Aug 31, 2021 - News

3 years later, 2 families still broken

Selene San Felice

The Aguerreberry family (left) and the Morse family (right). Photos courtesy of Meghan Aguerreberry and Khadeeja Morse

After three years of lawyers and families battling in court, a judge ordered yesterday that Mikese Morse be committed to a mental hospital after killing a man in 2018.

What happened: Prosecutors and experts agreed that the 33-year-old Morse — once a track-and-field Olympic hopeful at USF — was insane when he ran down Pedro Aguerreberry and his two young sons with his car as they rode their bicycles along New Tampa Boulevard in 2018.

Aguerreberry, then 42, was killed.
Morse was diagnosed after the crash with bipolar schizoaffective disorder.

After the ruling, both families said they're forever broken, in different ways.

The Aguerreberry family will never get their son back — and some cannot believe no one has been held criminally responsible.
The Morses may never get their son out of the criminal justice system they tried so hard to keep him out of.
Mikese spoke through Zoom to the Aguerreberrys: "I regret not getting the help I needed before this happened. I’m sorry I caused you this pain. I know my words don’t mean that much, but I’m really sorry."

What's next: Morse will be committed to North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center, a maximum-security health facility in Gainesville.

His family hopes that one day, with continued progress in treatment, he can go into a transitional program to re-enter society.

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3 years later, 2 families still broken

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