{"id":367127,"date":"2026-08-10T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367127\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T00:18:13","slug":"man-accused-after-diver-runs-out-of-air-near-fisher-island-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367127\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused after diver runs out of air near Fisher Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man accused of shutting off lobster diver’s oxygen tank in Florida’s Fisher Island<\/p>\n

\"Vanessa<\/p>\n

A South Florida man is facing charges after deputies say he turned off a young diver’s oxygen tank during an argument on the water near Florida’s Fisher Island.<\/p>\n

According to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened July 29 during Florida’s annual lobster mini season. Investigators said two boats got into a dispute over diving spots when tensions escalated. <\/p>\n

Deputies said 51-year-old Michael Simpson threatened to shut off an 18-year-old diver’s air supply while the teen was underwater. Witnesses told investigators they saw Simpson swim over to the diver and turn off the tank.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Man accused after diver runs out of air near Fisher Island<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Authorities said the owner of the boat quickly jumped into the water to help the diver, who was reportedly gasping for air and appeared disoriented.<\/p>\n

Simpson was later arrested in connection with the incident.<\/p>\n

However, Simpson’s attorneys dispute the accusations. They said other witnesses told investigators that Simpson never touched the diver’s tank.<\/p>\n

Simpson has since been released on bail and said he is confident he will clear his name as the case moves through the court system.<\/p>\n

Fisher Island is a barrier island located off Miami.<\/p>\n

The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man accused of shutting off lobster diver’s oxygen tank in Florida’s Fisher Island A South Florida man is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[147978,148843,148844,692,4445,25211,1890,148851,4561,148850,43778,148849,148845,8632,28,30,29,658,7441,20949,148846,148847,123,1064,24670,148848,4187,24673,807,7650,4103,221,224,7131,189],"class_list":["post-367127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-air-supply","tag-air-tank","tag-annual-lobster-mini-season","tag-arrest","tag-bail","tag-barrier-island","tag-boat","tag-boat-dispute","tag-deputy","tag-dive-spots","tag-diver","tag-diving-dispute","tag-diving-spot","tag-fisher-island","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-incident","tag-investigator","tag-july","tag-lobster-diver","tag-lobster-mini-season","tag-miami","tag-miami-dade","tag-michael-simpson","tag-oxygen-tank","tag-sheriffs-office","tag-simpson","tag-south-florida","tag-underwater","tag-water","tag-weather","tag-witness","tag-witnesses","tag-wpbf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}