Overview
- Two vessels — a 38–39-foot Donzi and a 20-foot angler — collided in the Intracoastal Waterway near West Broadview Drive by the Haulover Sandbar at about 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, according to FWC investigators.
- Multiple people were seriously injured and four were taken to hospital, with an arrest form listing a juvenile male who suffered a hairline skull fracture and an adult woman with a collapsed lung, multiple fractured ribs, blood around the lung, and a lacerated spleen.
- Investigators say the Donzi’s operator, identified as 42-year-old Daniel Lawson of Atlanta, was traveling at an estimated 55 mph in a 30-mph zone, fled the scene, later anchored at Haulover Sandbar, and did not return to check on the other vessel.
- Lawson was arrested and charged with reckless operation of a vessel, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, and tampering with physical evidence after allegedly calling a towing company to remove his boat; a Miami-Dade judge set bond at $45,000.
- The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and local authorities continue a criminal probe while victims recover in hospital and the damaged angler was towed away, raising questions about nighttime speed enforcement and boating safety in the area.