By Tony Holt
ST. AUGUSTINE — During the night of
March 29, 2013, Nathaniel David Juratovac fired two bullets into the chest of
an unarmed man, firefighter Jared Parkey.
The shooting resulted Friday in a
51-month prison sentence for the 41-year-old former Flagler Beach police
officer.
Parkey was shot twice in the chest and
airlifted to the hospital, but was released the following morning.
“I believe I didn’t do anything
differently that a husband or a father in this situation would’ve done,” Juratovac
told the judge before he was sentenced. “This is disturbing to me. (The
shooting) was my decision and I’m at peace with my decision ... My family is
safe today and I will continue on.”
At one point while Juratovac was
speaking, Parkey, who works for Flagler County Fire Rescue, turned to a woman
seated to his right and gave a displeasing look. He remained stoic otherwise
and declined to speak to the media after Friday’s hearing.
Parkey also didn’t react when the judge
criticized him, along with Juratovac, for his behavior that night along U.S. 1.
“We all should recognize the fact that
the actions of two people that day endangered not only their families that day,
but the community,” said Circuit Judge J. Michael Traynor.
He also said the shooting and criminal
case would have been avoided “if two people hadn’t acted irresponsibly and
recklessly on the highway that day.”
Parkey, 31, was driving an SUV
in the area of St. Augustine Shores when he threw a water jug at Juratovac’s
SUV. It was in retaliation for Juratovac “brake checking” Parkey, who was
driving too close to his bumper, said Juratovac’s attorney, Patrick T. Canan.
Each man was accompanied by his wife and daughter at the time.
The vehicles collided, drove
off the road and stopped. Both men got out and the confrontation ended when
Juratovac fired two rounds from a handgun, according to the St. Johns County
Sheriff’s Office.
Parkey lay on the side of the
road in a fetal position while witnesses called 9-1-1.
After he was stabilized at
Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Parkey was interviewed by detectives. He
told them he had thrown the jug at Juratovac’s vehicle after Juratovac had
brake-checked him.
When the two men confronted
each other after getting out of their vehicles, Parkey noticed Juratovac’s
weapon and he held his hands out to the side to let him know he was unarmed, he
said.
Two bullets entered his chest
and he would later be taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Canan’s account of the incident
was more detailed than what was disclosed in reports by the St. Johns Sheriff’s
Office. He said Parkey was so enraged over Juratovac activating his brake
lights, he accelerated past the vehicle, swerved in his lane and brake-checked
him back.
Juratovac and his wife, Robin,
who is a St. Johns County deputy, thought the incident was over and started
talking about something else. After driving for about a mile, Parkey threw the
water jug at Juratovac’s vehicle, said Canan.
He also said Juratovac couldn’t
see whether Parkey was armed when he shot at him.
Canan accepted the 51-month
sentence because Florida’s 10-20-life law would have been applied to this case
had it gone to trial. He said Juratovac would have faced a minimum of 25 years
in prison had a jury convicted him.
He mentioned his issues with the
law in open court. He said Juratovac’s case was a self-defense scenario, but
the 10-20-life law would’ve been applied, so the risk was too great to go to
trial.
Because Juratovac’s wife is a
local deputy, special prosecutors from the 18th Judicial Circuit in Brevard
County were appointed.
Assistant State Attorney
Russell K. Bausch said Juratovac had options “besides taking his gun out and
shooting Mr. Parkey twice with every intention of killing him.”
Bausch reinforced his argument
by saying the defendant’s wife never pulled out her own weapon that night.
Before he was handcuffed,
Juratovac, a father of three, told his wife to take care of their children. As
he was being led out of the courtroom, he told his wife he loved her.
Moments later, Juratovac’s wife
told Rausch, “I’m going to hold you to your promise. I’m going to hold you to
it.”
Bausch said Friday he was
appointed to the case to investigate the incident entirely and said “there are
still some things to look into.”
He said has spoken to Juratovac’s
wife over the phone about the case, but offered her no promises.
Robin Juratovac refused
requests for comment.
In addition to prison, the
incident resulted in more media attention for Nathanial David Juratovac, which
was something he admitted he didn’t want.
He has declined to speak to the
media since posting bail last June, but in the past he has complained about The
News-Journal’s coverage of him. Less than nine years ago and while he was still
a police officer, he twice arrested Lisa Tanner, daughter of former State
Attorney John Tanner. Both incidents were controversial, but the second led to
Juratovac’s own arrest on charges of perjury and falsifying documents.
The judge threw out that case
in May 2008 when one of the state’s key witnesses failed to provide credible
testimony.
Juratovac was a free man, but
his law enforcement career came to an end weeks later. Records revealed his
police chief at the time wanted him gone. The chief went so far as to ask the
city manager to fire Juratovac.
The embattled police officer,
who once was commended for his work as a narcotics investigator, resigned and
started his own power-washing company.
He remained out of the public
eye until the shooting 10 months ago
