Hit and Run

[Bobcat]

Civil settlement, plea may resolve boating hit-and-run
BY STEVE GIBBS Free Press Staff
sgibbs@keysnews.com

TAVERNIER -- A former Miami police captain accused of leaving the scene of a boating accident with injuries has apparently settled a civil suit with the victim but still must deal with criminal charges.

Retired Miami Beach Police Capt. William E. O'Brien, 68, a Plantation Key resident, was at the helm of his 26-foot Mako on April 17, 2011, when he allegedly struck a smaller boat upon which Lorenzo Giles was a passenger. Giles was thrown from the boat and pulled from the water by a Good Samaritan while witnesses say O'Brien looked on from a distance before leaving.

Giles was taken to Mariners Hospital with a broken arm, abrasions to the side of his head and injuries to his ribs. He was later transported to Homestead Hospital for treatment.

The Free Press learned last week that O'Brien had settled out of court a civil lawsuit filed by Giles.

Neither Giles nor his civil attorney, Rob Stober of the Hershoff Lupino Yagel law firm, would offer any details of the settlement.

Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward, who once worked with O'Brien on the Miami Beach Police Department, removed his office from the criminal case.

It has been assigned to the 20th Circuit Court in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties, where Assistant State Attorney Don Mason is prosecuting the case.

O'Brien has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and property damage in excess of $2,000.

Mason said via email that the case is set for a plea on Tuesday, May 15.

"Of course that is subject to change, but currently that is the date scheduled for it," he wrote.

The plea deal will be heard by Circuit Judge Luis Garcia at the Plantation Key courthouse.

sgibbs@keysnews.com

[JJ Apache]

boating accidents break my heart..

[Ratickle]

What kind of idiot would just leave after sitting there and watching? Maybe alcohol issues?