Local News · Orlando, FL · January 2026
Milagros Ortiz was heading home from a Saturday night out when an OPD cruiser blew through a red light at Semoran and Hoffner Avenue. The crash report says the officer was at fault. Rick explains what this case reveals about your rights after any negligent-driver crash in Orlando.
The intersection of South Semoran Boulevard and Hoffner Avenue in Orlando, where a police cruiser ran a red light early Sunday, January 18, 2026, striking a Jeep and fatally injuring 92-year-old Milagros Ortiz.
ORLANDO, FL — Just after 1 a.m. on Sunday, January 18, 2026, Milagros Ortiz — a 92-year-old grandmother known by her family for dancing the night away on weekends — was riding in a neighbor’s Jeep Patriot heading south on South Semoran Boulevard. The light was green. She never made it home.
At 1:48 a.m., an Orlando Police Department cruiser drove through a red light at the intersection of South Semoran Boulevard and Hoffner Avenue and slammed into the Jeep. Ortiz died two days later, on Monday, January 20. She was 92.
The preliminary accident report, obtained by the Ortiz family and reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel, was unambiguous about responsibility. The “at fault” vehicle was the police cruiser. The report found the officer failed to yield the right of way.
A witness at the scene told investigators that OPD Officer Andrew McKuhen, 28, had been stopped at the red light on Semoran — which the witness described as “taking a long time to switch.” Suddenly, the cruiser’s emergency lights activated. The vehicle drove into the intersection. Then the emergency lights turned off.
Surveillance video recovered from the scene corroborated the witness’s account, according to the crash report. The Jeep was traveling with a green light when it was struck.
Orlando Police acknowledged a traffic homicide investigation in a public release but offered few details, citing an ongoing internal review. The department would not confirm Officer McKuhen’s work status following the crash. Orlando civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who took on the family, publicly called for transparency and accountability.
“The tears that I just see up here — this man is still alive, your guys’ family is still alive. If you want to hug him, you can hug him. Guess what? If I want to hug my children, I have to hug a vase full of ashes.”
— Sabrina Hernandez, speaking at a separate but related Orange County crash sentencing hearing, February 2026
The Semoran Boulevard crash is a stark illustration of how quickly a night out can become a tragedy on Orlando roads — and how being in the right, with the green light, provides no guarantee of safety when another driver is negligent.
The intersection of South Semoran Boulevard and Hoffner Avenue is part of a broader corridor that consistently appears in Orange County crash data. Semoran Boulevard (SR-436) runs as a high-traffic north-south arterial through the metro area. Its intersection with Colonial Drive (Highway 50) is one of Orange County’s most crash-prone, and the road sees a steady volume of commercial vehicles, rideshare drivers, and late-night traffic from nearby entertainment venues.
For families who travel Semoran regularly, the Ortiz case is a painful reminder: intersection crashes are among the deadliest type of collisions. When a driver — any driver, including a law enforcement officer — fails to yield or runs a red light, the consequences for the person with the right of way can be catastrophic and irreversible.
Many Orlando residents don’t realize that Florida law does allow injury victims to bring claims against government entities — including municipalities like the City of Orlando — when a government employee’s negligence causes a crash. However, these cases come with specific procedural requirements that are different from standard personal injury claims. There are strict notice deadlines that must be met before you can file suit, and the process for pursuing compensation against a government entity involves a pre-suit investigation period.
Waiting or assuming that filing a claim against a city or government agency is impossible can be a costly mistake. If you or a family member were injured in a crash involving a government or municipal vehicle, speaking with an Orlando personal injury attorney as quickly as possible is essential.
Whether the at-fault driver is a private citizen, a rideshare driver, a commercial truck operator, or — as in this case — a law enforcement officer, Florida law gives injury victims the right to pursue compensation for their losses. This includes:
Florida’s statute of limitations gives most crash victims two years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury claim. In cases involving government entities, pre-suit notice requirements may impose shorter deadlines. Contact an attorney immediately.
