BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, FLA. (WSVN) – Authorities said they arrested a man in connection to a boat crash off the coast of Bay Harbor Islands over the weekend that sent four people to the hospital.<\/p>\n
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, two vessels collided in the Intracoastal Waterway, near West Broadview Drive, afjacent to the Haulover Sandbar, early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FWC was notified of a boating incident that occurred near the Haulover Sandbar at approximately 1 a.m. A 39-foot Donzi operated by Lawson with multiple passengers on board and a 20-foot angler with three occupants collided,\u201d said FWC spokesperson George Reynaud.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the suspect, identified as Daniel Lawson, was operating the Donzi recklessly at the time of the collision, going as fast as 55 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone and at one point improperly changing course.<\/p>\n
Lawson appeared before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer on Monday morning. The 42-year-old faces felony charges of reckless operation of a vessel, leaving the scene of a boating accident with injury and attempted tampering with physical evidence.<\/p>\n
First reponders raced to face the victims on one of the boats as it sank.<\/p>\n
\u201cFireboat 21, they\u2019re advising boat accident with injuries,\u201d said a dispatcher in radio transmissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-one-foot white boat sinking, possible patient on board unconscious,\u201d said a first responder in radio transmissions.<\/p>\n
Area resident Joseph Levy said it was just after 1 a.m. when he noticed the commotion in Biscayne Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a helicopter flying very low over here, which usually doesn\u2019t happen late at night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Levy said he immediately took out his cellphone and began to record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the fire rescue boat and something in front of it that looked like a lot of boat pieces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Lawson fled southbound before later turning north and anchoring his vessel at the Haulover Sandbar.<\/p>\n
Witnesses told FWC that the suspect never returned to the scene of the crash to determine whether the occupants of the angler required assistance. <\/p>\n
Investigators said two occupants on board the angler, a woman and a juvenile, suffered serious injuries. The child suffered multiple hairline lacerations, as well as a hairline skull fracture, and the woman suffered a collapsed lung, fractured multiple ribs and lacerated her spleen.<\/p>\n
Officials said two passengers on board the Donzi were injured as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ve never seen an accident over here,\u201d said Levy.<\/p>\n
Authorities said the suspect did not contact authorities but did contact a private towing company to have his Donzi removed it could be examined as evidence.<\/p>\n
The angler was left with its bow torn apart. It was towed away on Sunday.<\/p>\n
FWC officials said Lawson told law enforcement that the Donzi was anchored at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n
In court Monday, Glazer set his bond at $45,000.<\/p>\n
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