The family of an 11-year-old child who was killed in an allegedly drunken crash has slammed a Portland, Ore., judge for releasing the accused motorist without bail, a report said.
Duprie Smith, 29, who suffered a gunshot and was driving himself to the hospital at the time of the crash, was released without bail by Judge Michael Greenlick, despite prosecutors requesting it be set at $100,000.
Victim Ryan Ambrose’s family is now demanding justice for the little boy.
“He was killed by a drunk driver and now this guy is in his house watching TV and my grandson is in a case in the funeral home right now,” the boy’s grandfather Mario Trejo told KPTV.
“We think this is not fair. What are they trying to do? Wait until he kills someone else and then arrest him? He was drunk driving 90 miles an hour. Ran every single red light. This is not fair. Where is the justice? We need it. The whole family needs it.”
Smith claimed in a now-deleted Facebook post that he was “shot two times” and was on his way to the hospital when he “passed out/fainted from loss of blood [and] crashed into another car.”
Police said Smith had a unrelated gunshot wound when he was found at the scene and he was transported to the hospital.
Smith claimed to have received the wounds while at his brother’s funeral. Smith’s attorney claimed his client drove himself to the hospital because he believed he was “bleeding out” and that the ambulance was taking too long.
After being released from treatment, he was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of driving while intoxicated and manslaughter.
Dashcam footage from Smith’s car showed him “driving erratically” and heard him saying: “Where’s the hospital?” and “I am going to die,” the affidavit said, according to KGW 8.
The footage also allegedly showed Smith running red lights, swerving through traffic, before hitting the car Ambrose was in. The affidavit estimated that Smith was driving 86mph in a speed limit zone of 30mph, overturning his car.
Smith was released on Monday after Greenlick did not require bail to be posted. However, he still is not allowed to use drugs outside of prescriptions, cannot drive, nor enter bars, taverns, or any business that serves alcohol, according to KPTV.
Ambrose had been visiting his grandparents for two weeks and was just hours away from hopping on a flight back to his mother when Smith crashed into them.
“Everybody is destroyed. I cannot tell you how the pain is. He came to visit us for two weeks. He was seven hours away from getting on the flight back home with his mom. Now mom is going to receive him in a case. Just imagine the pain,” the grandfather said.
“The man who did this is free in his house. We don’t want to tell her yet, we don’t know how to tell her yet.”
The family has gathered near the crash site to hold signs asking for justice. Ambrose’s aunt, Jennifer Trejo, held onto the little boy’s Spiderman figurine that he “always loved to share with everyone.”
“Every morning he would wake up, hug everyone and tell them how much he loved them. He loved to play,’ she told KPTV. “He would cross the border into Mexico and share his toys. He was just so sweet and he was taken from us in less than a second.
“It’s not fair that he gets to be out on the streets when my baby boy is in a casket. He needs to be locked away. We all hurt and we all need justice. We need him to be put away.”
The family is asking for the Portland community to “help” get justice.
“Don’t do it for us, do it for the little kid. He was 11-years-old. He didn’t do nothing wrong with nobody,” Mario said. “It’s not fair he was killed by a drunk guy driving 90 miles an hour, running every single red light. It’s not possible that it was an accident. He knew if he drove like that he could kill somebody and he didn’t care. He was driving 90 miles an hour. No lights, not stopping at a single red light. So what was he expecting to happen?”
Ambrose’s death is the sixth crash-related death in 16 days and the 34th this year in Portland.
Smith is expected to appear in court on August 1.
