Jacksonville police officer fined, license suspended in fatal accident

A judge has fined Jacksonville police officer Tonya F. Porter $1,008 and suspended her license for six months in a case involving a motorcyclist who struck her car and died.

The judge withheld a guilty ruling for Porter on the charge of running a stop sign in the case that concluded Feb. 14. Court records show Porter, 43, also completed a 12-hour driver improvement school.

Porter was ticketed following a November crash on Normandy Boulevard that ended in the death of Virgil Clair Miller, 69, who was eastbound when Porter pulled into his path.

Porter was off duty and in an unmarked car when the accident occurred. Porter was initially cited for failure to yield, which is covered in the same statute as running a stop sign. Porter was pulling from a Walmart parking lot.

Miller was taken to Shands Jacksonville where he died.

Following the accident, Miller's family wanted the Florida Highway Patrol to do the investigation. The Sheriff's Office would have called another agency if the injuries to Miller had been determined life-threatening, which they were not at first.

By the time Miller died, the Sheriff's Office had begun its investigation, a Sheriff's Office spokesman said at the time.