Bobcat
Founding Member
BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
A charter captain who apparently tipped a few too many beers Saturday played chicken with channel markers as his customers were buffeted around in the boat, then twice jumped overboard in Cow Key Channel after he was pulled over for a safety check, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission account.
Key West resident Angel Francisco Rodriguez Jr., 35, a captain with Island Safari Tours on Stock Island, was arrested on complaints of drunken boating, resisting arrest, battery on an officer, fleeing and eluding, reckless operation of a vessel and refusal to take to a breath test.
FWC spokeswoman Carli Segelson said officers on patrol at 3:19 p.m. Saturday watched a 21-foot boat narrowly miss a green channel marker after swerving at the last moment, causing occupants in the boat to tumble to the opposite side.
Officers followed the boat and watched as the driver swerved three more times near channel markers before they stopped the vessel, Segelson said. Rodriguez first said he owned the boat, but when asked for the registration he changed his story, saying the boat was a rental and he didn’t have the registration, Segelson said.
“One of our officers at that point was able to point to the vessel key and inform him that the registration was attached to the key lanyard,” Segelson said. Rodriguez reportedly became more and more agitated as officers conducted a safety check of the vessel.
“At one point, one of the customers tried to calm him down and Rodriguez pushed him back into his chair, then stumbled around the vessel a bit before an officer tried to calm him down,” Segelson said. “That’s when he jumped into the water.” Rodriguez swam around briefly before returning to the boat, but when officers tried to talk to him he jumped into the water a second time and started swimming for shore ,Segelson said.“Officers followed him almost at idle speed and at some point he turned around and swam back to the boat,and that’s when he was arrested,”she said.
The occupants told officers they thought something might have been amiss when Rodriguez arrived for the charter with a six pack of beer,
Segelson said.“It led to quite a day on the water,” she added. “Thankfully,no one was hurt.”
Rodriguez’ father, also named Francisco, owns Island Safari Tours. He told The Citizen Monday that the incident involving his son was a routine boarding stop. He declined to comment further.The junior Rodriguez was taken to Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island, where he remained Monday in lieu of posting$32,000 bail, according to jail records.
