jet ski crash

Published on: January 6, 2025

One dead, three others injured in Florida Keys boat crash, officials say.

A North Carolina woman was killed, three others were injured and one man faces charges following a boat crash in the Florida Keys Friday.

A 21-foot motorboat carrying four people hit an anchored 34-foot sailboat Friday around 8 p.m. in Florida Bay off mile marker 96 in Key Largo, according to reporting from the Miami Herald. All four people aboard the motorboat were ejected following the crash. Three people were rescued from the water with injuries. The body of 24-year-old Sydney Cole was pulled from the water.

At least one of the three injured, Lillian Cole, 58, of Oakland Park, was airlifted to a Miami-Dade County hospital in critical condition. The boat was being operated by Guy Erdman, 61, also of Oakland Park, the night of the crash, according to the Herald. No charges have been filed against him as of Monday.

Published on: December 26, 2024

New Bill Proposes Stricter Penalties for ‘Boat and Run’ Crashes in Florida. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Several bills, including one to impose stricter penalties on boaters involved in crashes, have been proposed in the Florida House and Senate ahead of the 2025 start to the legislative session in March; here’s what you should know.

The bill referencing the penalties was proposed by Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Republican in Miami, and would classify fleeing a fatal boat crash as a first-degree felony, meaning this charge could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, if convicted. Additional penalties can include a $10,000 fine. If a person who is found guilty of this crime was also found to have bene under the influence at the time of the crash, then a mandatory, minimum sentence of four years would be applied.

This bill, SB 58, was filed in response to the 2022 Biscayne Bay boat crash that killed one high school student on board and permanently injured another. The student killed in that incident was 17-year-old Luciana Fernandez who was on the boat being operated by George Pino, a local real-estate developer. Pino was first charged with three misdemeanor charges of careless boating, but those charges were changed to vessel homicide after a witness came forward this year with new evidence in the case.

Published on: December 10, 2024

Walton County Police Find Boater’s Body After Vessel Took On Water

By Leesfield & Partners

Authorities with the Walton County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that they found the body of a missing boater after a two-day-long search.

The man, Benjamin Goodman, 35, launched a boat onto the Choctawhatchee Bay in the Florida Panhandle near Destin Tuesday. After his boat began taking on water, submerging the stern, he called his wife for help. During the call, the police say Goodman told his wife he planned to use a bucket to manually bail water from the vessel and stay afloat. She called the authorities who began searching for him and found the boat Tuesday evening, its bow peeking above the water.

“His brother and other family members have spent every moment possible since Tuesday night trying to locate Ben who, they say, grew up on the bay and loved being on the water,” The Walton County Sheriff’s Office said in an announcement via X Thursday afternoon.

Published on: November 19, 2024

Police: Human Head on Key Biscayne Belongs to Teen Caught in Rip Current

By Leesfield & Partners

Authorities confirmed over the weekend that the human head that washed ashore on Key Biscayne belonged to a teen who went missing off Miami Beach a week before after being caught in a rip current.

Victor Enrique Castaneda Jr., 19, was swimming with his sister off South Pointe Beach on Nov. 9 around 6 p.m. when the two were caught up in a rip current. They yelled for help and passersby were able to rescue Castaneda’s sister, but he seemed to vanish in the water, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. His older sister, Jessica Castaneda, told reporters that her brother pushed their younger sister toward shore in an effort to save her as the pair struggled against the currents.

On Nov. 12, a human head washed up on the beach in front of Oceansound Key Colony II condominium at 251 Crandon Blvd on Key Biscayne. The remains were found by a beach maintenance worker before 8:40 a.m.

Published on: November 8, 2024

One Dead, Four Injured After Florida Keys Boat Crash Thursday, officials say

By Leesfield & Partners

At least four people were injured and one other died after they were ejected from a boat that crashed into a Key West sandbar Thursday afternoon, authorities told reporters with The Miami Herald.

The crash happened around 4 p.m. when a 39-foot Deep Impact vessel carrying at least eight people crashed into a sand bar in North Key West Harbor. Five people were catapulted into the water, officials said, and were taken to the hospital where one person died from their injuries.

Additional details were not immediately available Friday morning.

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.