Boater saying he didn’t know he struck and killed girl doesn’t absolve him, lawyers say

The man who Florida fish and wildlife police say was at the helm of a boat when it struck and killed a 15-year-old Ransom Everglades student Saturday while she was wake boarding with friends off Key Biscayne said he didn’t know that he hit anyone when he left the scene and went home.

But, while boating experts say it is possible to not know you hit someone in the water, especially with a boat the size of the one owned by 78-year-old Carlos Alonso — a four-engine, 42-foot Boston Whaler — will that matter when it comes to the criminal investigation underway?

“It’s still hit and run,” said Ira Leesfield, a Miami attorney specializing in maritime law. “He’s going to say, if he knew it, he would have stopped. At the minimum, it’s still leaving the scene of an accident.”

Alonso’s criminal defense attorney said just that in a statement released Wednesday night. Lauren Field Krasnoff said her client did not know he hit Ella Riley Adler after she fell off the wake board in the waters off Key Biscayne’s Nixon Beach, and had he known, he wouldn’t have left the scene.

“He has no knowledge whatsoever of having been involved in this accident. If he hit Ella that day, he certainly did not know it. Had Bill thought he hit anything, he absolutely would have stopped,” Field Krasnoff said. “But he did not at any point think that he had hit anything, let alone a person. He docked his boat in plain sight right behind his house, and did not even know there was an accident on the water that day until officers showed up at his door.”

‘The world has been robbed’: Family mourns girl killed in boat crash near Key Biscayne

Another teen was also wake boarding with Adler when she was struck.

Krasnoff said her client does not drink alcohol and was not drinking Saturday, adding, “He has cooperated 100% with law enforcement and will continue to do so.”

Larry Wren, a Florida Keys charter fishing captain who owns the First Choice, a 37-foot sport fishing boat, said it is plausible to hit something in the water and not know it.

“Boats hit floating debris in the water — coconuts, traps — all the time, especially when it’s rough,” Wren, who’s been captaining the First Choice out of Islamorada for 20 years, told the Herald. “It’s part of operating a boat.”

But, like Leesfield said, that does not undo a boat operator’s legal responsibility if he or she leaves the scene of an accident that injures or kills someone, Wren said.

“It’s like a vehicle — it’s a hit and run. While you may not know about it, it’s a hit and run. Not knowing doesn’t take it away,” he said.

Gables man was piloting boat that struck and killed Ransom Everglades student: FWC report

Stuart Grossman, a longtime South Florida personal injury attorney, said Alonso denying he knew he hit Adler is irrelevant in the FWC’s investigation into the incident.

“I think there’s still a possible charge of negligent operation of a boat. It’s not an excuse to say I did not see something. I looked, but didn’t see anything,” Grossman said. “Clearly, the object was there.”

While piloting a vessel, boaters have the responsibility to be on the lookout for anybody or anything in the water.

“He had a duty and responsibility to see her, and subsequently denying he saw her doesn’t negate his responsibility to see her. Certainly, if it’s true, you feel badly he didn’t see her, but that’s his responsibility,” Grossman said.

“You just can’t verbally get out of it, in my opinion. Can you imagine the chaos? It’s not exculpatory. If that were the case, there would never be a hit and run,” Grossman said.

READ MORE: Man accused of piloting boat that killed 15-year-old girl off Key Biscayne. Who is he?

Miami trial attorney Judd Rosen agreed. Piloting a large, powerful boat through an area popular with boaters, swimmers and watersports enthusiasts, a vessel operator must be cognizant of all obstacles, he said.

“His statement claiming he didn’t know does not automatically absolve him of liability for leaving the scene if a responsible boat driver should have known someone was hit,” Rosen said.

Leesfield said the question that also arises is: Did Alonso not read or see anything in the news about the incident, and if so, why didn’t he contact police?

He knew he was boating through the area at that time that day. And, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission released a description of the boat that was involved, and it matched his Boston Whaler.

Ella was killed Saturday afternoon, and news of her death quickly hit the media. But, it wasn’t until Tuesday that FWC said it located a boat investigators believe struck and killed Ella. The boat was docked behind the Alonso home on Tanya Street in the Coral Gables gated Hammock Oaks neighborhood.

“Where have you been for the last 24 hours after the incident, and why didn’t you turn yourself in,” Leesfield said.

The Miami Herald followed up with questions to Krasnoff asking when exactly FWC investigators told him his boat may have been involved in Adler’s death and if he saw or read any news on the tragedy, but she did not respond to the Herald’s queries.

In addition to investigating the hit-and-run aspects of the case, the FWC will also be looking at whether or not the operator of the boat was driving the vessel recklessly, Rosen said.

“The [operator of the] Boston Whaler can also face criminal and civil liability regardless of his intent to leave the scene,” Rosen said. “If his actions are deemed reckless, he can be charged criminally, and he can also be found responsible civilly.”

Rosen, who has represented numerous families who lost loved ones in boating accidents, also expects investigators to look into the actions of the operator of the 2017 42-foot Hanse Fjord boat Adler and her friends were on — 30-year-old Richard Edmund.

The Herald has been unable to find contact information for Edmund.

“That area off Key Biscayne is a well-known high traffic area and is the last place to be wake boarding on a Saturday afternoon,” Rosen said. “It’s like trying to ride a skateboard across I-95 during rush hour. Adding to the confusion of having two wake surfers at the same time that Ella was struck can certainly be deemed reckless.”

“I expect that captain’s actions to be looked at closely by law enforcement as well,” he added.

-

Carlos Alonso’s attorney, Lauren Field Krasnoff, responded several hours after this report was published. Krasnoff sent a statement that took issue with the attorneys who commented about the possible charges.

“The lawyers who discussed liability in the article are plaintiff’s civil attorneys. They are not criminal attorneys, prosecutors, or law enforcement. One of the most basic requirements for criminal liability is knowledge and intent. You must, at the very least, have knowledge to be criminally liable. Bill had no knowledge. He did not know there was an accident. Not at the moment. And not even when Fish and Wildlife came to see him. He did not know he was leaving the scene of anything. He continued through the channel, at a legal rate of speed, as the law allows. Without knowledge, there is no crime. This was an absolute tragedy. But that doesn’t make it a crime. And the plaintiff’s lawyers should know better.”