A woman and a dog have died, and a man was injured during a car crash on U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys Tuesday morning, according to reporting from local media.
The head-on collision occurred around 11 a.m. on Summerland Key at mile marker 19.
The woman, 44, whose name has not yet been released by authorities, was heading southbound on U.S. 1 in a Kia sedan when she drifted into the northbound lane, hitting a Ford pickup truck going in the opposite direction.
Community members and their local fire department gathered over the weekend to honor a Plantation after his diving death in the Florida Keys.
Community members and their local fire department gathered over the weekend to honor a Plantation 17-year-old, who had dreamed of becoming a firefighter, after his diving death in the Florida Keys.
Cameron Ruwe died while on a family trip off Grassy Key on Saturday, Sept. 13, just a week shy of his birthday, according to reporting from NBC 6 South Florida. He had been using a hookah rig, a surface-supplied air system, while he went underwater. He was given CPR before emergency responders took him to Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon, Florida, where he was pronounced dead.
A 17-year-old teenager died over the weekend while diving using a hookah rig in the Florida Keys, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.
The boy, later identified as Cameron Isaiah Ruwe, was diving with several others on Saturday using a hookah rig — a type of diving that uses a surface-based compressor to deliver air through a hose. The group and their vessel were near Grassy Key around 1:30 p.m. when Cameron attempted to swim back to his boat and “went underwater,” according to local media.
The people who were with him attempted to perform CPR before emergency responders arrived. He was taken to Fisherman’s Community Hospital in Marathon where he was pronounced dead.
A man tragically drowned Sunday while fishing with at least one other person on lake Damon in Avon Park, about 75 miles south from Orlando.
Chase Winton Parrish, 29, was identified as the fisherman who died, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. Parrish was with one other man, whose identity has not been released, when they both fell into the water from their 13-foot boat. Parrish struggled in the water and the other man attempted to help him, but could not and swam back to the boat to call 911.
When emergency responders arrived, they found Parrish unresponsive in the water and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
At least one person has died in Pinellas County after a sea trial resulted in a crash, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies were called out around 2:35 p.m. to the area of 9600 Bay Pines Boulevard after getting reports of the crash. The boat allegedly crashed into Stebbins Island and ejected its operator, 56-year-old Pal Pataki, of Clearwater, Florida.
Pataki was pronounced dead at the scene.
Note: The names of the individuals involved in this crime have been excluded from this article to protect the victims.
A Florida Keys woman was sentenced to 13 years in prison this week after pleading guilty to various sex crimes involving children.
The woman, 37, pleaded guilty this week to sexual battery, incest and child neglect. She was arrested in January of 2024. Following her release, she will have to serve eight years of probation and will be subject to court-ordered supervision. She will also be required to register as a sex offender.
The driver in a fatal boat crash that ejected at least six people in the Florida Keys faces charges related to a woman’s death nearly seven months later, according to reporting from local media.
Reinaldo Aquit, 48, of Miami Beach, was charged Friday with vessel homicide and eight other misdemeanors. The misdemeanor charges had not been released as of Monday morning, though jail records show that three are related to public order crimes, such as reckless operation of a vessel, and three are related to health and safety.
Stephanie Rodriguez, 28, of Hialeah, was among the passengers on the boat the day of the crash. She died from her injuries. Rodriguez was “kind, loving, and playful,” according to a GoFundMe page that was started to help provide support to her family in the wake of her death.
With a little more than a month left until the official start of the spiny lobster sport season in Florida, here’s what divers and boaters should know.
Leesfield & Partners has over 48 years of experience in Miami, Orlando, Key West and throughout the Florida Keys. In that time, the firm’s attorneys have represented countless boat crash victims and their families, becoming among the top leaders in the state when it comes to maritime and boating accident law. With that experience, comes tremendous experience as to what can go wrong on the water.
Among the most pressing issues when it comes to boating safety are boating under the influence, negligent speeding on the water, a lack of experience, and a lack of lifejacket usage. The most recent data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shows that Florida is again the nation’s leader when it comes to registered vessels with the state tallying in 1,030,053 registered vessels in 2024. With the nation’s most boats, it is no wonder that Florida also leads the nation with the most boating accidents.
Leesfield & Partners has filed a case on behalf of a woman who attempted to lie down on an improperly installed and inadequately maintained hammock at a Key West resort. The hammock flipped her and sent her head-first to the ground, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury.
Not only was the hammock improperly installed and negligently maintained—a defect that has left the resort’s guests vulnerable to injuries of this sort—but the resort failed to remedy the defect or warn people about the risks associated with the use of the hammock.
As a result of this horrific and preventable incident, our client was severely injured and required invasive surgery. A year later she continues to suffer daily pain due to this incident.
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.
Key West Injury Lawyer Blog