A Travis County judge has sentenced a 36-year-old man to probation after finding him guilty of manslaughter in the death of Killeen Fire Department Capt. Marvin Taylor III, who was killed in May 2025 when a speeding Dodge Durango slammed into his vehicle in Austin. Rodney Earl Bremby II will serve 10 years of straight probation, along with 403 hours of community service and $535 in fees.
Bremby pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony charge and was found guilty of manslaughter, according to The Killeen Daily Herald. Court records cited by the outlet show the plea was entered in Travis County’s 450th Judicial District Court on Aug. 24. He had originally faced a second-degree felony charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle.
A Night That Began With a Birth and Ended in Tragedy
Taylor, off duty at the time, had just left an Austin hospital after the birth of his fifth child and was on his way to pick up his other children to bring them to meet the new baby, per the Herald’s reporting. He was the only occupant of his Toyota Sienna when Bremby’s Dodge struck his vehicle.
According to an arrest affidavit detailed by kdhnews.com, an Austin police officer was on patrol around 1:05 a.m. approaching a red light at East Koenig Lane and Airport Boulevard when he saw a black Dodge Durango pass on the right in the center lane at high speed. The Durango then struck the rear driver side of Taylor’s blue Toyota Sienna. East Koenig Lane carries a 45 mph speed limit.
103 MPH at the Moment of Impact
Police said Bremby’s Dodge was traveling 103 mph at the moment of impact and had been going 93 mph five seconds earlier, the affidavit states. The officer’s in-car camera captured video of the collision. The Toyota traveled roughly 150 feet after impact before coming to rest in the grassy median, and the affidavit described heavy rear-driver-side intrusion that pinned Taylor inside while the Dodge sustained heavy damage to its front passenger side…