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.