Authorities have identified the individual responsible for the tragic incident involving a 15-year-old girl who was fatally struck by a boat off a South Florida beach. The 78-year-old man, who was operating the boat at the time of the hit-and-run, has been identified as the owner of a Coral Gables residence where Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers located and seized the boat involved in the incident.
According to the commission's report, the man was the sole occupant of the boat during the Saturday afternoon crash that claimed the life of Ella Adler. The incident occurred near Key Biscayne, just south of Miami, while Adler and another girl were wakeboarding behind a 42-foot Hanse Fjord walk-around. Unfortunately, both girls fell off the wakeboard at different points, with Adler being struck by another boat before she could be rescued by the vessel she was with. The boat that hit Adler fled the scene immediately after the collision.
Witnesses described the hit-and-run boat as a center console vessel with a light blue hull, multiple white outboard engines, and blue bottom paint. Despite the identification of the boat operator, no criminal charges have been filed as of the latest report.
A funeral service was held for Adler at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, where she was remembered as a freshman at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove and a talented ballerina with the Miami City Ballet.
