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Netflix’s new true-crime film The Crash has shoved one of the most disturbing deaths in recent Ohio memory back into the headlines, and the timing couldn’t be worse for the families left picking up the pieces. The documentary has rehashed the July 31, 2022 crash and brought fresh attention to the questions prosecutors say were answered long ago.
On that night a car driven by then-17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla slammed into a brick building at well over 100 miles per hour, killing Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan and leaving a community shattered. Law enforcement and court records show the crash was no accident in the view of prosecutors — it was lethal, deliberate, and catastrophic for two families who lost sons.
A Cuyahoga County judge found Shirilla guilty in August 2023 on multiple charges, and she was sentenced to an aggregate term that carries the possibility of parole only after 15 years — a verdict that reflected the judge’s finding that the act was “methodical” and “intentional.” Conservatives who respect law and order should stand with the idea that deliberate murder deserves stern punishment, not relativistic excuses or theatrical streaming specials.
Since the Netflix release, police records and bodycam footage has been put back into the public conversation, and yes, those records reveal more oddities — from talks about medical explanations to social-media behavior that raised eyebrows long before the crash. The debate over whether a medical episode like POTS could explain the crash has been amplified in the media, but the court system has repeatedly reviewed the evidence and the convictions have been upheld on appeal.
What’s been left out by much of the streaming spectacle is the simple decency owed to the victims and their families. Publicity-hungry documentaries and viral clips trade in sensationalism and the distortions of social media, replaying moments that can feel like entertainment rather than the grim unfolding of two lives cut short. Reporters and producers who treat atrocity like programming forget that these are human beings, and conservative readers ought to demand accountability for both criminals and the culture that enables cheap fame for tragedy.
Americans who value family and community should use this moment to push back against a permissive media culture that glamorizes anti-social conduct and then wonders why our young people are so often untethered. Hold fast to law-and-order principles: support the victims, respect the judicial outcomes, and resist the Hollywood impulse to turn pain into product. If the truth means uncomfortable judgments, so be it — hardworking citizens deserve safety, accountability, and a media that reports rather than applauds.
