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Driver flees boat crash
Three hurt in crash
BY SANDRA FREDERICK Citizen Staff
What started as a fun day on the water for two men and two women, quickly turned into a chase by FWC officers after a hit and run crash injured two people onboard the boat.
Around 6 p.m. Sunday, a 24-foot Aqua Sport boat was heading to Lorelei Cabana Bar and Marina at Mile Marker 82 bayside when it rammed into an anchored 40-foot trawler in Big Basin, according to FWC officer Bobby Dube.
Kenneth W. Rumph, of Key Largo, the driver of the boat, received minor injuries and Gabriel Zelonker, of Miami, and Pamela Maldonado, of Fort Lauderdale, were also injured and transported to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. Both were admitted. Another passenger, Nancy Gonzales, of llinois, was not injured, police reports said.
The lone occupant of the trawler was not hurt in the accident, the FWC officer added.
Rumph loaded the two injured people onto the boat of a Good Samaritan who rushed over to the accident scene. Then the driver sped off.
Several people at the scene heard the driver say he didn't want help and he had to go, the FWC report stated.
Ensign Peter Bermont, spokesman for the Coast Guard, said guardsmen from Islamorada pursued the boat and caught up with it around Mile Marker 90, some nine miles from the accident scene.
"It took our officers about 15 to 20 minutes to find and apprehend the driver of the boat," Bermont said Monday. "There are a bunch of mangroves back in there with a lot of turns and that makes it hard to find a boat."
Bermont said Bumph appeared intoxicated, according to the boarding officer. "It is my understanding that he refused a field sobriety test by the FWC."
Blood was drawn and additional charges are pending the results of toxicology reports, which take 30 to 60 days, said Dube.
The driver of the boat was transported to the hospital to be treated for his wounds and then transported to Plantation Key jail.
"He was bloodied and hurt so we took him to the hospital to be treated (once he was brought to shore)," said Dube. "He was not able to go to jail if he was hurt."
Rumph was charged with a third degree felony, leaving the scene of an accident-failure to render assistance involving personal injury.
Dube said Rumph was charged in 2003 with the same thing.
sfrederick@keysnews.com
Three hurt in crash
BY SANDRA FREDERICK Citizen Staff
What started as a fun day on the water for two men and two women, quickly turned into a chase by FWC officers after a hit and run crash injured two people onboard the boat.
Around 6 p.m. Sunday, a 24-foot Aqua Sport boat was heading to Lorelei Cabana Bar and Marina at Mile Marker 82 bayside when it rammed into an anchored 40-foot trawler in Big Basin, according to FWC officer Bobby Dube.
Kenneth W. Rumph, of Key Largo, the driver of the boat, received minor injuries and Gabriel Zelonker, of Miami, and Pamela Maldonado, of Fort Lauderdale, were also injured and transported to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. Both were admitted. Another passenger, Nancy Gonzales, of llinois, was not injured, police reports said.
The lone occupant of the trawler was not hurt in the accident, the FWC officer added.
Rumph loaded the two injured people onto the boat of a Good Samaritan who rushed over to the accident scene. Then the driver sped off.
Several people at the scene heard the driver say he didn't want help and he had to go, the FWC report stated.
Ensign Peter Bermont, spokesman for the Coast Guard, said guardsmen from Islamorada pursued the boat and caught up with it around Mile Marker 90, some nine miles from the accident scene.
"It took our officers about 15 to 20 minutes to find and apprehend the driver of the boat," Bermont said Monday. "There are a bunch of mangroves back in there with a lot of turns and that makes it hard to find a boat."
Bermont said Bumph appeared intoxicated, according to the boarding officer. "It is my understanding that he refused a field sobriety test by the FWC."
Blood was drawn and additional charges are pending the results of toxicology reports, which take 30 to 60 days, said Dube.
The driver of the boat was transported to the hospital to be treated for his wounds and then transported to Plantation Key jail.
"He was bloodied and hurt so we took him to the hospital to be treated (once he was brought to shore)," said Dube. "He was not able to go to jail if he was hurt."
Rumph was charged with a third degree felony, leaving the scene of an accident-failure to render assistance involving personal injury.
Dube said Rumph was charged in 2003 with the same thing.
sfrederick@keysnews.com
