His boat crashed into another in the Lower Keys. Police call it a homicide
A New York man was jailed Sunday on a charge of vessel homicide after police say he killed a man in the waters off the Lower Keys by recklessly operating a boat on autopilot.
Mark Dominic Passero, 51, of Webster, New York, and listed as a general contractor, turned himself in on a warrant was booked into the Stock Island Detention Center. He was released on a $150,000 bond.
Passero is accused of driving his large boat into another boat while not looking where he was going or monitoring his radar, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He also was traveling at an unsafe speed of 16 to 18 knots, in an area known for snorkeling, fishing and diving, the agency said.
The crash left 83-year-old Robert M. Strickler, of York, Pennsylvania, dead from severe blunt trauma to the head, the medical examiner ruled after an autopsy.
On Feb. 21, Passero was operating a 2001 59.8-foot Sea Ray cabin cruiser with his son, Michael Anthony Zicari, of Rochester, New York, and headed toward Little Palm Island.
Also on the water that day were Strickler and James Lee Trescott, 74, of Conesus, New York. The two were fishing off the stern of a 2004 19-foot Aquasport that was anchored off Little Palm Island.
Passero had the Sea Ray on autopilot, with the radar turned off, when he rammed into the Aquasport, according to the arrest warrant.
Passero was not looking forward at the time of the crash, Fish and WIldlife reported. Instead, he was looking down at a GPS as heavy sea spray was constantly hitting the windshield and limiting visibility, the warrant states.
“Passero stated he did not know he hit a vessel until he turned around,” the arrest warrant states. “He noticed the struck vessel, anchor line and floating fish rods.”
Passero could not be reached for comment Monday.
Vessel homicide is defined as killing a human being by operating a vessel in a “reckless manner” likely to cause death or great bodily harm. It carries up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine upon conviction.
Strickler and Trescott were on the Aquasport when the right side of the stern was struck by the Sea Ray with little warning, FWC said.
Strickler was standing up, frantically waving his arms and yelling, “This guy is going to ram us,” Trescott told state investigators.
Due to Strickler’s “limited mobility and advanced age, he was unable to move quickly enough to the bow of the vessel and out of the Sea Ray’s path,” the warrant states.
Both men were injured in the crash. Trescott said when he regained consciousness, he found Strickler with his head underwater.
Strickler died at Lower Keys Medical Center on Stock Island. Neither Passero nor his son were injured in the crash, FWC said.
Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, the agency said.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 3:51 PM.
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