Latest news with #Lucy'sLaw
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Help curb boating accidents in Florida, Gov. Desantis. Sign the Lucy Law bill.
On Thanksgiving Day 2019, my life changed forever. A speeding boat struck me while I was snorkeling. My right arm was severed on impact, and I caught a glimpse of it sinking onto the reef below. Both of my legs were severely damaged by the propellers, and my left wrist was badly broken. After miraculously surviving this, one of the first things I said after waking up from my medically-induced coma was, "I can make a bigger difference now than I ever could before this happened." As a marine biologist who worked at Loggerhead Marinelife Center at the time of my accident, I frequently saw the devastating effects of boat strikes on sea turtles, not knowing that I would soon endure the same fate. I often snorkeled off the coast of Palm Beach County, enjoying the beauty of the area's diverse marine life. On that fateful day, I was snorkeling off of the coast when a 36-foot speedboat directly hit me. The driver did not see my divers-down flag, a required safety device that was floating just a few feet away from me. GPS data from the boat recorded their speed at about 45 miles per hour at the time of impact. I firmly believe that my faith was what saved me and that God had given me an opportunity to help others through this incident. When I heard about Lucy's Law, I knew I had to support it. The bill is comprehensive boater safety legislation named in honor of Lucy Fernandez, a Miami teenager who was killed in a tragic boating accident. She was just a few years younger than me at the time of my accident; she deserved to live a long, full, and joyful life. The legislation, which currently awaits the governor's signature, has three main components. It requires the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to establish standards for online boating safety education courses. It also aligns boating under-the-influence with driving-under-the-influence penalties and creates harsher penalties for operators who leave the scene of an accident. Gov. DeSantis, we're counting on you to help prevent more of these life-changing accidents. I urge you to sign Lucy's Law. This legislation may not change what happened to me, but it can help protect others and potentially save lives. Florida is the boating capital of the world. We have pristine, blue waters filled with marine life, which my career is dedicated to preserving. Every resident and visitor has the opportunity to explore all that our coastal waters have to offer. But with that opportunity comes responsibility. According to the FWC, there were 659 boating accidents in 2023 alone and 59 of those were deadly. Education and training saves lives. Lucy's Law will save lives. Carter Viss founded the Carter Viss Foundation, a boating safety nonprofit based in Jupiter. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida bill could improve boat safety. Desantis must sign. | Opinion
Miami Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Lawmaker calls for probe into FWC after 4 officers had video footage deleted in Pino crash
A state lawmaker is calling for an independent probe into the state agency that investigated a boat crash in Biscayne Bay that killed a 17-year-old Miami girl after the Miami Herald reported four officers had their body camera footage deleted amid the investigation. Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami-Dade Republican state House member, called on her colleagues in the Legislature 'to learn what exactly happened and why so this never happens again.' READ MORE: 'Lucy's Law,' named after teen killed in Biscayne Bay boat crash, passes in session's final hours The call for the investigation comes after the Herald reported that body camera footage from four officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — who were on the scene of the crash and were either in direct contact with or were near the boat operator, Doral real estate broker George Pino — has been deleted. 'I might understand if one of the officers had made a mistake but from what we now know it is impossible to assume that four highly trained officers could all have made such an egregious error,' Lopez said in a statement she posted on the Miami Herald's Instagram account. The FWC says the footage was deleted after the officers classified it as 'incidental,' not criminal, when they uploaded it into the FWC's computer system. 'Incidental' footage is automatically deleted after 90 days; footage from a criminal investigation has to be retained five years for misdemeanor charges and 13 years for a felony charge, according to the FWC's policy. 'Full investigation is warranted' Lopez said that it ultimately should not have mattered how the officers labeled their footage since it was the responsibility of the investigators to retain all of the evidence. 'And, assume for a moment that they all made a mistake they still had plenty of time to correct their error since body camera footage is not deleted for 90 days,' Lopez said in her Instagram post. 'It is obvious that a full investigation is warranted into what actually happened on that harrowing day.' The FWC declined to comment Friday on Lopez's statement. In her post, Lopez asked Rep. Danny Alvarez, a Hillsborough County Republican and chair of the House Criminal Justice Committee, to lead the investigation into the FWC's handling of the crash. Alvarez's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Herald. Lopez co-sponsored a House bill calling for tougher penalties for boat operators in crashes with serious injury. The law will go into effect July 1. Pino, 54, crashed his 29-foot Robalo boat into a fixed channel marker in Biscayne Bay on Sept. 4, 2022, during a celebration for his daughter's 18th birthday. Pino, his wife, their daughter and her 11 teenage friends were thrown into the water after impact, and the boat capsized. All were injured, although Luciana 'Lucy' Fernandez, Katerina Puig and Isabella Rodriguez were seriously injured. Lucy, who was not breathing when she was pulled from the water, died in the hospital the next day. She was 17 and a senior at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. While Isabella Rodriguez, then 17, has recovered, Katerina Puig —a standout Lourdes soccer player with Division 1 college prospects — suffered lifelong injuries and is relearning to walk. Katerina was also 17. The FWC's initial investigation resulted in prosecutors with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office charging Pino with three counts of misdemeanor careless boating in August 2023. Pino pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the maximum penalty would have been 60 days in county jail. The agency's lead investigator quickly ruled out alcohol despite Pino telling him that night he drank two beers and officers finding more than 60 empty bottles and cans of booze on his boat the next day when they pulled it from the water. No evidence of other boat in channel coming toward him Pino also maintains another boat coming his way in the channel threw a wake and caused him to hit the channel marker. The FWC, in its final report, stated no witnesses — including the people on his boat or boaters in the channel that day — saw that vessel. Photographic evidence also does not support his claim. Following a series of Miami Herald articles detailing flaws in the investigation, including FWC officers never following up with eyewitnesses, a Miami-Dade firefighter at the scene that day spoke to the State Attorney's Office and said Pino displayed signs of intoxication that day. Prosecutors reopened their investigation and charged Pino with felony vessel homicide on Oct. 31. Pino pleaded not guilty and is tentatively scheduled to stand trial in September. He now faces 15 years in prison if convicted. 'If we don't get justice, it will be because of the way the FWC investigated this,' Lopez said in an interview Friday with the Miami Herald. Lopez said the probe should be independent of the FWC and look into whether there are fundamental problems with the way the state agency trains its officers. 'You don't expect law enforcement to make these types of egregious errors,' Lopez told the Herald. 'We are past being shocked, and we are now demanding answers.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Governor, sign Lucy's Law. Florida must get boater safety laws right to avoid tragedies
I recently read Melissa and Andy Fernandez's heart-wrenching Op-Ed in the Miami Herald about the day they lost their daughter Lucy to a boating tragedy more than two years ago. Their words send me right back to the day, almost a year ago, when we lost my daughter Caitlyn's friend, Ella Adler, a student at Ransom Everglades School. The day they described sounded heartbreakingly familiar. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the water was glistening. My husband and I had spent the morning on our boat with two of our three children. Caitlyn, our oldest and almost 15 at the time, was also out on the water with eight of her closest friends. Later that afternoon, I was driving our younger daughter to a party when I got a call from Caitlyn from the boat she was on. It was devastating. I can still hear the terror and hysteria in her voice. 'Ella! Ella! Ella!' She was on speakerphone. I tried to calm her down to understand what had happened. The kids had been wakesurfing when another boat approached at a high speed. The oncoming boat didn't hear the blaring horn or see the girls in the water. It just swerved, hit Ella and sped away. In 2013, more than a decade before this fateful day, the daughter of Key Biscayne's police chief was run over by a boat at the Mashta Flats and nearly died. Afterward, the entire community rallied around boat safety. We had the facts, common-sense solutions and an entire village government behind us. We also had the support of a local foundation, the Monica Burguera Foundation, which sponsors boating certification and safety in memory of Monica, who was killed in 2006 on Biscayne Bay coming back from the Columbus Day Regatta when a boat being towed without lights was a struck by another. But the short story is that we weren't successful — or even close. The long story is that we ran up against a regulatory morass of competing federal, state and local jurisdictions and an industry that refuses to accept even the most basic regulation around licensing and enforcement. The first anniversary of Ella's death is approaching, and it's tragic that it has taken this long for sensible regulations to become reality. We need stronger and more impactful boating safety enforcement. There is too much drinking and boating. We need licensing for everyone, not just those born after 1988. The drivers of the boats that killed Ella and Lucy were much older and wouldn't qualify under current licensing laws. The good news is that, guided by Lucy's parents, the Florida House and Senate have passed Lucy's Law. The law enhances boater safety and increases penalties for dangerous boating. Lucy's Law is the product of an incredible amount of work and an important step forward. In addition, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, alongside the Lucy Fernandez Foundation, has created a special Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force to educate the public on safe and responsible recreation. I am hopeful these actions will help prevent another unnecessary tragedy. I urge Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign Lucy's Law. Until there is a change, we will continue to lose bright lights — like Ella, Lucy and Monica — who I know would have made our world a better place. Melissa White is the executive director of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and a resident of Key Biscayne.
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Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Miami Herald
Governor, sign Lucy's Law. Florida must get boater safety laws right to avoid tragedies
I recently read Melissa and Andy Fernandez's heart-wrenching Op-Ed in the Miami Herald about the day they lost their daughter Lucy to a boating tragedy more than two years ago. Their words send me right back to the day, almost a year ago, when we lost my daughter Caitlyn's friend, Ella Adler, a student at Ransom Everglades School. The day they described sounded heartbreakingly familiar. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the water was glistening. My husband and I had spent the morning on our boat with two of our three children. Caitlyn, our oldest and almost 15 at the time, was also out on the water with eight of her closest friends. Later that afternoon, I was driving our younger daughter to a party when I got a call from Caitlyn from the boat she was on. It was devastating. I can still hear the terror and hysteria in her voice. 'Ella! Ella! Ella!' She was on speakerphone. I tried to calm her down to understand what had happened. The kids had been wakesurfing when another boat approached at a high speed. The oncoming boat didn't hear the blaring horn or see the girls in the water. It just swerved, hit Ella and sped away. In 2013, more than a decade before this fateful day, the daughter of Key Biscayne's police chief was run over by a boat at the Mashta Flats and nearly died. Afterward, the entire community rallied around boat safety. We had the facts, common-sense solutions and an entire village government behind us. We also had the support of a local foundation, the Monica Burguera Foundation, which sponsors boating certification and safety in memory of Monica, who was killed in 2006 on Biscayne Bay coming back from the Columbus Day Regatta when a boat being towed without lights was a struck by another. But the short story is that we weren't successful — or even close. The long story is that we ran up against a regulatory morass of competing federal, state and local jurisdictions and an industry that refuses to accept even the most basic regulation around licensing and enforcement. The first anniversary of Ella's death is approaching, and it's tragic that it has taken this long for sensible regulations to become reality. We need stronger and more impactful boating safety enforcement. There is too much drinking and boating. We need licensing for everyone, not just those born after 1988. The drivers of the boats that killed Ella and Lucy were much older and wouldn't qualify under current licensing laws. The good news is that, guided by Lucy's parents, the Florida House and Senate have passed Lucy's Law. The law enhances boater safety and increases penalties for dangerous boating. Lucy's Law is the product of an incredible amount of work and an important step forward. In addition, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, alongside the Lucy Fernandez Foundation, has created a special Boater Safety and Bay Education Task Force to educate the public on safe and responsible recreation. I am hopeful these actions will help prevent another unnecessary tragedy. I urge Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign Lucy's Law. Until there is a change, we will continue to lose bright lights — like Ella, Lucy and Monica — who I know would have made our world a better place. Melissa White is the executive director of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation and a resident of Key Biscayne.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New law aims to hold owners accountable for derelict boats
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) – State lawmakers passed a bill to crack down on abandoned boats with the hopes of holding owners financially responsible. The new measure aims to increase penalties for owners of derelict boats. Florida is a haven for boaters, many calling it the 'boating capital of the world.' But when tragedy hits, like hurricanes Helene and Milton, hundreds of vessels become displaced. 'I want him to know the pain': Victim reacts to judge sentencing Olympus Pools owner State lawmakers now want to hold owners of these very boats accountable, with Senate Bill 164. The bill passed out of both chambers and now awaits the governor's signature. The legislation aims to crack down on vessels left to deteriorate in state waters, making it illegal to reside on a derelict vessel. 'It also allows law enforcement to declare vessels with repeated violations as public nuisances and holds vessel owners solely responsible for the relocation and disposal costs,' said State Rep. Fabian Basabe (R-Miami Beach). And for those who refuse to shell up the cash, it could lead to fines and potentially prevent them from purchasing another vessel in the future. 'Lucy's Law' introduced to Florida house to mandate boating safety training after teen's death 8 On Your Side met with Officer Bradley Johnson with Florida's Fish and Wildlife. He talked about the negative impacts that derelict vessels can have. 'Vessels can damage you know marine sanctuaries, seagrass beds, and important vegetation to our wildlife, in addition to that there could be things like fuel on board, vessels that can sometimes leak out into the water, it can pose a navigational hazard to the public who are out trying to navigate our waterways, especially after a storm, when everything's shifted around,' Bradley Johnson, the Public Information Officer for FWC Division of Law Enforcement said. Coming off of hurricanes Helene and Milton, FWC removed a total of 469 vessels from state waters, with six that are still under investigation.'We actually have a process where they can turn that boat over to the state of Florida and we can remove and responsibly dispose of that vessel before it becomes derelict, when it can potentially pose those environmental hazards or higher cost to taxpayers to get that vessel removed,' said Johnson. The vessel-turn-in program can be found here. The cost of removing, destroying, and disposing of eligible vessels is 100% funded by the program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
