Teen killed in stolen car crash was ‘never in trouble’

WPTV learns more about the people in a stolen vehicle crashed early Tuesday morning into the St. Lucie River in Martin County.

Three people were killed in the accident. One of those killed in the crash was Marcus Griffin, 17, of Lake Worth.

NewsChannel 5 spoke with some of Griffin’s family members Wednesday who said he was a good boy with a bright future.

Griffin was the youngest of Meghan Gardner’s six children. She still has a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he is gone, but she said he will always be her baby.

“I still deny it,” Gardner said. “I still don’t believe my baby is gone.”

Gardner said the last time she saw Griffin was when he was in school at Seminole Ridge High, where she said he was in the automotive program.

Griffin’s brother said his sibling was not a criminal and believes he got into the vehicle after school without knowing it had been reported stolen.

“Different people on the Internet are saying, ‘At least one more is gone,’ but that’s not another one gone,” said Brother Jamar Dunkley. “He has a family that loves him. He’s never been in trouble, so it’s kind of ridiculous to me to see these pointless comments online without people even knowing the full story.”

Family members said a big part of the story is that Griffin didn’t bother getting into trouble.

“Would Marcus have gotten into a car that he knew was stolen?” WPTV reporter Chris Gilmore asked Griffin’s family members.

“No, no, impossible, no, he was just taken by the wrong person,” family members responded.

Unexpectedly, they are now planning funeral arrangements. His family said he was much more than just the headlines.

“He’s a kid who grew up in Loxahatchee. He went to Seminole Ridge. He was on the weightlifting team. That’s all he did,” said Dunkley.

The names of the two other people whose bodies were found in the St. Lucie River on Wednesday have not been released.

Investigators said the two teenagers who survived the accident, both from Boynton Beach, could face criminal charges.

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