Woman plunged into hellish nightmare while driving home from first date in her Toyota Prius
Hannah Ray, 31, was driving home from a date in her Toyota Prius on December 4, 2022, when she made a left-hand turn down a closed road, and a motorcyclist collided into the side of her car, according to court documents.
Paramedics arrived within minutes of the crash, and the motorcyclist, Jeffrey Conner, died from injuries he sustained in the collision.
The Clearwater Police Department arrested Ray on a charge of driving under the influence manslaughter — only she wasn't drunk at all.
Her blood test came back a few weeks after the arrest and revealed that she had no drugs or alcohol in her system. The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office then dropped the charges against her.
Ray sued the city of Clearwater, arresting officer Scott Yeates, and public information officer Rob Shaw for false arrest and violating her civil rights.
The city agreed to settle the lawsuit on Friday for $50,000 in damages. Her lawyer, Tom Wadley, told the Tampa Bay Times that he thought her case was worth more, but it's what the city was willing to offer.
Body camera footage of her arrest showed Ray completing sobriety tests and asking officers for a breathalyzer.
Ray was making a left-hand turn down a closed road when a motorcyclist crashed into her Toyota Prius
'Can you breathalyze me?' Ray asked Officer Scott Yeates. He replied that the officers would get to it later.
'The Clearwater Police Department videotaped the field sobriety exercises, and the video recordings show that Plaintiff was not staggering, stumbling, swaying, demonstrating any loss of balance, or demonstrating any issues with her speech,' Ray's attorneys argued in court documents.
'Despite this, Plaintiff [Ray] was placed in handcuffs and arrested for DUI manslaughter.'
The amended complaint against the city argued that Ray performed several sobriety tests 'flawlessly' and accused Yeates of two 'egregiously false' observations during his investigation.
Yeates reported that Ray had 'bloodshot' and 'glassy' eyes. Ray's attorneys argued that she was photographed multiple times at the scene and was pictured with clear eyes.
Ray's attorneys also said that Yeates reported her speech was mumbled, but the four hours of body camera footage suggested otherwise.
In the video, an officer tells her, 'You are going to go to jail tonight because someone died.'
'This is just my actual worst nightmare,' Ray replied.
The footage depicted Ray participating in multiple sobriety tests and even taking off her thigh-high heeled boots without assistance.
Yeates had turned his body camera footage off multiple times during the arrest, without verbalizing the reason, which officers are required to do in Florida.
The investigation had also concluded that Conner, the motorcyclist, was traveling at 'an excessively high rate of speed,' according to the complaint.
Conner's toxicology report found that he was under the influence during the crash, with a blood alcohol content almost three times the Florida legal limit.
He also had over 50 arrests, including traffic citations and driving under the influence, before his death, according to the complaint.
Ray's attorneys argued that a 'road closed' sign wasn't visible until after she had already made the left-hand turn.
Once the charges were dropped, the police department kept Ray's mugshot on their social media page with the caption, 'Clearwater woman charged with DUI Manslaughter after she causes crash that killed a motorcyclist.'
The complaint accused Officer Shaw, who operates the social media account, of intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Shaw never posted a correction that Ray wasn't drunk and waited six months to take the post down.
'It's damaged her name and reputation for the rest of her life,' Wadley told local ABC affiliate, WFTS.
The attorney's office dropped the charges against Ray when her blood tests confirmed she wasn't drunk during the crash
During a deposition in April, Yeates stood by his decision to arrest Ray and said he disagreed with his supervisor after her blood results confirmed her sobriety.
Wadley asked what the disagreement was about, to which he replied, 'That the state still should have gone forward with the charges,' the Tampa Bay Times reported.
'So she has no alcohol in her system, no drugs in her system, and you felt that they should have gone forward anyway?' Wadley pressed.
'Yes,' Yeates replied.
After the crash, Conner moved back home to Indiana. She had moved to Clearwater to start her career as a therapist and lived with her sister.
'It felt so unreal because I had never been in trouble with the law before,' she previously told the Tampa Bay Times.
'I could not have known anything about the criminal legal system or how much corruption goes on because it had never touched me,' she added.
'I wouldn't have known anything I do now unless I went through that.'
Ray used her horrific experience to help others and now works as a therapist and volunteers at juvenile centers.
She also runs an Instagram page called Community as Therapy, where she shares stories from foster youth and homeless people.
'It troubles me deeply that police who are supposed to protect us are able to falsify records, lie on arrest warrants, and not be held accountable,' Ray said in a statement to WFTS.
'I cannot help but think less than 40 years ago there would have been no body cam footage or DNA evidence to protect me against these accusations. It would have solely been the police's word, vs mine,' she continued.
Ray urged others to know their rights and advocated for improvements to the criminal justice system.
Daily Mail reached out to the attorneys for Officer Yeates and the City of Clearwater, as well as Clearwater Police, for more information on how the department handled the allegations in the lawsuit.
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