Teen sisters in jet ski crash were warned about dangerous behavior by cops moments before fatal collision
Rachel Aliza Nisanov, 13, of New York, was riding a jet ski with her 16-year-old sister, Aviva, in the waters of Fort Lauderdale this week when the watercraft suddenly veered out of control and crashed into a dock, according to NBC 4 News.
The tragic accident claimed Rachel's life and left Aviva hospitalized in a critical but stable condition.
On Friday, officials revealed that Marine Unit officers had spoken with the sisters just moments before the fatal crash, engaging in a 'proactive' conversation about water safety, according to WSVN News.
As officers were en route to another call, they noticed the girls' Yamaha personal watercraft commit a minor violation, prompting them to stop the sisters on the water, as reported by the outlet.
Although officials did not specify the nature of the violation, they described the stop as 'brief and proactive in nature'.
But because officers were responding to another call, no written report was filed and no body camera footage was recorded - and sadly, disaster struck just minutes later.
'I want to make sure we get to the bottom of this,' the sisters' father, Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov of Queens' Bukharian Jewish community, told WPLG Local 10 News after his daughter's funeral.
'It's very troubling. I didn't come to Florida to bury my daughter,' he added in tears. 'I came to Florida to have a good time with her and now I have to take her back in a casket. It's not the way I imagined my vacation.'
On Tuesday, Rachel was enjoying a surprise family trip to celebrate her eighth-grade graduation.
She was behind her older sister at the controls with their parents and an instructor on a separate jetski.
Florida law permits a 14-year-old to be on a personal watercraft as long as someone aged 16 or older is driving.
But as the teens made their way back to shore along the Intracoastal Waterway near the 2800 block of Northeast 24th Court, the jet ski suddenly veered out of control.
The Yamaha violently slammed into the dock ahead, launching both girls into the air before they rammed into the structure.
Their father immediately jumped in despite not knowing how to swim.
'Their life jackets were on. They were lying flat,' the girls' brother Yonah Nisanov said. 'My father jumped in and scraped up his hands, feet, his back, all over to save them, and he did what he could.'
'I saw one of the girls being taken in a stretcher,' resident Renée Beninate told WSVN News.
'I didn't know it was a young girl at the time, but my heart still broke,' she added.
Both girls were rushed to Broward Health Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Rachel tragically succumbed shortly afterward, with the Broward County Medical Examiner determining that she died from blunt force injuries sustained in the collision, according to the outlet.
Aviva underwent surgery Tuesday night and remains sedated in the hospital, listed in critical but stable condition, according to CBS News.
'They're going to try to wake her up soon and see how she's doing,' Yonah told the outlet. 'But right now, she's sedated.'
Aviva (left) underwent surgery Tuesday night and remains sedated in the hospital, listed in critical but stable condition
According to the preliminary report obtained by NBC, the the sisters 'jumped the wake of a passing vessel, lost control, and collided with a concrete dock.
An investigation launched by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) remains ongoing.
Rachel's body was swiftly flown back to New York, where she was honored with a funeral held Wednesday night at the Bukharian Jewish Community Center in Forest Hills, Queens.
'Parents are not supposed to bury their children. Children are supposed to bury their parents,' Shlomo tearfully said after the funeral, according to WPLG News.
'She was just a kind person,' Yonah told NBC. 'A spiritual person. Kindhearted, always going the extra mile.'
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