On a Thursday afternoon in Silver Springs, Florida, a 33-year-old woman named Kendra Dalyn Boone stole a Marion County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle and caused a deadly crash. Around 2 p.m. on February 1, 2024, a deputy responded to Forest Plaza after Boone allegedly tried to take an elderly person’s keys. The deputy spoke with her and directed her to the back of his vehicle.

As the deputy stepped out, Boone slipped into the cruiser through the passenger side, jumped behind the wheel, and took off. The deputy tried to stop her but couldn’t. Another deputy joined the chase as Boone sped east on E Highway 40, hit over 100 mph, and kept making U-turns.

Police tried to stop her with spike strips, but Boone turned again and kept running. Eventually, she tried to pass a semi-truck on the shoulder, lost control, veered into oncoming traffic, and crashed head-on into a GMC pickup.

Boone died at the scene. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The crash also killed a 73-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman from South Carolina. A third passenger was critically injured and taken to the hospital.

Sheriff’s press conference gets heated

Shortly after the fatal event, Sheriff Billy Woods held a press conference.

After calling Boone a “moron” several times and blaming the cruiser thief for all resulting deaths and damage, a reporter poses a question.

“Sheriff, what is the department’s policy on ‘the car is running’ or ‘not running’ when your Deputy leaves the vehicle?” they ask, “Because it seemed like the car was running and she had access to drive away.”

Apparently, this was the wrong question to ask. “I have a feeling y’all going to push my buttons,” he starts. “That means [curse]. Okay? That doesn’t play a factor into any of this,” Woods asserts.

He’s only getting going. Woods explains, passionately, that Boone, the “moron,” stole a police vehicle and killed two innocent people. “What my policies are, what the procedures are, mean nothing.”

“We did nothing wrong. My Deputy did nothing wrong.”

Woods laughs to himself. “You did it…You’ve pushed me,” he tells reporters.

The sheriff continues. “Our society today wants to blame everything else but where the blame should be.”

According to a top comment on the press conference, Boone’s family attended the event and appeared disheartened at the sheriff’s use of the word “moron” to describe a mother and sister. Allegedly, the suspect suffered from addiction.

The commenter explained their personal perspective: “Well let me tell you, as a drug addict who has since turned his life around, I do understand addiction. All too [curse] well. And if I ever stole a [curse] cop car and plowed into a poor family of 3 and killed them, then my whole family and every one of my friends better call me much worse than a moron.”

You can watch deputy body cam footage of the police chase and resulting car accident below.