A Florida sheriff’s deputy has resigned rather than be fired after investigators say he was watching porn when he crashed into another car stopped for a school bus last November.
Tristan Macomber initially said his patrol vehicle’s brakes “locked up” when he tried to stop on November 6. The crash caused his airbag to deploy.
According to a report on the incident obtained by WESH, an investigator spotted Macomber holding a cell phone in the body camera footage of the crash and that he had picked up the phone about a minute before the crash.
Macomber initially told investigators he was looking at texts from his colleagues, but the investigator noted that he was looking at images and not text. When the investigator gained access to the group chat, where Macomber said he was looking, it had no videos or memes posted at the time.
When interviewed by the Office of Professional Standards, Macomber admitted that he lied in his initial account, saying he was on his personal phone looking at “inappropriate pictures.” He later clarified that to mean pornography.
He admitted to “lying by omission” and said that looking at porn was the main reason for the crash.
Investigators said that policy prohibits using handheld electronic devices while driving and lying to investigators. He also violated policy because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said that Macomber resigned rather than be fired.
The status of the other driver was not known, but the body camera footage shows that person alert and conscious just after the crash.
Macomber had been with the department since 2021.
