Woman wrongfully accused in fatal Florida crash testifies before US Senate on surveillance tech

WASHINGTON — Lindsey Isaacs, the woman wrongfully accused in connection with a deadly crash in Florida, is set to testify before the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday on surveillance camera technology.

Isaacs spent 13 days behind bars and was charged with multiple felony counts of causing and leaving the scene of a multi-vehicle crash involving three deaths. She sued the Florida Highway Patrol, claiming a “botched investigation.”

She will appear at 2:30 p.m. before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism as it examines the use of surveillance camera technology, including Flock cameras.

Isaac’s attorney, Patrick McGeehan, took to social media to share that his client will get to tell her story before the U.S. Senate.

“This is bigger than one case,” he said. “It raises serious questions about surveillance technology, how law enforcement uses the data it collects, and what happens when that technology gets it wrong.”

The fatal crash

It started last Oct. 4, when witnesses say an SUV caused a chain-reaction crash on I-4 near DeBary and drove off.

Left behind was a chaotic mess that ended the lives of Flagler Beach Deputy Administrator Jorge Salinas and his wife, Nancy, as well as motorcyclist Joaquin Deno. A woman in another vehicle, Mariliz Barrios-Barrios, was severely injured.

Isaacs’ arrest

Early the next morning, officers went to Isaacs’s home.

“The cops came banging on my door at 4:30 in the morning and told me that my vehicle was involved in a triple vehicular homicide,” she said.

Troopers arrested Isaacs April 17 based on the evidence they had, including witness statements that there was at least one Dodge Durango involved. Turns out, there were three Durangos in the area.

“The highway patrol botched this case, bad,” said attorney Patrick McGeehan.

McGeehan said it was easy to prove Isaacs wasn’t the driver of the vehicle that caused the crash.

He sued FHP to obtain custody of her vehicle, which he video-recorded showing that it had no damage consistent with the multiple collisions in the crash.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza’s office dropped the charge against Isaacs. Isaacs faced eight charges, including three counts of leaving the scene of a crash with death, vehicular homicide, and reckless driving causing serious injury, according to the arrest report.

“Being incarcerated, falsely incarcerated, in jail, in G Block, was the worst 13 days of my life,” Isaacs said.

Second arrest

Investigators then arrested Alisa Lee Montalvo, 47, of Deltona. She faces nine charges, including three counts of vehicular homicide, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash with death, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury, reckless driving, and tampering with evidence.

Court documents obtained by WESH 2 allege Montalvo was driving a maroon 2021 Dodge Durango that was mistaken for Isaacs’ black vehicle of the same make and model.

Montalvo’s arrest affidavit states that Assistant State Attorney Mike Willard contacted FHP ten days after Isaacs was jailed to request crash reconstruction and investigative support after finding discrepancies in the investigation up to that point.

It was further confirmed that, after the crash, Montalvo had her driver-side doors replaced and filed no insurance claim.

The reason behind the mix-up

Witness reports initially pointed to a black Durango, leading FHP to charge Isaacs.

However, new evidence shifted the focus to Montalvo, who was driving a maroon Durango.

“The 911 call described this red, maroon Durango traveling like a mad person. Initially, he was very concerned it was going to cause a crash,” prosecutors said.

Lawsuit

Isaacs filed a lawsuit against FHP for compensatory damages.

The complaint states that she is seeking damages for “emotional distress, mental anguish, humiliation, reputational harm, loss of liberty, and all other actual damages suffered.”

Isaacs is seeking a trial by jury.

The complaint names Sgt. Tiffany Jateff and Sgt. Joshua Buday and alleges they “fabricated evidence of vehicle damage, swore to false statements in an affidavit for an arrest warrant and at a bond/pre-trial detention hearing.”

Jateff was identified as the lead investigator in the case.

The complaint also identifies Montalvo, the “actual driver,” who caused the fatal crash in Volusia County.