Published on:

By

A 15-year-old passenger was killed in a single-car rollover crash in Tavernier, an unincorporated town in the Upper Keys near Key Largo, according to local media.

The crash happened Monday night as the driver made a sharp left-hand turn into a local shopping center at mile marker 91. The boy, who was riding in the passenger-side seat, was ejected from the car.

Officials with Florida Highway Patrol told The Miami Herald that one of the vehicle’s tires hit the median when the car was turning left from a U.S. 1 northbound lane and began to tip over onto its right side. While on its passenger side, the car slid across the southbound lanes and stopped at the shopping center’s entrance.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

A House Bill meant to improve swimming pool safety – the number one killer of children under 5 years old in the state – recently died in subcommittee.

The bill provided for the enhancement of safety measures for residential swimming pools in the state, particularly during property transfer or sales. It also specified that title companies and inspectors report non-compliance to local agencies.

Current law, Florida Statutes § 515.27. requires that houses built or remodeled after Oct. 1, 2000, be equipped with one of five safety features. These features range from barriers surrounding the pool, an in-water alarm, a self-latching lock on doors or on fences around pools, a pool safety cover or an alarm on any doors and windows that would give curious children direct access to a swimming pool. Penalties for noncompliance with state law include a fine and/or possible jail time.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Police in Sarasota chased down a speeding and out of control boat this week, but there was no operator on board to be investigated.

That is because the vessel’s operator, who was not wearing the kill switch, had been ejected when the vessel hit a wake. As a result, the man was thrown into the water without a life jacket as his unoccupied vessel sped off at 40 mph. When the vessel’s operator was thrown off, he broke two fingers but was otherwise uninjured, according to reporting from Fox News.

Fortunately, officers with the Sarasota Police Department’s Marine Patrol were able to catch up with the vessel, hop on and shut it off before anyone else was injured.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Just like motorcycles on land, jet skis are the coolest ride on the water; however, with that level of thrill comes serious responsibility.

From improper training from rental companies to inexperienced riders, jet skis and other watercrafts are responsible for over 1,000 deaths in the United States from 2020 to 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Report, which was released on May 16, 2024. A little over 17% of these deaths occurred in July.

A couple in Arizona made national headlines this week after a wife tragically discovered her husband floating in a lake after he fell from a rented jet ski on Sunday at Lake Pleasant. The couple had rented the jet ski at Scorpion Bay, according to reporting from The Miami Herald, and experienced a “mechanical issue.” When they attempted to make a U-turn, they fell into the water.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Firefighters with the Key West Fire Department took part in recent training to learn how to dismantle cars in an emergency.

The week-long training was a part of a larger Urban Search and Rescue operation, and all the cars used in the exercise were already marked for destruction, according to reporting from the Key West Citizen.

This specialized training is essential in a state that sees approximately 400,000 annual car accidents on average. Monroe County had nearly 2,000 crashes in 2024, according to data collected by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ Crash Dashboard. Of these crashes, six people were killed and 1,252 others were injured. In 2023, there were 1,401 crashes with 18 fatalities and 925 injuries.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Leesfield & Partners has filed a case on behalf of a woman who attempted to lie down on an improperly installed and inadequately maintained hammock at a Key West resort. The hammock flipped her and sent her head-first to the ground, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury.

Not only was the hammock improperly installed and negligently maintained—a defect that has left the resort’s guests vulnerable to injuries of this sort—but the resort failed to remedy the defect or warn people about the risks associated with the use of the hammock.

As a result of this horrific and preventable incident, our client was severely injured and required invasive surgery. A year later she continues to suffer daily pain due to this incident.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

Leesfield & Partners is representing a Key West motor scooter rider whose life was upended after a negligent driver struck him, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury

Our 46-year-old client was approaching a Key West intersection on his motor scooter when a driver, who had a stop sign, failed to yield the right of way to our client, causing a collision between the vehicle and the scooter. Our client was ejected from his scooter and hit the driver’s windshield, significantly cracking it before falling unconscious to the ground. He was transported to the hospital with a crushed left tibia and fibula and severe head trauma.

When speaking with the authorities at the scene, the driver claimed to not have seen our client.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

A 35-year-old man faces a slew of charges after allegedly threatening individuals at a Tom Thumb store on Stock Island Wednesday.

The man, of Marathon, Florida, was charged with theft, robbery with a weapon, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, which posted an online press release Thursday.

Around 2:05 a.m., the man opened a soda and “partially drank it” and tried to hide it with chips before a store employee and at least three customers tried to stop him, police said. When they approached him, the man allegedly pulled out a knife “swung it around and chased one witness.”

Continue reading
Published on:

By

A 73-year-old snorkeler has died after he was found passed out off Key Largo this week, according to local media.

The man, Dwaine David Anderson, of Crystal Falls, Michigan, was swimming on the Grecian Rocks reef off Key Largo Monday. Anderson was out with a commercial dive operation when he was found passed out, officials with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office told the Miami Herald.

The dive boat crew performed CPR as they raced back to shore. Anderson was transported to the Mariners Hospital in Tavernier where he was pronounced dead.

Continue reading
Published on:

By

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is conducting the search for a child who remains missing as of Tuesday after a boating accident in North Florida that killed three people, officials say.

The incident happened 8 p.m. Friday when an 18-foot vessel carrying eight people flipped. Three bodies, including one child, were recovered from the water. Emergency responders were called out to the scene after passersby reported seeing the overturned vessel with at least “four people on top … and an additional four people possibly underneath,” according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

No one involved in the incident was wearing a life jacket, officials with the U.S. Coast Guard told reporters.

Continue reading
Badges
Badges
Contact Information
Miami Office
2350 S Dixie Hwy
Miami, FL 33133
Phone: (305) 854-4900
Fax: (305) 854-8266
Toll Free: (800) 836-6400
Key West Office
615-1/2 Whitehead St
Key West, FL 33040
Toll Free: (800) 836-6400
E-Mail: info@leesfield.com
Orlando / Central Florida Office
By appointments only
Toll Free: (800) 836-6400
E-Mail: info@leesfield.com

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2016 – 2025, Leesfield & Partners
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design