entire mind is consumed with her medical needs, her comfort and her survival.”
Asked by one side for a two-year sentence and a 25-year term by the other, Collins landed in the middle. She sentenced McCue to 13 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation. As part of his probation, he must report to jail once a year on the anniversary of the crash, as well as speak to victim-impact panels every 90 days.
Before adjourning the hearing, Collins called McCue’s decision to endanger his own child “awful” and someone else’s child “worse.” She said she took issue with McCue’s suggestion that he wouldn’t have driven the buggy had he known it was unsafe.
“Frankly, what made the vehicle unsafe was Mr. McCue,” Collins said.
Nicole Mullins said she was hurt by the outcome.
“I think 13 years is a slap in the face for my family,” she said. “Some people see it as justice, but I don’t.”
A GoFundMe for Makayla’s medical expenses can be found here.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Drunk driver gets 13 years for teen girl’s horrific off-roader crash
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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