A heartbroken Michigan family was left in disbelief after the driver who killed their son in a 105-mph crash during his college winter break was given a light sentence that allows him to avoid jail time.
Kiernan Tague, 18 — who was initially charged with second-degree murder for killing Flynn MacKrell in a deadly crash in November 2023 — had the charge reduced to manslaughter with a motor vehicle last year.
Tague, who was 16 at the time of the crash, was charged with adult designation, meaning that the judge could sentence him as a juvenile, as an adult, or create a blended sentence, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Judge Mark McClory opted to sentence the teen to serve probation at a Level 2 juvenile placement facility, which is an out-of-home residential facility, on Friday.
His time at the facility will be determined by his progress, allowing him to be released on probation once he completes his treatment, according to the Detroit Free Press.
However, if Tague is found to violate any term of his probation, he will be sentenced as an adult to 19-38 months to be served at the Wayne County Detention Facility.
The light sentencing has left MacKrell’s family outraged with the justice system.
“Do you know how much pain and energy and suffering it is to have no justice and still have no justice? I’ve spent the last year and a half, and I waited for that,” MacKrell’s heartbroken mother, Anne Vanker, told WDIV outside the courtroom Friday.
As for Tague, Vanker said he has once again not been held “accountable” for his actions.
“It’s a cunning, manipulative criminal individual who just once again was not held accountable for killing my son, so no, his fake tears are disgusting,” she said.
His brother, Thaddeus MacKrell Jr., told the court before Tague’s sentencing that he was “robbed” of a brother.
“I was robbed of seeing him graduate. I was robbed of being his best man. I was robbed of meeting his children,” he said.
His father, Thad Mackrell, told the judge, “Everything is dim,” since his son was killed in the reckless driving crash.
Tague, who was a neighbor and friend of MacKrell, picked him up from his parents’ home in Grosse Pointe, a suburb of Detroit, on Nov.17 while he was home from college over Thanksgiving break.
However, just minutes after picking up Mackrell in a BMW X3 M series, Tague lost control of the vehicle while traveling 105 mph in a 25-mph zone and crashed into a utility pole and then a tree — splitting the car in two.
Mackrell, a stand-out freshman swimmer at the University of Dayton, died on impact. Tague was transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, but survived.
Tague had a history of speeding and reckless driving before the crash, investigators found, using data from the GPS tracking app Life360.
Investigators also unearthed texts indicating Tague’s mother, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, was aware of her son’s carelessness behind the wheel and even called him out for his speeding habit in a text message two months before the deadly wreck.
Despite being aware of her son’s reckless driving, Puleo-Tague allowed her son to continue to use her brand-new BMW.
Mackrell’s parents compared Puleo-Tague’s behavior to that of the parents of Oxford High School shooter, Ethan Crumbley, who were held responsible for their child’s actions in a school shooting.
“She was sitting on a ticking time bomb. She knows he’s out of control, yet she basically gets him a weapon,” Vanker previously said. “It’s like she handed him an AR-15.”
Vanker said she was unaware of Tague’s driving habit or home life until after her son was killed and the investigation was launched.
However, in December 2024, Wayne County prosecutors declined to charge the teen’s mother, according to the Detroit Free Press.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Tague addressed the court, saying he was remorseful for his actions.
“My heart is profoundly heavy with grief, regret and remorse,” Tague said.
“What pains me most is that I know that any pain that I’ve experienced is nothing compared to what Flynn’s loved ones, especially his parents, sister, brother, and family, have experienced.”
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