Personal Injury Law

Steven Posner, one other, killed in Biscayne Bay boat crash

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

Real estate tycoon Steven Posner died Monday in a high-speed boat crash that killed another man and critically injured his cousin.

Steven Posner's daughter, Dr. Kelly Posner-Gerstenhaber, confirmed Monday evening that her father died in a boating accident earlier that day.

Posner-Gerstenhaber was still trying to find out details about the events surrounding the accident.

Just after 1 p.m. the two boats collided a mile or two east of Matheson Hammock Marina.

Stuart Posner, also injured in the crash, was Steven Posner's cousin.

Boating was "something he enjoyed," Posner-Gerstenhaber said about her dad.

"Based on information from witnesses, the vessels were being operated at a high rate of speed and somehow collided with each other," said Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The impact tossed some of the men into the water. Nearby boaters spotted them and called for help. Two men died at the scene. Another man was taken to Mercy Hospital with minor injuries.

Rescue crews worked on the critically injured man aboard the Miami--Dade Fire Boat and prepared him to be lifted to a helicopter 75 feet above.

The man was put on a backboard and placed in a basket and raised into the helicopter.

"All the training we do for missions like this, when timing is critical," said Capt. Eric Baum, with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. "Once we got him hoisted up there, it was a matter matter of three minutes to the roof of Ryder [Trauma Center]."

Pino could not say if the dead men had been on the same boat, but said everyone on the two boats had been accounted for. Preliminary information was that each of the boats was at least 30 feet long, Pino said.

"It was a pretty horrific collision," Pino said, adding that autopsies would be performed.

Investigators were still on the scene gathering information.

The boats were to be brought into Matheson Hammock Marina, along with the victims.

Originally Posted at: www.miamiherald.com

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on November 29, 2010 (boomark / email).