Genise Taylor, a 24-year-old resident of Naples, Florida, went bar hopping on March 17, the night of St. Patrick’s Day. She went to other bars and drank after being kicked out of Blue Martini Lounge, Naples, at the Mercato, within an hour of an argument with another customer.
Collier County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Pellegrino clocked her speeding at 71 mph in a 45 mph zone on US-41 at 2.33 a.m. However, because he knew her personally, he chose to let her go after a warning. However, his decision ultimately resulted in a tragedy when Taylor was involved in a wrong-way crash on I-75 that killed a 96-year-old man, just two hours after her run-in with law enforcement.
Police bodycam footage posted by Fatal Impact on YouTube captures the deputy’s tragic judgment that would prove fatal. Deputy Pellegrino administered field sobriety tests to Taylor in the middle of the road after suspecting she was under the influence.
When asked how much alcohol she drank, Taylor initially denied it before repeatedly changing her answers. She persisted in saying that she could drive.
“I’m going to be completely honest, like I had two shots, I had wine…it’s wine plus one shot, which is like a combined half shot… it was like spaced out, so like I went there at 9:00 p.m… And then from now it’s like 2:00 p.m., so it was like spaced out,” Taylor said.
“I’m okay. I’m okay to drive. I promise you. Listen, I really from my car, though. I got breathalyzed. I can do the straight line as well.”
After failing the tests, Taylor could be heard pleading with the deputy.
“If anyone else in this district pulled you over, you’d be in jail right now. So, look, use this as a warning and don’t ever drive after drinking again. Don’t be driving drunk, because what’s going to happen is you’re going to kill yourself or you’re going to kill somebody else,” the deputy strictly told her. “So, your options are to call someone to pick you up or take an Uber. The third option is jail.”
After asking her to call her friend to come and pick her up, Deputy Pellegrino asked her to leave. Taylor then claimed to know the deputy.
“I know you know me from Ricardo, and honestly, I’ve been having a really hard time. I just got fired from my job. I remember you. Your name is Eric, right?” she said.
She even insisted on hugging him, but the deputy denied it.
“Don’t move the car. I’ll allow you to sit in the car because it’s warm, but don’t move it. And you’re to get a ticket or two. One is speeding, and two, you’ve been drinking tonight. You’re lucky you’re not going to jail.”
He then advised her against going to the court and asked her to pay for the tickets.
“I’m going to tell the judge that you were impaired and you were driving under the influence. So, if you want to go that route, you can. I advise against that, and I just pay the bill. Just know if you take me to court, I’m going to tell him the observations that I made tonight,” he told her.
She then tried her way out by flirting with him.
“You’re the only officer that I know. (It) was cute the whole time that I worked at Cabo. You know how far it is?”
While they were chatting, Taylor’s friends came to pick her up and drove her car to a local Waffle House. Investigators report that Taylor’s car sat idle for over 30 minutes at the intersection of Golden Gate Parkway and the I-75 on-ramp near exit 105 before she drove off up the ramp and entered I-75 the wrong way.
Minutes later, Taylor crashed into two vehicles, one of which was driven by Arthur Gilbert, a 96-year-old retired geologist, who was driving home after droppinNaples,g his wife at the airport. He was rushed to the hospital but died from his injuries. The other unnamed driver, 57, survived the crash with minor, non-incapacitating injuries.
Tests at the hospital revealed Taylor’s blood alcohol content was 0.213, more than double Florida’s legal limit. She was charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
Prosecutors released a recorded jail call in which Taylor admitted to a family member that she knew Deputy Pellegrino, the officer who pulled her over earlier that night and let her go.
The Sheriff’s Office launched an internal review into Deputy Pellegrino. The investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing, concluding he had no personal relationship with Taylor beyond patrolling the area where she used to work.
Taylor was denied bond and remains in Collier County Jail awaiting trial.
Disclaimer: Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.
