A tragic boating incident north of Key Largo has led to the death of a North Carolina woman and left three others critically injured. As reported by CBS News Miami, a collision between a speedboat and a sailboat resulted in multiple individuals being thrown into the water on Friday night. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) confirmed that the victim, Sydney Cole, 24, was found deceased after an extensive search involving multiple agencies.
The circumstances of the crash are currently under active investigation, and alcohol has been suggested to possibly have played a contributing role. Assistant Monroe County State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told The Miami Herald, "The motorboat captain appeared ‘severely intoxicated’ and was being questioned by police Friday night." The crash occurred in Florida Bay near mile marker 96, where the 21-foot motorboat struck an anchored sailboat within Button Sound.
Information obtained from CBS News Miami details that of the four individuals ejected from the crashing motorboat, three were rescued with injuries. One of the injured, identified as 58-year-old Lillian Cairo from Oakland Park, was airlifted in critical condition to a hospital in Miami-Dade County. On the other hand, The Miami Herald reports Guy Erdman, 61, was the operator of the motorboat and remained unarrested by yesterday night after the incident.
Following the accident, a violent altercation occurred. Christopher Erdman, 31, the son of the motorboat operator and himself uninjured in the crash, was arrested on charges of felony battery and felony aggravated assault. According to law enforcement sources, after the crash, he allegedly boarded the sailboat and attacked one of its passengers, William Milner, a 71-year-old man from Yorktown, Virginia. "After the crash, the younger Erdman boarded the sailboat and attacked the man on the vessel, 71-year-old William Milner, of Yorktown, Virginia," Mansfield disclosed to The Miami Herald. It was reported that Milner and his wife, Paula, were unharmed in the crash and that Milner declined medical treatment related to the assault.
