The trial of a former Broward Sheriff's deputy involved in a collision that killed a girl in 2010 began Tuesday with emotional testimony from the dead teen's stepsister.
Frank McCurrie was charged with vehicular homicide in the the January 2010 crash that killed 14-year-old Cara Catlin in Oakland Park.
Catlin was a passenger in a Honda Civic, driven by stepsister Heather Meyer, when it was struck by McCurrie's patrol car at North Dixie Highway and Northeast 56th St.
McCurrie was heading to back up another deputy performing a traffic stop when the collision occurred. The Civic's entire backside was sawed off by the patrol car, which was estimated to be going 89 mph in a 40 mph zone.
"I got out of my car, I went to the back to get Cara, but there wasn't anything there," Meyer testified.
Prosecutors said McCurrie was responding non-emergency, meaning his lights and sirens weren't on. BSO officials said Meyer had made an illegal left turn.
"I made a comment to a friend of mine on the phone that a police car had just passed me at a high rate of speed," witness George Schmitt testified.
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McCurrie was fired in April 2010 for "failure to meet probationary standards," BSO officials said.
Defense attorneys are expected to present their case later in the week. McCurrie faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
