A Winter Haven Man is facing criminal charges after police say he stole a golf cart and left an injured friend behind over the weekend in Key West, according to reporting from Channel 10 News.
Police were called out to the 2800 block of North Roosevelt Boulevard around 7:45 a.m. Saturday after they got a call about an injured man. The caller told police that she saw the man lying in the street and helped him move to the sidewalk before calling 911. The man told authorities that he fell out of the backseat of a golfcart after his friend made a U-turn and left him.
The man was taken to the hospital where it was later determined he would need surgery to repair a broken hip.
Shortly after responding to the call about the injured man, authorities received a second call reporting a missing fold cart. When the owner checked their security cameras, they allege they saw a man driving away with the vehicle around 5 a.m.
The driver, a 51-year-old man, was later found by police during a traffic stop. He was charged with grand theft and leaving the scene of a crash causing serious bodily injury. The man is also facing a charge of operating a vehicle without a valid license.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a personal injury law firm with 50 years of experience securing record verdicts and settlements for injured clients and their grieving families. For many personal injury attorneys across the country, motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian incidents, motorcycle crashes and other road injuries are among some of the most common claims handled by their attorneys. As much is true at Leesfield & Partners, which has represented countless clients throughout Monroe County.
Our skilled trial attorneys work tirelessly to ensure that the best possible outcome is secured for every client. In an ongoing case, the firm is representing a Key West man who was severely injured in a crash at a local intersection. The man was on a motor scooter when another driver failed to yield at the intersection, colliding with our client. As a result, he was ejected from his scooter and hit the driver’s windshield, significantly cracking it before falling to the ground.
He was taken to the hospital with a crushed left tibia and fibula and severe head trauma. This crash has seriously and drastically impacted the life of our 46-year-old client who currently remains at a long-term care and rehabilitation facility to recover from his injuries.
This case is being handled by Partner Justin B. Shapiro and Eric Shane, a trial attorney at the firm.
Leesfield & Partners — Dedicated to the Key West Community
Our attorneys remain dedicated to this client, as they are with every case throughout Florida and Monroe County where the firm has maintained strong ties since at least the 1970s. At that time, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, was trying his first-ever case in Key West. Since then, Leesfield & Partners has regularly represented clients in Monroe County in areas such as boating incidents, carbon monoxide litigation, and motor vehicle accidents. The firm later obtained a former cigar factory on historic Whitehead Street, transforming it into the Key West hub that is so well-known today.
As a part of philanthropic efforts, this building is being auctioned off for a weekend stay as an auction item for the Friends of The Underline Sneaker Ball for the second consecutive year. The Underline is an organization dedicated to transforming the previously unused land beneath Miami’s Metrorail system into a 10-mile linear park. In doing so, The Underline is creating community gathering spaces and improving pedestrian safety by efficiently constructing designated pathways for walkers, runners and bicyclists alike, away from the city traffic.
And this is not the only time that Mr. Leesfield has dedicated himself to the safety of pedestrians and other drivers on the road. Through The Leesfield Family Foundation, he previously partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The Foundation has also planted deep roots throughout Monroe County with repeated contributions to local food banks, dedicated support of youth athletics and a college scholarship named for a dedicated teacher and coach who tragically died in 2024. The Dexter Butler College Scholarship sponsored by Leesfield & Partners is set up to provide financial assistance for a Key West High School basketball player heading off to college. The scholarship is awarded to an academically successful and civic-minded student who exemplifies the legacy of kindness and community left behind by Butler, the son of a close friend to the Leesfield family.
“I have known the Butler family for my entire 45 years working in Key West,” Mr. Leesfield said. “There is no finer family in the community who has done more for high school athletic programs. Dexter Butler was a true role model.”
Previous Cases
Mr. Shapiro previously represented a family in a wrongful death motor vehicle case involving a pedestrian. A verdict of over $36 million was obtained for the family in that case.
In a motor vehicle accident involving negligent road construction, Leesfield & Partners attorneys obtained over $29 million for the injured clients.
Ira Leesfield, the firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, obtained a $19.8 million verdict against Honda in a design defect case involving a motorcycle kickstand. In that case, our client was in the middle of a ride when the kickstand deployed and caused his motorcycle to spin out of control. He was paralyzed as the result of this violent collision.
This was the start of litigation against multiple manufacturers involving the same dangerous design defect handled by Mr. Leesfield on behalf of injured clients.
A $15.4 million recovery was obtained for a Fort Lauderdale handyman who was injured as a backseat passenger in a high-speed motor vehicle accident. The man in that case was in a car that was stopped at a drawbridge when another car hit it from behind, causing skull fractures, frontal lobe brain damage and facial fractures.
As a result of his injuries, our client developed a seizure disorder that could not be controlled by medication. This ended the then-22-year-old’s career as a handyman in the area.
Leesfield & Partners previously represented the families of three teenage girls after they were struck by a commercial truck driver making an illegal U-turn on the turnpike. The girls in that case were on their way to the library when the driver turned directly into their path. Tragically, one girl was killed and the other two sustained serious injuries.
Our attorneys worked tirelessly to settle the case for over $8.6 million for the families. The firm also obtained an over $7.6 million arbitration award for the family who lost their daughter.
In the case of a woman who was walking back to her office following a midday break, Mr. Shapiro secured the maximum recoverable amount set forth in the defendant’s insurance policy limits. The woman was crossing the street in a marked crosswalk when a pickup truck driver made an illegal left turn, claiming to not have seen her. Injuries to our client included skull fractures and brain hemorrhages in addition to injuries to her left leg.
A $6 million settlement was secured for the client in that case.
Previously, the firm represented a bicyclist who was injured when she was hit by a car while stopped off the shoulder of the Overseas Highway. The driver in that case hit our client after losing control of the vehicle while fiddling with the GPS.
Leesfield & Partners obtained $5.35 million for the bicyclist’s multiple, life-threatening injuries.
In another pedestrian-involved case, Leesfield & Partners obtained a $2.9 million recovery our client who was injured due to a driver’s negligence.
Leesfield & Partners client represented a well-known businessman and restauranteur in Key West involved in a crash with an ambulance that left him permanently injured and disfigured. The driver of the ambulance in that case claimed he was on his way to an emergency but did not have on his lights or signals when he ran through an intersection in which he had the red light. Due to the lack of emergency signals, our client, who was riding a scooter, had no way of knowing that the ambulance would not stop as he crossed the intersection.
A jury awarded our client a $2.1 million verdict.
The firm represented injured clients in a case involving an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who was driving a truck towing a 31-foot fishing boat near Marathon, Florida. The officer was going the speed limit when the trailer began to fishtail from side-to-side and went into oncoming traffic. A driver in a van tried to avoid a collision but couldn’t.
At least two people died, and catastrophic injuries were suffered by multiple others. The driver of the van survived but had nine broken bones, numerous lacerations to her face and was left traumatized by the ordeal. An investigation from the Florida Highway Patrol concluded that the combined weight of the trailer and the boat exceeded the maximum towing capacity of the trailer hitch on the truck, causing the crash.
Leesfield & Partners settled the case for above the available insurance coverage.
In a Monroe County case, this time involving a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Deputy, the firm secured the entirety of insurance policy limits. In that case, the deputy was driving a car with his son, a minor, when another car failed to yield the right-of-way when pulling onto the Overseas Highway. The other driver, who was speeding, pulled out directly in front of the deputy, causing the inevitable crash.
A child who was crossing the street suffered a traumatic brain injury after a driver hit him. In that case, Leesfield & Partners secured a $1.2 million settlement for the Fort Lauderdale family.
Bernardo Pimentel II, a Trial Attorney at the firm, secured a $1 million recovery for a family involved in a fatal car crash at the hands of a negligent driver.
Mr. Shane obtained a confidential amount for a young passenger who was injured in a severe Florida crash.
Mr. Pimentel obtained a confidential settlement for a family whose young son was severely injured when a car slammed through a Florida discount store’s windows.
Trial Attorney Evan Robinson secured a six-figure settlement for a client injured in a Monroe County crash.
In an ongoing case, Carlos A. Fabano, a Trial Attorney at the firm, is representing a pedestrian who was severely and permanently injured by a negligent driver.