ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando detective whose pursuit of a fleeing driver led to a crash that killed a pedestrian will not face any criminal charges in the incident, according to the state attorney’s office.
Detective Christopher Moulton was placed on administrative leave after the Feb. 12 crash, which caused the death of Gerald Neal, 56, and left the other driver — 30-year-old Dornell Bargnare — facing charges of leaving the scene of a crash with death, vehicular homicide, driving without a valid license causing serious bodily injury or death and fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement.
Bargnare pleaded not guilty in September to all four charges.
[WATCH: Suspect fleeing Orlando police accused of killing pedestrian]
According to an FHP crash report, Bargnare was driving south on Rio Grande Avenue in a blacked-out 2012 Nissan Altima — i.e., no headlights or taillights — running from Moulton’s unmarked Orlando police Ford F-150 when he attempted to make a sharp left turn onto Indiana Street. The Nissan ran off the roadway, striking Neal and a utility pole, the report states.
Neal was also struck by a front tire of the Orlando police pickup when it traveled onto the south curbed shoulder of Indiana Street, according to FHP.
Though the police department said Moulton’s truck was not equipped with a dash camera, body-camera footage from the night of the pursuit shows his perspective. After Moulton’s vehicle comes to a stop, the footage shows him running after Bargnare on foot, with the next 20 minutes of the video showing Moulton and other officers canvassing the neighborhood and searching for him.
“There was a guy under your truck,” an officer can be heard saying to Moulton in the final minutes of the video.
“Under my truck? Hiding? OK, yeah, I’ll check right now,” Moulton replies moments before the video ends.
While prosecutors say Bargnare caused the injuries that killed Neal, the state attorney’s office said they found there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Moulton.
“You have to look at what caused that crash,” Attorney Eben Self said.
Self, a trial attorney not affiliated with the case, told News 6 that if prosecutors did not think they had enough evidence to get a conviction, they made the right decision.
“In this case, what I think the state was doing is looking at the police officer’s actions and maybe at some point his decision making wasn’t the greatest. It shouldn’t perhaps have continued. But the actual cause of the crash and the cause of the injury was really caused by the defendant leaving and fleeing,” Self explained. “What I respect as a legal expert is this prosecutor is looking at this situation and upholding their oath to office, which says they have to have a good faith belief that they can get a conviction. So because he doesn’t believe he could uphold his ethical obligations to get that, he shouldn’t bring charges in the first place.”
Some people who knew Neal personally, like Shanneka Long, are upset that Moulton will not be facing charges.
“If it wasn’t for him leaving his truck on top of Gerald for 33 minutes, he wouldn’t have died. He would’ve survived a little dragging from the first car,” she said. “They need to charge him because he was wrong.”
Moulton could still face discipline for violating the police department’s pursuit policy.
The detective said he tried to initiate the traffic stop after seeing Bargnare’s Nissan with an unreadable license plate, yet that term does not appear in the police department’s policy language defining “forcible felonies” such as murder, armed robbery, and armed sexual battery which, along with reasonable suspicion that a fleeing suspect committed or attempted to commit such felonies, are the qualifying factor in whether officers may engage in a pursuit.
That internal investigation is still underway.
Moulton arrived on the scene of the crash approximately four or five seconds after Bargnare struck Mr. Neal. After his vehicle came to final rest, Bargnare exited the vehicle and fled on foot. Moulton stopped his vehicle in an attempt to block Bargnare’s vehicle. The front right tire of Moulton’s vehicle came to rest on the right arm/shoulder area of Mr. Neal, who had fallen to the ground to the driver’s side of Bargnare’s vehicle. Moulton, unaware that Mr. Neal had been struck by either vehicle, exited his vehicle and pursued Bargnare on foot.
Mr. Neal was released from being pinned under Moulton’s vehicle by Orange County Fire Rescue personnel and was transported to the Orlando Regional Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries and passed away approximately four and a half hours after the crash. The Medical Examiner found that Mr. Neal died as the result of multiple blunt impact injuries and listed the manner of death as an accident. The Medical Examiner’s report detailed multiple blunt impact injuries of the head, neck, torso, and extremities.
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The State of Florida does not possess proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Moulton’s actions constituted culpable negligence, or that even if he were culpably negligent, that his culpable negligence “caused” the death of Mr. Neal under the caselaw cited above regarding third-party liability for another’s (Bargnare’s) criminal actions. Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed against Officer Moulton.
Office of the State Attorney, Ninth Judicial Circuit: Case disposition memorandum Oct. 17, 2025 (excerpts)
Detective Christopher Moulton remains on alternative duty status pending the outcome of the department’s internal investigation in regards to any agency policy and procedure violations. The State Attorney’s Office has notified us that he will not face any criminal charges.
Orlando Police Department statement Nov. 14, 2025