Mom of Flynn MacKrell, Teen Killed in High-Speed Crash, Sues Driver’s Mom

The mother of Flynn MacKrell, a Michigan teenager killed in a high-speed car accident, is seeking charges against the driver’s mother, claiming she knew about her son’s dangerous speeding habit.
Kiernan Tague, 17, lost control of his BMW X3 M series and crashed into a pole and a tree while going 105 mph in Grosse Pointe last year. The passenger, 18-year-old MacKrell, was fatally injured in the crash.
Tague is charged with second-degree murder in the crash. MacKrell’s mother, Anne Vanker, wants the county prosecutor to charge the driver’s mother, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, as well.
In the weeks leading up to the crash, Tague documented himself driving at speeds above 140 mph in the family’s Audi sports car. Him mom texted him to, “Slow the f— down!”
The mother monitored her son’s driving through the Life360 app, according to police reports obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
“I have screen shots of you … doing 123 mph … It scares me to my bone,” she once texted him.
Puleo-Tague then went on to buy the BMW, an even faster car, which Tague was driving on the night of the fatal collision. She was in Canada at the time and had left the keys at home.
“She was sitting on a ticking time bomb. She knows he’s out of control, yet she basically gets him a weapon,” Vanker told the Detroit Free Press. “It’s like she handed him an AR-15.”
MacKrell’s family wrote a letter to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy asking her to file charges against Puleo-Tague.
“We believe there is cause to bring criminal charges against Mrs. Elizabeth Tague,” the letter stated. “The (police) report and the investigation clearly illustrate that not only were Mr. Tague’s driving habits criminal — frequently filming himself speeding at more than 100 mph on our local Detroit roads — but that (his mom) was intimately aware of his behavior, but did not take the actions of a ‘reasonable’ person to prevent harm.”
The family argued Puleo-Tague should not have let her child drive.
“No more cars — it’s that simple,” Flynn’s dad, Thad MacKrell, said.
The family’s request for charges is under review.
Tague and Flynn MacKrell lived on the same street and became friends in 2017.
Tague is awaiting trial. He is not charged as an adult, but he can be sentenced as an adult because he is “adult designated.” The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison.
“I want him in prison for as long as possible,” Vanker said. “Why should he get a break? This kid had every break and every privilege there is.”
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