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JAY CRIDLINThe group calls on the FBI and FDLE to pursue a vehicular homicide case against Jennifer Porter. Investigators say there isn't enough evidence.
TAMPA - Local and state NAACP officials called on the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Saturday to independently investigate a March 31 hit-and-run that killed two children.
Sam Horton, president of the Hillsborough NAACP, also said the Sheriff's Office and State Attorney's Office should pursue a vehicular homicide case against Jennifer Porter, 28, the Land O'Lakes teacher who admitting driving a car involved in the incident that killed siblings Bryant Wilkins, 13, and Durontae Caldwell, 3.
The Sheriff's Office did the original investigation and the state attorney's investigation is happening now.
Porter was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, a felony that carries a potential sentence of 22 months to 15 years in prison. The penalty is steeper for vehicular homicide.
"We wouldn't be here today if we had total confidence in what the investigation has been," Horton said. "It makes you wonder how seriously and how vigorously the prosecutors will pursue whatever charges there are."
Horton compared the Porter case with that of Alan Thompson Jr., a 24-year-old Odessa man sentenced in March to 101/2 years in prison for killing Christopher Fannan, 18, with a single punch to the head.
Thompson is black, Fannan was white. Horton suggested that if the races were reversed - as was the case with Jennifer Porter and the Wilkins brothers - the outcome might have been different.
Investigators have said that there is no evidence to suggest Porter was driving more than 10 miles over the speed limit or that she was in any way intoxicated. Vehicular homicide cases are rare in such situations.
Horton mailed letters to the FDLE and FBI on Thursday. He said he has not heard a response.
- Jay Cridlin can be reached at 813 661-2442 or cridlin@sptimes.com