Boat was on autopilot when it struck anchored vessel, police say
A boat that struck another vessel off the Lower Florida Keys Friday, killing one person, was operating on autopilot when the collision happened, police said.
Robert Strickler, 83, from York, Pennsylvania, died in the crash. He was a fishing on a 19-foot Aquasport center console boat that was anchored off Little Palm Island shortly before 2 p.m. Friday when it was struck on the right side by a 2001 60-foot Sea Ray cabin cruiser.
The large boat on autopilot “ramped over” the center console, killing Strickler and injuring the vessel’s owner, James Lee Trescott, 73, from Conesus, New York, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission accident report.
Trescott’s injuries were described in the report as minor.
The Sea Ray is owned by Mark Dominic Passero, 51, of Webster, New York, according to the FWC report. Neither he, nor his passenger, Michael Anthony Zicari, 32, from Rochester, New York, were injured, the report states.
Passero could not be reached for comment.
The FWC has not made any arrests, but noted in the report that “the investigation is on-going.” Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, the report states.
It’s not yet clear how fast the Sea Ray was traveling, but investigators state the vessel was “on-plane,” meaning it was well underway when it hit Trescott’s boat.
The crash was less than a week after a Miami-Dade County teen was killed when the boat on which he was a passenger hit a channel marker off Islamorada, ejecting him from the vessel.
On Sunday, Feb. 16, Luke Alvarez, an 18-year-old senior at Westminster Christian School in Palmetto Bay died while riding in a boat with three friends. The 23-foot boat, which he was not driving, hit a channel marker on the bay side of Lower Matecumbe Key in a channel known locally as Bowlegs Cut.
The popular student and Westminster lacrosse team captain suffered “trauma to the lower torso” after being thrown from the boat. Medics took him to Mariners Hospital in nearby Tavernier, where he died.
His three friends were not injured, police said.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 3:20 PM.
