Key West Injury Lawyer Blog
Investigators in North Carolina allege they found 39 empty beer cans aboard the boat of a man they say was under the influence the day he hit and killed a little girl.
Quinten Knight, 40, faces charges of serious injury by impaired boating, operating a boat in a reckless manner, felony boating while impaired and misdemeanor boating while impaired, according to reporting from the News and Observer.
Knight is accused of boating under the influence while operating his girlfriend’s vessel on Harris Lake, approximately 25 miles outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday, Aug. 2.
Knight was towing a tube when he hit swimmers in the area, including 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll.
Jennifer Stehle, 41, a school social worker, was also injured in the incident. Her injuries were so severe that she later had to undergo a leg amputation. She is in stable condition as of Wednesday, according to media reporting.
Police attempted to perform sobriety tests on Knight but he was unable to follow their instructions, according to reporting from the New York Post. Investigators are waiting on the results from a blood test conducted after the incident.
At least 39 empty beer cans were found aboard the vessel, according to a statement at a hearing Monday by Chatham County District Attorney Jeff Nieman. About 50 other alcohol containers were found in the water, he said.
Anne Marie Flanigan, Knight’s 56-year-old girlfriend and the owner of the vessel was charged Tuesday with two felony counts of boating while impaired and one misdemeanor charge of boating while impaired.
Additional details, including how many people were on the boat at the time of the incident, were not immediately available Wednesday morning.
Knight allegedly has had a previous driving under the influence conviction linked to a 2009 incident in New Mexico. He has a pending hit-and-run charge out of Moore County, North Carolina, stemming from a 2023 incident.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a personal injury law firm with nearly five decades of experience handling devastating boating injury cases. Whether these incidents occurred from mechanical failure, boater inexperience or impairment, our attorneys aim to secure the best possible outcome for every client.
In decades of representing boat crash victims, Leesfield & Partners has secured numerous record verdicts and settlements for injured clients and grieving families. In that time, our attorneys have learned firsthand just how dangerous boating can be.
In Miami, where the firm is headquartered, the local community has been sent reeling over the loss of three young girls in a barge-sailboat accident involving a youth sailing organization.
The firm is representing one of the surviving girls, 7-year-old Calena Areyan Gruber, who was recently released from the hospital. Thankfully two other minors survived along with their 19-year-old camp counselor.
No legal action has been taken in that case as the U.S. Coast Guard investigation is ongoing.
“My heart goes out to the families of those involved in this most tragic incident,” said Partner Justin B. Shapiro. “Very few details have been shared with the public, and it is too early to cast blame on any particular individual or entity. Regardless, it is absolutely clear this is an incident that cannot happen in the absence of negligence, incompetence, or both.”
This incident is unimaginable and the families of the girls who tragically passed — 7-year-old Mila Yankelevich, 13-year-old Erin Ko Han, and 10-year-old Arielle Mazi Buchman — are in the thoughts of the attorneys and staff at Leesfield & Partners. While no statistic can capture the heartbreak of a single tragedy and its impact on a family, the data reveals a broader and deeply concerning pattern of boating safety issues in Florida.
In 2024, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reported approximately 685 reportable boating incidents statewide, resulting in 81 fatalities and nearly 400 injuries. This is the year with the latest available data immediately available to the public. Shockingly, more than half of the boat operators involved in fatal accidents had not received formal boating education.
The firm’s Founder and Managing Partner, Ira Leesfield, has remained outspoken on critical safety issues and the need for greater accountability across Florida’s tourism and hospitality industries.
“The dangers from boating incidents are entirely underestimated as South Florida becomes more congested, drinking on the water becomes more prevalent and distractions from cell phones and other devices increases,” he said. “Important safety standards must be enforced on all watercrafts.”
For nearly five decades, Mr. Leesfield and the attorneys at Leesfield & Partners have been strong advocates for sober boating, life jacket use and other critical safety practices to help prevent these tragedies.
“Florida is the boating capital of the world, but sadly, it is also the boating fatality capital of the world,” Mr. Shapiro said. “There are no formal education or certification requirements for most boaters in Florida, leaving many grossly unqualified to navigate Florida’s unique and congested waterways.”
The firm has various boating injury cases in differing stages of the legal process.
Mr. Shapiro and Evan Robinson, a Trial Attorney at the firm, are representing a teen who suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of a water tubing accident.
Mr. Shapiro and Trial Attorney Eric Shane are representing a young girl who was enrolled in a South Florida summer camp when her leg was sliced by a boat propeller.
Previous Cases
Previously, the firm secured a substantial settlement in a case involving a minor who lost a leg while not being supervised on a vessel.
The firm previously handled the case of a family whose young son was snorkeling when he was hit and killed by a passing boater. The boater in that case was also a minor who should never have been given permission to operate the vessel without supervision. Not only did this minor not stop, but he attempted to cover up evidence and lied to police when questioned.
Neighbors later testified that this minor regularly operated the boat in a reckless manner.
The firm represented the family of a young woman, 20, who tragically died when the vessel she was on crashed into a concrete dock. The firm secured over $1.3 million for the family when it was revealed that the boat operator had been drinking and speeding the night of the crash.
In a jet ski and boat crash, Leesfield & Partners attorneys secured $935,750 for their client.
In a boat case involving a foreign resort, the firm secured an $800,000 recovery for the injured client.
Another boating accident involving a negligent operator resulted in a $500,000 recovery.
In addition to boating accident litigation, Leesfield & Partners have represented the victims of various water-related accidents, including drownings, jet ski crashes, parasailing, and other recreational activities.
The firm represented the widow of a man who drowned while on a boat tour at the Dry Tortugas National Park. The company’s tour guides instructed the man where he should go to snorkel and, within minutes, his body was found unresponsive.
The firm secured a six-figure recovery in that case.
Bernardo Pimentel II, a Leesfield & Partners Trial Attorney, represented the family of a young man and father-to-be who was lobster diving when he was killed by a law enforcement officer who negligently failed to adhere to divers-down flag laws.
