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Grosse Pointe teen to be sentenced for killing friend in 105 mph crash
A Grosse Pointe teenager with a history of excessive speeding is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, June 13 for killing his friend in a 105 mph vehicle crash that took the life of a stellar swimmer and college freshman, whose untimely and tragic death in 2023 continues to haunt and torment his family.
Flynn MacKrell, 18, a Grosse Pointe freshman at the University of Dayton, was home for Thanksgiving break when a friend took him on a deadly joy ride down a residential street in Grosse Pointe Farms, hitting 105 mph in a BMW before losing control, hitting a pole and then a tree. MacKrell, who was a passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver, Kiernan Tague, who was 16 at the time, managed to walk out of the vehicle after the crash, but was taken to a local hospital with multiple injuries. The BMW had split in half.
According to police reports, cellphone exchanges and Life360 app records obtained by the Free Press, in the weeks and months before the Nov. 17, 2023, fatal crash, Tague hit speeds of 127 mph, 143 mph, 102 mph, 150 mph and 155 mph — all on separate days — and also engaged in drag racing.
After the fatal crash, Tague initially was charged with second-degree murder, but accepted a deal with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office that ended with him pleading guilty last year to the lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter — a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Tague, though, has an adult designation, which means the judge has the option of sentencing him as an adult or a juvenile. The judge also could fashion a blended juvenile sentence, with the option of giving him an adult sentence if Tague is not rehabilitated over time.
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The victim's family, meanwhile, wants nothing short of a maximum prison sentence.
"If he gets to walk, that solidifies him as a criminal," the victim's mother, Anne Vanker, said on the eve of sentencing. "Time and time again in his life, he has not been held accountable — and now my son is dead .... no one should sit where I have sat for 18 months."
Perhaps most frustrating for the victim's family is that the driver's mom knew for months that her son was driving at excessive speeds, and texted him to slow down. But she never revoked his driving privileges when he was speeding around metro Detroit in an Audi sports coupe.
"Slow the f--- down!" the mother once texted her son, according to records obtained by the Free Press. "I have screen shots of you … doing 123 mph … It scares me to my bone."
The victim's family also pushed for criminal charges to be filed against the driver's mother, though Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy declined their request, concluding the driver was the only one responsible for the tragedy that night, and that his mom did all she could to control her son.
'Parenting is hard in the best of circumstances," Worthy said in a statement after announcing her decision not to charge the mother. "Most parents do everything they can to mentor their children and steer them in the right direction. The juvenile respondent's mother was no different. She took consistent, active steps to try to make sure that he stayed on the right path."
The driver's mom, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, has denied numerous requests for comment.
As for the driver, his attorney, Gabi Silver, said life will never be the same again for the now 18-year-old high school senior, and that the teen is "very remorseful" for causing the death of a childhood friend who grew up down the street from him.
"He is so sorry and sad about what happened," Silver previously said to the Free Press. "That kid was his best friend … he spent most of his time over there. I don't think that he's ever going to be able to put this behind him."
But living with guilt is not enough for the victim's family.
They want Tague behind bars.
"He needs to be in prison," Vanker has said. "He killed our son. Therapy is not enough. . … Now, sentence him appropriately, that's all I want."
She stressed: "No one should ever, ever have to lose a child like this … I still can't believe my son — my big calm son — is gone."
Tague's sentencing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center in Detroit.
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Grosse Pointe teen to be sentenced for killing friend in 105 mph crash
