Hunt on for hit-and-run boater off Hollywood beach
The Miami Herald
4:32 PM EDT, July 5, 2009
HOLLYWOOD - Law enforcement officials were hunting for the operator of a 26-foot boat called Karma after the vessel struck a father and son diving about 200 yards off Hollywood.
The captain apologized, then sped off to the north, the victims told investigators.
"Clearly he knew that he had struck someone," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The incident comes two days after the end of the Conservation Commission's Dive Flag Awareness Week. A lifeguard who responded to a call for help found a dive flag in the water, authorities said.
Snorkelers Rudy Perez, 43, and his son Christian, 15, were assisted to shore just before noon today 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. Their hometown was unavailable.
According to Pino, the Conservation Commission and other law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Florida Marine Patrol, planned to "canvas the general area" of the incident Sunday and search vessel registry for boats named Karma.
The boat's operator was described as heavy-set with close-cropped, thinning hair.
"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.