County settles suit related to death of Donna Chen

It has been more than three-and-a-half years since 53-year-old Siesta Key resident Donna Chen was struck and killed by a drunk driver on Midnight Pass Road.

The incident sparked pleas to ban alcohol on Siesta Beach and improve conditions for pedestrians on the island’s main road — and the perpetrator Blake Talman will spend 15 years in prison. It also led to a lawsuit alleging negligence on the part of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, which county commissioners settled for $200,000 this morning.

“Based on all the circumstances surrounding the case, including the tragic and substantial loss suffered by the Chen family, the costs and expenses required to take this case to trial, the potential for a large verdict and the possibility of having to deal with a claims bill, ” said County Attorney Stephen DeMarsh in a memo to commissioners. “We are recommending the board approve the settlement in the amount of $200,000."

The Chen family’s counsel said deputies made contact with Talman twice before the accident and arrested one of the 23-year-old’s friends for disorderly intoxication. Officers allegedly instructed the men to “go home or go to jail.” 

On Jan. 7 2012, Talman, who was then 22, was driving his Nissan Altima drunk when he struck and killed Chen as she and her dog, Barney, were running on the sidewalk along Midnight Pass. Talman was reportedly driving about 90 mph when he lost control rounding a corner on Midnight Pass Road, flipping his car and fatally impacting Chen.

A kayaker later rescued Chen's dog one mile out in Sarasota Bay. A video depicting the rescue was widely circulated in the area.

“It’s just like Donna to somehow make the story of Barney and his rescue bigger than her own,” said Chen’s close friend, Susan Asselstine in a 2012 interview with the Pelican Press. “That’s just how she was. Even in this tragedy, she’s managed to put others before her.”

Friends and family members who spoke then with the Pelican Press called Chen a devoted mother of three, a caring wife and a great friend and sister.

Chen worked as an emergency room nurse at Venice Memorial Hospital, where she met her husband, Dr. Wellington Chen.

The couple had been married 26 years, raising three children in their Siesta home.

Talman was later found to have a blood-alcohol content of between .223 and .222 — nearly three times the adult legal limit.

Circuit Court Judge Frederick P. Mercurio sentenced Talman to 15 years in prison for DUI manslaughter on Nov. 25, 2013, for the death of Siesta Key resident Donna Chen two years earlier. Talman will also serve five years of probation.