JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A U.S. Navy Sailor stationed at NAS Jax was arrested on charges of DUI manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and two counts of DUI property damage and personal injury. He’s accused of driving drunk and too fast, leading to the death of a 41-year-old man from a crash on the Buckman bridge in December.
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“At impact the speed was 109mph,” Sgt. Dylan Bryan with the Florida Highway Patrol said.
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Investigators say 23-year-old Sage Young was going over 100mph and had a blood alcohol level of .209 when he hit the back of Martin Lynch’s scooter. Sgt. Bryan said it was a smaller version of a motorcycle, that was legally allowed to be on the roads and interstate.
The report from FHP says Young didn’t see Lynch in front of him and didn’t slow down.
“The cycle was actually drug off the bridge, looking at a distance of almost 2 miles from where the impact occurred on the bridge until the suspect pulled over at the foot of the bridge and pulled over,” Sgt. Bryan said.
The crash happened a week before Christmas in December 2022 on the Buckman Bridge. Young was arrested Wednesday, several months after, and pictures from FHP showed him getting into the back of a trooper’s car while on base at NAS Jax.
Related Story: FHP makes DUI arrest in deadly December crash on Buckman Bridge
Action News Jax asked Sgt. Dylan Bryan why it would take nearly six months to officially file charges and place him into custody? Sgt. Bryan said these cases are very complex with a lot of contributing factors.
“Each one of these pieces of evidence have to be analyzed and sometimes they’re sent to other agencies for analysis. For example, blood sample sent to FDLE crime lab to determine whether or not the person was driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance and sometimes those things take time,” Sgt. Bryan said.
Sgt. Bryan said FHP investigators suspected DUI at the scene of this crash. The report shows FHP did have to wait for Young’s toxicology report to come back.
Read: FDOT Ranger cited for careless driving after February Buckman Bridge crash
“If we suspect there’s some type of impairment, we’re going to obtain various elements of evidence, we are going to confirm that evidence and that’s when the charges will be issued,” Sgt. Bryan said. “In some cases, arrests can be made on site and some cases it’s better to wait and allow the analysis to come back.”
Young is a sailor assigned to a command at NAS Jax. Naval Air Force Atlantic said, “The Sailor has not been convicted of the crimes and will go through the court process. No official court date has been established. The Sailor remains in the Navy,” adding they can’t provide further details.
Sgt. Bryan said every case is important to them and the agency wants to make sure they have as much evidence as possible.
“We want to make sure we got everything in order, we have a very good case that could be presented to the State Attorney’s Office,” he said.
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Young is being held at the Duval County Jail on a $180,012 bond.
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