A 17-year-old was speeding at over 100 mph on a residential street in the affluent Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe last November when he lost control, sliced his mother’s BMW X3 M in two, and killed his 18-year-old passenger. The driver who survived the catastrophic high-speed crash was Kiernan Tague, an unruly young man who had at least 22 documented contacts with the police since 2018 for various reasons, including assaulting his mother. Tague was charged with 2nd-degree murder and is awaiting trial, and now the victim’s family believes there is enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against his mother, Elizabeth Tague, who bought the car used in the crash.
Tague’s passenger he killed in the crash was 18-year-old college freshman and swimmer Flynn MacKrell, who was known to be gentle, selfless and imaginative. MacKrell’s family is using the precedent set by the Crumbley trials following the 2021 deadly mass shooting at Oxford High School to go after Tague’s mother. In the Crumbley trials, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, who murdered four students at his school, were charged with involuntary manslaughter for buying and carelessly storing the gun their son used for murder. The legal arguments used against the Crumbley parents were that they failed to take reasonable actions to prevent their child from hurting others, like not putting a lock on the gun their son used to shoot up his school.
In a gruesome parallel, despite damning evidence from a family tracking app called Life360 that showed Elizabeth Tague how her son was a reckless driver who hit speeds above 150 mph in the family’s Audi coupe, she still bought the brand new BMW X3 M that Kiernan crashed. From the Detroit Free Press,
In July and August 2023, he hit speeds of 127 mph, 143 mph, 102 mph, 150 mph and 155 mph — all on separate days. Photos of his speedometer tracking these speeds were found on his cell phone.
In the two weeks before the fatal crash, Life360 recorded 94 trips by Kiernan, nearly half of them over 90 mph. The highest speed recorded was on Nov. 1, when he drove 153 mph for 20 miles.
Videos on Kiernan’s cell phone show him drag racing twice, in September and October. Another video shows him driving recklessly through the Millender Center tunnel in downtown Detroit.
On Sept. 14, 2023, Elizabeth Tague texted her son: “Slow the F—- down right now!” A Life360 report showed him traveling 123 mph.
About two weeks later, Kiernan got a text from his sister about a Grosse Pointe girl who was killed by a drunk driver.
“Speed limits exist for a reason,” the sister texted her younger brother.
Kiernan responded that he knew the victim, and said: “Jesus. That’s tragic.”
Two hours later that same day, he got a text from his mom:
“I have screenshots of you doing 90 mph in the middle of the night when I didn’t even know you had left (a friend’s) lake house … And again two weeks ago going 123 mph just because.”
The text continued: “And your obsession (word choice intentional) with cars having upwards of 600 hp – It’s not healthy. It’s not safe. And it scares me to my bone.”
Three weeks later, Elizabeth Tague bought the BMW.
Elizabeth Tague was well aware of her son’s speeding habits before she decided to purchase the faster and more powerful BMW X3 M, and on the night that her son crashed, Elizabeth was in Canada and left the BMW keys at home. Kiernan had a history of bad behavior aside from his speeding habit:
According to police records, Kiernan has had at least 22 documented contacts with police since 2018. The majority of police calls involve Grosse Pointe City police responding to complaints that Kiernan was out of control at home and breaking things in the house.
“His mother repeatedly told responding officers that she was afraid of Kiernan,” an investigator writes in a report, adding the teen’s most recent police contact before the crash was on Aug. 30, 2023, when police were called to Kiernan’s house “because he was yelling and throwing items within the house because his mother refused to get him an American Express Gold Card.”
In 2020, police responded to another call from the mom, who alleged “that Kiernan had just assaulted her and fled the area.” According to a police report, Kiernan was being picked up at his friend’s house and became angry at his mother. “While in the front seat, Kiernan turned around and began punching his mother (who was in the back seat) and even bit her on her hand.” Kiernan was arrested for domestic violence and lodged at the Wayne County youth home.
The Detroit Free Press learned the police are in the process of putting together a warrant request for Kiernan’s mother Elizabeth Tague, which is done to determine if there’s enough evidence to criminally charge someone. Kiernan’s victim, 18-year-old college freshman Flynn MacKrell, was said to be a calm 6-foot-4 swimmer known for his gentle ways, easy smile and shaggy red hair. He is survived by both of his parents and his two elder siblings, 20-year-old Thaddeus MacKrell and 23-year-old Lily MacKrell. The original reporting done by the Detroit Free Press’ Tresa Baldas is incredibly thorough, thoughtful, and well-written. Read her article here.