The family of Flynn MacKrell, an 18-year-old who tragically died in a car crash last November, is now demanding that the mother of the accused driver be charged in connection with their son’s death. The crash, which occurred in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, involved a BMW driven by MacKrell’s friend, 17-year-old Kiernan Tague, who lost control and crashed into a lamp post at 70mph, splitting the car in half. MacKrell was pronounced dead at the scene, while Tague was hospitalized with serious injuries.
In March, Tague was charged with second-degree murder and faces the possibility of life in prison. Although he has not been charged as an adult, he is “adult designated,” meaning a judge could sentence him as an adult, or juvenile, or impose a blended sentence, according to the Detroit Free Press. Tague is currently in jail awaiting trial at Wayne County Circuit Court.
However, MacKrell’s family believes that Tague’s mother, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, should also be held accountable. They are calling for her to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, arguing that her actions contributed to the fatal crash. At the time of the incident, Puleo-Tague was in Canada and had left the keys to her $70,000 BMW at home.
“She was sitting on a ticking time bomb,” said Anne Vanker, MacKrell’s mother, in an interview with the Free Press. “She knows he’s out of control, yet she basically gets him a weapon. It’s like she handed him an AR-15.” Vanker also expressed her desire for Tague to receive a lengthy prison sentence, saying, “Why should he get a break? This kid had every break and every privilege there is.”
The MacKrell family has formally requested that the Wayne County Prosecutor charge Puleo-Tague. Additionally, the Grosse Pointe Police Department has submitted an official warrant request to the prosecutor’s office. The Independent has reached out to both the police department and the prosecutor’s office for comment, but they have not yet responded.
Mitchell Ribitwer, an attorney representing Puleo-Tague, declined to comment due to pending litigation. However, text messages between Tague and his mother, obtained by the Free Press, reveal a history of reckless driving. Despite using a GPS location tracking app, Life360, to monitor her son’s movements, Puleo-Tague was unable to prevent his dangerous behavior.
On September 14, 2023, Puleo-Tague texted her son, “Slow… down right now!” after the app tracked him driving at 123mph. The data also showed that he reached speeds of over 150mph, with the highest recorded speed being 153mph on November 1. Two weeks before the crash, Tague made 94 car journeys, more than half of which involved speeds above 90mph. Videos taken from Tague’s phone suggest he was also drag racing.
Despite her concerns, expressed in messages like, “Your obsession with cars having upwards of 600 hp — It’s not healthy. It’s not safe. And it scares me to my bone,” Puleo-Tague still purchased the BMW just three weeks later. The police report from the crash investigation indicated that Puleo-Tague had little control over her son, who had 22 documented run-ins with the police since 2017.
The last encounter with law enforcement before the crash occurred on August 30, 2023, when police responded to the Tague home after the teenager threw a fit because his mother refused to get him an American Express Gold Card.
If charges are filed against Puleo-Tague, it wouldn’t be the first time a parent has been held criminally responsible for their child’s actions. This case echoes the recent sentencing of James and Jennifer Crumbley, who received ten years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after their son, Ethan, carried out a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan.