Driver faces ticket in deadly crash; loved ones want justice

Friends of a beloved motorcyclist are calling for justice. They are outraged the woman accused of killing him in a crash received a traffic citation alone for running a red light. Cape Coral Police Department told us the driver did not commit a crime.

Blaine “Gator” Elmer was hit and killed in May while on the way to see his son in the hospital, who also died the same day.

Blaine’s friends and family turned the crash site into a memorial site, with flowers, American flags and a plaque that has his motto, “Death before dishonor.”

They told us the punishment the driver in the crash faces is dishonorable and not enough justice for their friend, a veteran taken too soon.

“He was like a brother to my significant other and my children’s godfather,” Desiree Rosario said. “He was very special. I mean, he was just a good guy all around. He would give you the shirt off of his back.”

“This is a major blow to our community and his brotherhood,” said Keith Campbell, the Blaine’s friend, who is a veterans advocate with PTSD Awareness Summit.

The day of his death, friends explained to us Blaine was on his way to see his son, Nick Elmer. That’s when police say a woman ran a red light on Trafalgar Parkway and Skyline Boulevard in Cape Coral, killing him.

“He is a very special person,” Rosario said. “And he did a lot for the community and for his country. And for him to go the way he did wasn’t fair.”

Cape Coral police are understanding of the grief loved ones are experiencing, but explained there was no plausible cause based on state law for a criminal arrest of the driver in the crash.

“I could put myself in that spot where you’re just like, ‘It’s just a ticket? That’s it?’ When you lost a loved one, nothing is going to make that right. Nothing,” said Master Cpl. Phil Mullin. “But it is just simply not a crime just because serious bodily injury or death occurs. If that is the only factor, it does not rise to a crime.”

Now Blaine’s friends are hoping to change the law: Rosario created a petition that is already at more than 600 signatures, and Campbell is organizing a rally at the driver’s next court date.

“It was an accident, but she took somebody’s life,” Rosario said. “And I just don’t feel that it should just be … that they should just go on with their lives like nothing happened.”

Gator’s friends say the red light ticket is far from justice. They want to make sure no one else’s family has to deal with what they believe is an injustice on top of the heartbreak.

“We want to get justice for Gator,” Campbell said. “But if they are stating that it is regarding the law, then, the law needs to be changed.”