JupiterSunsation
New member
South Florida Sun Sentinel
11:56 AM EDT, July 6, 2009
HOLLYWOOD - Law enforcement officials today are hunting for the operator of a 26-foot boat called Karma after a father and son diving about 200 yards off Hollywood say the vessel struck them over the weekend.
The snorkelers hit by the boat -- Rudy Perez, 43, and his son, Christian, 15, of Pembroke Pines -- are fine, but officials want to find and speak to the boater who fled, "to get his side of the story," said Jorge Pino, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The captain -- who apologized after the Sunday afternoon incident, then sped off to the north -- may face charges, Pino said. It was too early to tell what charges he could face, Pino said.
"Clearly he knew that he had struck someone," Pino said.
The captain is described as a heavy-set man, who had short hair in the back of his head and was bald in the front. He wasn't wearing a shirt.
The incident occurred two days after the end of the Conservation Commission's Dive Flag Awareness Week.
The campaign was conducted to make sure divers present their flags properly and boaters know to be cautious and stay at least 100 feet away from a flag in a river, inlet or channel, and at least 300 feet in open waters.
In the Hollywood incident, a lifeguard who responded to a call for help found a dive flag in the water, authorities said.
Perez and his son were assisted to shore just before noon Sunday by a lifeguard who reached them aboard a water scooter, officials said.
The pair was treated at Hollywood's Memorial Regional Hospital and released, Pino said.
"The boat hit me from my lower back down. It pushed me under the boat," 15-year-old Christian Perez told WFOR-Ch. 4. "I can't forgive him at all. He should have at least stopped to help."
His father feared the worst.
"The first thing I thought was that's it, my son doesn't have a father," Rudy Perez told WFOR.
The boater simply apologized and took off, recalled Edgar Hernandez, who was snorkeling with the Perez family during the accident.
"I just saw him wave and say he was sorry, but he made no attempt to stop," Hernandez said.
According to Pino, the Conservation Commission and other law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Florida Marine Patrol, canvassed the area of the incident Sunday, but didn't find the boat involved.
Also, officials are searching vessel registry records for boats named Karma.
But because some owners exclude their boats' names when they register them with the state, searching for "Karma" in the records may not prove fruitful, Pino said.
"It's pretty interesting that the boat is named Karma," said Pino, alluding to the belief in Hinduism and Buddhism that a person's actions and conduct can determine destiny. "I'm pretty sure that the boat operator might be facing his karma very soon."
In the past five years, 22 divers have been killed or injured by boats in Florida waters, according to the conservation commission.
The agency's safety campaign was designed to call attention to regulations that require divers to put out flags, and for boat operators to stay at least 100 feet away.
Pino said there was no indication that Perez and his son were at fault.
Authorities ask anyone with information about this case to call Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
11:56 AM EDT, July 6, 2009
HOLLYWOOD - Law enforcement officials today are hunting for the operator of a 26-foot boat called Karma after a father and son diving about 200 yards off Hollywood say the vessel struck them over the weekend.
The snorkelers hit by the boat -- Rudy Perez, 43, and his son, Christian, 15, of Pembroke Pines -- are fine, but officials want to find and speak to the boater who fled, "to get his side of the story," said Jorge Pino, of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The captain -- who apologized after the Sunday afternoon incident, then sped off to the north -- may face charges, Pino said. It was too early to tell what charges he could face, Pino said.
"Clearly he knew that he had struck someone," Pino said.
The captain is described as a heavy-set man, who had short hair in the back of his head and was bald in the front. He wasn't wearing a shirt.
The incident occurred two days after the end of the Conservation Commission's Dive Flag Awareness Week.
The campaign was conducted to make sure divers present their flags properly and boaters know to be cautious and stay at least 100 feet away from a flag in a river, inlet or channel, and at least 300 feet in open waters.
In the Hollywood incident, a lifeguard who responded to a call for help found a dive flag in the water, authorities said.
Perez and his son were assisted to shore just before noon Sunday by a lifeguard who reached them aboard a water scooter, officials said.
The pair was treated at Hollywood's Memorial Regional Hospital and released, Pino said.
"The boat hit me from my lower back down. It pushed me under the boat," 15-year-old Christian Perez told WFOR-Ch. 4. "I can't forgive him at all. He should have at least stopped to help."
His father feared the worst.
"The first thing I thought was that's it, my son doesn't have a father," Rudy Perez told WFOR.
The boater simply apologized and took off, recalled Edgar Hernandez, who was snorkeling with the Perez family during the accident.
"I just saw him wave and say he was sorry, but he made no attempt to stop," Hernandez said.
According to Pino, the Conservation Commission and other law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Florida Marine Patrol, canvassed the area of the incident Sunday, but didn't find the boat involved.
Also, officials are searching vessel registry records for boats named Karma.
But because some owners exclude their boats' names when they register them with the state, searching for "Karma" in the records may not prove fruitful, Pino said.
"It's pretty interesting that the boat is named Karma," said Pino, alluding to the belief in Hinduism and Buddhism that a person's actions and conduct can determine destiny. "I'm pretty sure that the boat operator might be facing his karma very soon."
In the past five years, 22 divers have been killed or injured by boats in Florida waters, according to the conservation commission.
The agency's safety campaign was designed to call attention to regulations that require divers to put out flags, and for boat operators to stay at least 100 feet away.
Pino said there was no indication that Perez and his son were at fault.
Authorities ask anyone with information about this case to call Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-TIPS (8477).
