Mackenzie Shirilla’s dad, Steve Shirilla, won’t be returning to his job as a teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School. After Steve made a comment about his daughter doing drugs on the Netflix documentary, The Crash, the school put him on leave.
Now, Steve says he has no plans to return to the school.
“I wouldn’t resign a contract with them for the simple fact of how they handled this situation… the school and the diocese showed their true colors,” Steve told TMZ. “I’m done talking about this or anything that’s not about the injustice my daughter has been put through my only focus is her.”
Steve previously told TMZ that his words were misrepresented in the documentary. He maintains that he did not allow his daughter to use drugs and says he was unaware that she was allegedly driving while under the influence at times.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Cleveland told TMZ, “Catholic school personnel decisions are the purview of each school in the Diocese of Cleveland. Due to privacy considerations, neither the schools nor the Diocese ordinarily discuss personnel issues publicly. However, we can confirm that Mr. Steve Shirilla will not be returning to Mary Queen of Peace School.”
Mackenzie was convicted of killing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, after the car she was driving crashed into a brick wall at nearly 100 mph. She is currently serving concurrent 15-year-to-life prison sentences and has maintained that she did not intentionally crash the vehicle, saying she is unsure what happened that night.
Her case was later featured in the Netflix documentary The Crash, which was released by the streaming giant last month. It was comments Steve made in the documentary about his daughter that led to his placement on leave, including remarks in which he said he didn’t “have a problem” with her “smoking dope” and suggested that, if someone were going to “smoke a drug,” that was the one he believed they “should take.”
Mackenzie will be eligible for parole in 2037.
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