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Porter's father regrets some decisions

James Porter's actions in the aftermath of a fatal hit-and-run involving his daughter come out in an interview with prosecutors.

TAMPA - James "Greg" Porter took control after his daughter was involved in a March 31 crash that left two children dead and injured two others.

He now regrets some of his decisions.

That night, Porter decided his 28-year-old daughter Jennifer should not go back to the scene, according to an interview with prosecutors released Tuesday. He also decided not to call authorities until he contacted a lawyer, which didn't happen for more than a day.

He told his family to resume their daily lives while he considered what to do next, and they went about their business in the morning as if nothing had happened. Jennifer Porter went back to the school where she taught.

"I don't think anybody was trying to hide anything from anybody," James Porter said in the interview. "Everybody was upset. ... I didn't really want her to be at home because I just - I thought that it would be better if she would be occupied doing something she maybe could get a little focus on."

Later in the interview, he bemoaned that decision.

"I wish I had advised that she stayed home that day," he said.

The documents were part of the ongoing release of evidence in hit-and-run case against Jennifer Porter. She is accused of leaving the scene on a accident with death, a felony that comes with a maximum 15-year sentence.

The crash occurred just after sundown on March 31, as four children crossed N 22nd Street near 142nd Avenue on their way home from a neighborhood community center. Bryant Wilkins, 13, and his 3-year-old brother, Durontae Caldwell, were killed instantly. Their siblings, Aquina Wilkins, 8, and her brother LaJuan Davis, 2, were injured.

Investigators said Porter's car was northbound. Witnesses said a northbound car dragged the 3-year-old about 150 feet, and the driver fled. Porter's lawyer, Barry Cohen, said she was on her way home from the nearby Muller Elementary School when she was "involved" in the accident. He did not elaborate.

Prosecutors questioned James Porter, 48, three weeks after the accident. He, his wife, their other daughter and her boyfriend all agreed to speak to authorities on the grounds that what they said could not be used against them.

Porter said he made the decisions and gave the instructions that evening and the next day, some of which he now regrets.

After receiving a frantic call from his wife after the crash, he returned to his Land O' Lakes home from his night shift job at the post office to find his daughter sobbing, shaking, sometimes doubled-over in agony. Jennifer Porter begged her parents to take her back to 22nd Street. She said a body had hit her windshield.

Her father refused.

"I just didn't think she was ... in any condition to go back and deal with that," he said.

When asked if he had any plans to call authorities, Porter said yes.

Nobody "had any other thought other than to notify law enforcement at some time," he said, but he thought they first should get an attorney.

Porter ordered his daughter's Echo driven back home from the dance studio where she had parked it after the accident. Then he told his other daughter's live-in boyfriend to move the car into the garage, which was rarely used to park the family's cars. Later, he told his youngest daughter, Kelly, to remove Jennifer's belongings from the Echo.

Meanwhile, he wiped away streaks of blood from the driver's side window with paper towels and Lysol.

His daughter was in "almost total shock," and he had been trying for hours to calm her, he said. "I was just looking at the car, I saw the blood streaks ... and I thought to myself, if Jennifer were to come out here for some reason, I don't know why, during the night ... it would add to her emotional state."

Thursday morning, Porter said, the family followed his lead. Jennifer Porter drove herself to work. Kelly Porter and her boyfriend, Kurt Doiron, went to Universal Studios with an out-of-town friend. Lillian Porter, James Porter's wife, went to work as a teacher's aide.

James Porter said he pondered his options from home that morning. He wanted to contact a lawyer but didn't know who to turn to. During his dinner break that night, he told his wife over the telephone that they would contact Cohen, a well-known Tampa attorney.

Sworn statements from Doiron and Kelly Porter, also released Tuesday, support much of the timeline. Kelly Porter saw her sister at their dance studio soon after the crash. She said her sister was pale and wanted to return to the scene. Kelly Porter said she encouraged her sister to call their parents.

She said her sister was suicidal for days after the crash. After returning from teaching school the day after the crash, Jennifer Porter went into the kitchen and tried to take some pills, her sister said.

Doiron stopped her and took the pills from her hand, Kelly Porter said. She agreed that it was a mistake not calling police.

Also released Tuesday were recordings of the seven 911 calls received just after the crash.

The recorded 911 calls reveal that two callers said a van was involved in the crash, one adding that it was white. None of the callers mentioned a Toyota Echo or any other silver car.

In the days after the crash, investigators revised the crash account more than once. Early on, sheriff's officials said one southbound vehicle may have hit the children, throwing Bryant and Durontae into the path of a northbound car. They asked for information about a Honda and a white van.

Eventually, they concluded that the Toyota Echo was the only vehicle to hit the children. They said they had physical evidence as well as witnesses.

After witness statements were released last month that showed many people saw a white van, Cohen said the Sheriff's Office has done a poor job of hunting down the van. The discrepancies could become fodder for Cohen's defense.

"The authorities are apparently not interested in learning the truth about what caused this accident," he said last month.

The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office released recordings of the 911 calls received after the March 31 crash on N 22nd Street that left two children dead. In the seven recorded calls, one caller said a van was the vehicle involved. Another said it was a "white van." None of the callers mentioned a silver Toyota Echo, the car driven by Jennifer Porter.

Originally, crash investigators said that more than one vehicle might have been involved in the collision. They later said there was just one: Porter's Toyota Echo.

Below is an excerpt of one of the 911 calls. The caller was not identified by name, nor was the 911 operator.

CALLER: You all need to get out here real quick. Hurry up, man.

911 OPERATOR: What's going on?

C: It was a hit-and-run. Hurry up, man.

O: A hit-and-run. What kind of vehicle was it?

C: It was a white van.

O: Okay. The white van left?

C: Yes, it did. It was a hit-and-run. It kept going.

Compiled by Times staff writer Graham Brink