A grandmother’s death, initially blamed on an Orlando police officer whose SUV struck the Jeep in which she was riding, is now being attributed in part to the cruiser’s faulty emergency lights and may spur the city to replace some department vehicles, according to its police chief.
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Chief Eric Smith said the SUV, a 2019 Ford Explorer, was one of the department’s older vehicles and had repeated failures with its flashing emergency lights, including just before it caused the accident six months ago that killed Milagros “Millie” Ortiz, 92.
“It caused a lot of internal stuff for us,” Smith said in his first public statement on the accident, during an appearance last week on “The Patrick Carr Show” podcast.
Ortiz was a front-seat passenger in a Jeep taking her home from a Bingo night out with friends.
Smith’s statements underscore the change in stance by the department, whose initial investigation said the police SUV “was at fault for the collision due to failure to yield right of way.” When that finding was revealed earlier this year, it appeared to be at least the third incident since 2023 in which an officer’s errant driving had caused a bystander’s death.
Officer Andrew McKuhen had waited a minute and a half at a red light on Hoffner Avenue at South Semoran Boulevard around 2 a.m. Jan. 18 when he flipped on the emergency flashing lights of the 2019 Ford Explorer and drove through the red light into the intersection to follow another vehicle, according to an investigation of the incident.
But the SUV’s flashing lights suddenly went dark before it hit a speed of 32 mph and plowed into the driver’s side of the Jeep, which had a green light. The siren did not sound at any point during the incident, an investigative finding Smith did not address.
Video from a security camera at a 7-11 gas station on Hoffner Avenue showed the emergency lights on the police SUV “came back on” 27 seconds after the crash.
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A subsequent review by the State Attorney’s office found McKuhen was not criminally negligent. A second OPD internal investigation reached the same conclusion, an unidentified police spokesperson said in an email sent to earlier this month to the Orlando Sentinel.
“While the initial traffic investigation found Officer McKuhen at fault, an investigation completed by our Traffic Homicide Unit concluded there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges,” the email said.
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The spokesperson said an internal investigation related to department policy “remains active and has not yet been completed.”
Orlando police officers have been faulted in similar internal investigations involving deadly crashes in the last few years.
In February 2023, 28-year-old Delmy Alvarez, a mother of two was killed after an out-of-policy police pursuit in Parramore ended with the suspect running a red light on West Anderson Street and smashing into her car as she moved into the intersection. In early 2025, the victim was 56-year-old Gerald Neal, a pedestrian who was run over twice as an unmarked police truck chased a vehicle in Holden Heights over an unreadable license plate. That chase also failed to meet the requirements of OPD’s pursuit policy.
Neither officer was deemed criminally negligent.
In last week’s podcast, Smith stressed the State Attorney’s memo found “no criminal recklessness” in McKuhen’s actions, pointing out he intended to follow a vehicle that had made an illegal U-turn. Smith also noted that the officer previously reported issues with the SUV’s emergency lights.
“He brought it in himself three times to say, ‘Hey, my lights aren’t working,’ ” the chief said.
Smith was not available for an interview Friday, the police communications team said in an email to the Sentinel.
“We are looking at everything internally,” he said on the podcast. “Part of the problem is — and I do agree with this — we have to look at our fleet. I mean, he brought it in three times…The city has looked at getting rid of all of our vehicles that are older than six years.”
Smith did not say how many vehicles would need to be replaced.
Ortiz’s family said she loved life and acted decades younger than her age.
They said she enjoyed dancing and reveling with a group of “bingueras” who met weekly for an evening of food, fun and their favorite game. She was the mother of three children and had 10 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
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A third great-great-grandchild was born after her death.