Articles Tagged with Justin B. Shapiro

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A man faces charges after police say he went on a drug-fueled bender and stole a Conch Tour Train on the Fourth of July.

Jonathan Patrick Winslow, 57, of Big Torch Key, faces a felony burglary charge and a further charge for theft of a vehicle. He was also charged with drug possession, a misdemeanor.

Police were called out to the Conch Tour Train Depot around 11:30 a.m. Friday after it was reported that a train from Conch Tours, a company that operates “train” tours through Key West’s Old Town, was stolen. GPS tracking was used to find the train around downtown.

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Nearly three years after mail carrier Pamela Jane Rock was killed by a pack of dogs in Florida, a law has been created to increase safety and penalties for aggressive animal owners.

Per HB 593, which goes into effect July 1 in the state, owners of dogs considered to be “dangerous” must microchip their animals, secure them and have at least $100,000 in liability insurance. This bill defines a dangerous dog as those subject to an investigation which have killed or bitten a person to a “certain severity.” This severity is defined as a score of five or higher on the Dunbar bite scale, a system designed to classify dog bite severities.

The scale ranges as follows:

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A Broward County man is facing criminal charges after authorities say he crashed his 21-foot center console vessel into a sailboat, resulting in at least one death in the Florida Keys.

Guy Erdman,61, of Oakland Park, was charged Wednesday with manslaughter, boating under the influence and several other misdemeanor charges, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The crash happened on Dec. 27 around 8 p.m. with Erdman’s vessel and a sailboat that was anchored in Buttonwood Sound in Key Largo. Erdman was ejected from the vessel along with three passengers. A passing boater rescued Erman and two passengers from the water, but the third, Sydney Cole, 24, of North Carolina, was missing, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

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A 23-year-old disappeared after he flipped on a jet ski in a Utah lake with his cousin, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

The man, whose name had not been released as of Wednesday afternoon, was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on June 22 near a marina, officials with the Utah County Sherrif’s Office Search and Rescue team said via a Facebook news release. The man was riding the jet ski with his cousin, who was rescued by someone in a nearby boat.

The search continued until at least 1 a.m. on June 23. Some witnesses reported seeing waves between 2 and 3 feet high.

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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.

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A minor league shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles has died after a jet ski crash in Sarasota, Florida.

Luis Alexander Guevara, 19, of Venezuela was identified as one of four people who were involved in a crash near Lido Key, an island west of Sarasota. All four people were thrown into the water following the head-on collision between two jet skis around 8 p.m. Sunday.

Witnesses told reporters with The Baltimore Sun that the jet skis were driving “recklessly” around the beach area and that multiple watercrafts were “extremely close to boats and the children that were in the water.”

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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.

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An individual in the Florida Keys working as a fishing charter captain was charged after a violent video allegedly showed them stabbing a bull shark surfaced online.

Zane Porter Garrett, 26, of Stock Island, was charged with aggravated animal cruelty after authorities accused them of being the person in the video.

The investigation was conducted by officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after a Snapchat video showing an animal being stabbed was reported to authorities.

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A child was hospitalized after being resuscitated Sunday from a near-drowning incident at a Fort Lauderdale pool, according to media.

First responders were called out to 6001 NW 6th Way, an Extended Stay America, for a call about a drowning. Paramedics performed CPR on the minor and the child was said to be alert and breathing when he was transferred to the Broward Health Medical Center.

Additional information, including how this happened and how old the child is, were not immediately available Monday.

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Key West’s iconic Southernmost Point Buoy will not be available to the public for about a year, according to city officials.

Due to recent storms, the seawall and other damages at the corner of South and Whitehead Streets call for repairs and the closure of the area. The repairs will begin in mid-August or the beginning of September, according to reporting from local media. While the real buoy is under construction, the city announced it is working on a temporary replacement, which will be located on the Duval Street Pocket Park at 1400 Duval.

“It is smaller, but still taller than a person,” Alyson Crean, a city spokesperson, told reporters with the Tampa Bay Times. “The ocean will still be visible, but the temporary location is farther away from the ocean.”

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