Key West Injury Lawyer Blog

Published on: September 18, 2024

Helicopter Stops Speeding Boat from Hitting Swimmers, Preventing a ‘Mass Casualty Disaster,’ Officials Say

A speeding boat gunning for hundreds of swimmers and kayakers participating in a local event in Islamorada Saturday was stopped by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helicopter.

“From our angle, he was the only thing stopping that boat from going across all of those people,” Capt. Matt Bellinger, a local fishing guide who was on the water that day, told reporters with Florida Keys News.

The driver of the boat, identified as 55-year-old Thomas Michael Reichert, of Naples, Florida, was charged with boating under the influence, possessing spiny lobster tails and operating a boat in a safety zone, local news outlets reported Wednesday. Reichert is alleged to have 12 wrung tails on board, a second-degree misdemeanor.

Published on: September 18, 2024

Boat of Missing Man, 70, Found off Florida Gulf Coast

By Leesfield & Partners

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Friday that it was suspending its 8,462-square-mile search for a missing 70-year-old man following news of his boat being found abandoned, according to reporting from local news outlets.

Bert Erwin was on a 150-mile trip up Florida’s coast from Marco Island to Indian Rocks Beach and was reported missing Wednesday by a good Samaritan, according to a Coast Guard press release. The person who reported him missing told Coast Guard officials that Erwin was overdue to reach his destination, Indian Rocks Beach.

He was last seen Monday leaving Rose Marina on Marco Island.

Published on: August 30, 2024

Southwest Florida County Reports Spike in Legionnaires’ Disease with three happening within the same community, neighbors say.

By Leesfield & Partners

About eight cases of Legionnaires’ Disease have been reported recently in Lee County, tallying 48 cases so far this year within the Southwest Florida community.

About three of the eight occurred within the same neighborhood after three women were reported to have pulled weeds in their garden, according to reporting from local news outlets. Two of the women have since died.

Information about how the women were infected was not immediately available.

Published on: August 28, 2024

Teen killed after being struck by boat propeller. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

An 18-year-old died when she was hit by a propeller trying to board a New Jersey boat over the weekend officials say.

The teen was on a raft being pulled by the boat and, when she tried to get on the boat, was hit by the propeller. Additional details were not immediately available Tuesday. The investigation is ongoing.

Officials urged boaters and swimmers alike to be advised of boating safety and propeller safety protocols stating that even when in neutral or at rest, propellers can still present a danger.

Published on: August 22, 2024

Parents of boy killed in St. Petersburg boat crash sue family of minor operating the vessel. What to Know about Florida’s Boater Age Requirements.

By Leesfield & Partners

Two families have filed lawsuits in a March St. Petersburg boat crash that resulted in a wrongful death case of a 15-year-old boy, according to reporting from local news outlets.

The crash happened near Bayshore Blvd in Shore Acres in St. Petersburg after a family get-together in which at least two boys went for an afternoon boat ride. Both boys were thrown into the water after the 18-foot vessel slammed into a concrete dock. They were taken to the hospital where one of them later died from his injuries. The other, the one who was driving the boat that day, had non-life-threatening injuries.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed last week, claims that the parents of the boy who was driving the boat the day of the crash purchased the vessel for him and allowed him to routinely use it without supervision and without ensuring that the teens were not taking alcohol on board. It goes on to allege that the boy told good Samaritans who pulled him out of the water that, at the time of the crash, he was looking down at his phone to change the music.

Published on: August 16, 2024

Deluge projected to hit Miami-Dade County prompts NWS advisories. What to Know

By Leesfield & Partners

Forecasters with the National Weather Service are predicting heavy rain, floods, thunderstorms and gusts as high as 18 mph in South Florida Friday with the bad weather continuing into the weekend.

Scattered thunderstorms could bring wind gusts and heavy downpours starting Friday afternoon, according to NWS predictions. Up to an inch of rain is expected in some parts of Miami-Dade County during the day Friday and up to inches are expected at night.

The hazardous weather had most of the county and neighboring parts of South Florida under a flash flood warning and flood advisories Thursday, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. Community leaders and forecasters alike urged the public to never drive through flooded roads as there is no telling how deep the flooding has become and low visibility can make it easy to accidentally drive off-road into a canal. The majority of flood deaths occur in vehicles from people attempting to drive through waters and getting stuck, NWS officials said.

Published on: August 15, 2024

Police: “It didn’t look like there was any effort to stop,” in Florida Keys crash that killed two earlier this week

By Leesfield & Partners

A 9-year-old boy and his father, 47, were identified as the two people killed when a personal watercraft crashed earlier this week into a Marathon, Florida, sea wall.

The two crashed on a 2018 Yamaha personal watercraft just before 7 p.m. in a Boot Key Harbor canal near 15th Street Ocean. The father was thrown over the handlebars of the personal watercraft and catapulted nearly 20 feet away onto land, according to reporting from the Keys Weekly. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Neighbors rushed to where the boy had landed in the water to try and help until deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office arrived. The boy was helicoptered out but went into cardiac arrest while on his way to Miami Children’s Hospital. First responders made an emergency landing at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier where he died.

Published on: August 15, 2024

Two dead following Florida Keys personal watercraft crash Tuesday, authorities say

By Leesfield & Partners

An adult and child have died following a crash on a personal watercraft in Marathon, Florida, according to local news outlets reporting.

Emergency responders were called to the area near 15th Street Ocean around 6:45 p.m. after the personal watercraft crashed into a sea wall.

Police shared a photo of the mangled watercraft which was then published on various news outlet websites and social media. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating the crash.

Published on: August 13, 2024

Florida student hospitalized after mom hits her with car during school drop-off. What to know about start of school traffic safety

By Leesfield & Partners

The first day of school drop-off lines can be particularly hectic with friends waving to one another after months away and frustrating traffic jams but, for one Florida family, the new school year’s drop-off turned tragic when a mother accidentally hit her child with her car.

The incident happened before 8 a.m. Monday during school drop-off when the Sarasota middle schooler was attempting to retrieve school supplies that had fallen underneath the car. The child crawled under the SUV to pick up the pens and markers. The mother, who told police she did not see the girl, hit her.

The girl was airlifted to a hospital in St. Petersburg in critical condition. There was no update on the child’s condition as of Tuesday.

Published on: August 13, 2024

Are You Prepared for Hurricane Season? What to Know

By Leesfield & Partners

A summer chock-full of dangerous floods, prompting iterations of the famed “Florida man” floating down city streets in a canoe to gain traction online are not the only threats to the state during hurricane season.

Hurricane season lasts from June until November each year and while Floridians may poke fun at the situation online, there is always the potential risk of an upcoming storm during these months. The latest system inching near the coast is expected to become Tropical Storm Ernesto, if it continues to gain strength, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service.

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and more than a dozen other islands in the Caribbean are under a tropical storm warning as of Monday as forecasters continue to monitor a system strengthening over the Caribbean. The system, which, if it continues to gather strength, could become Tropical Storm Ernesto, is expected to bring increased rain and flash floods to the islands.