Staff report
MELROSE, Fla. – Brandon Reece Howard, 52, has been charged with negligent homicide following an investigation into a September 2023 fatal accident that killed Natasha Puente Borrego, a 42-year-old Starke resident.
A Florida Highway Patrol investigation found that at 6:41 a.m. on September 19, 2023, Howard was driving a pickup truck eastbound at speeds between 98 and 107 mph in a 60 mph zone on State Road 26 while Borrego was driving a Ford Mustang westbound at speeds between 58 and 64 mph. On a curve about 300 feet west of County Road 219A, the pickup truck ran off the road onto the south grass shoulder, still traveling at a minimum speed of 98 mph, then the pickup truck re-entered the eastbound travel lane but rotated and traveled across the center dividing line, hitting Borrego’s car, although she turned her wheel to the right in an attempt to avoid the pickup truck. Borrego was pronounced deceased as a result of the crash…